Background
I will describe myself a bit in this section. I am an engineering manager with a total of 7 years of experience (5.5 yrs software development and 1.5 years of engineering management).
My time in the engineering management position is both challenging and fantastic. I take care of two teams and my day starts with 2 stands ups of 30 mins, one after another in 30 mins gap.
What is the stand up format?
It generally starts with the following 3 questions. But my focus is to check project health, are we on track or delayed?
- What have you done yesterday?
- What is the agenda for today?
- Any blockers?
The ball rolls around the table and I use to ask a few questions followed up by each person's stand-up notes. It helps to get more clarity and sometimes to give the audience food for thought.
And at last, I ask to ask queries for me.
Why is stand-up preferred?
It gives the current status of each developer and a clear picture of the entire team position as well. It helps in planning other tasks for the next sprints, identifying delays, and maintaining priorities.
I sometimes use this call to motivate, and share updates and orientation of the leadership and company as well.
What day look like without stand-up for a developer?
Unfortunately, It is a black box then. Nobody knows what to pick up next (If he is available to pick up something), no room for feedback on the current task too.
What day look like without stand-up for the engineering manager?
The manager would unable to answer any project status query, and latest ETA and unable to plan the next sprint too in worst cases. This also acts as a health check for the projects as well as the team.
My way of managing stand-up, a glimpse?
In spite of lot of trolls and memes, I see huge benefit by running the concise and clean stand-ups.
Next steps, explore.
Make your stand-up crisp and point to point so that it will be time-saving and at the same time an energy booster for your team members. You can plan separate calls to brainstorm or get detailed insights for any particular task with a dedicated audience.
I have recently started 5 mins tech talk one person every day when anyone can share the knowledge that he/she has read about in the last days or the latest industry trend.
You can also plan to use JIRA boards/Trello etc.
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