Establishing a daily stand up meeting is a simple method to improve the output of your project teams. With in a few week of implementation you can expect to increase output by over 25%. For most project teams the norm is to operate in a week to week cadence, between check in and status meetings. This is seldom frequent enough to ensure that the project output is in line with the needs of the customer.

Setting up a daily stand up meeting coordinates the team and establishes the daily work plan. The individual team members measure their success against the estimates they have set for their daily tasks. Once your team is vested in the process; the stand up gameifies the daily outcomes. Every day the individual team members make personal commitments around their stickies. The team then holds each other accountable on their progress in a productive manner. The conversation and communication in the stand up help the team to establish its identity while setting emotional connection to project outcomes.

Stand Up meeting are short, usually 15 Minutes in duration. Using a whiteboard in a central location within the work area where the entire team can gather.

The whiteboard has three sections to boards.

1. A 2 week rolling window

• Days on the horizontal axis and people on the vertical axis. Broken into 4 inch by 4 inch squares; to allow the team to added stickies. The stickies have a task in the middle, project name on the top, estimated hours on the left side; room for the actual hours on the right.

2. Overview Gantt or 3 month look ahead.

• Overview project plan with upcoming activities and key dates. A 2 to 3 month view of the project deliverables providing a clear view of what is coming up. Key Milestones or the next project.

3. Issues Tracking

• The issues resolution log is where issues get added and tracked. Issues are added throughout the day in real time. The stand up the facilitator actions each issue for resolve or to assign owner. Reviewing or removing the roadblocks that are blocking the teams progress.

The meeting is concise, starts on time and ends on time. Every team member get a chance to share. Yesterday’s tasks, today’s tasks, and any roadblocks or issues that may hinder their progress.

The team then collaborates on solutions and offer support if needed. In the event that a task is not completed the individual slips the task. They mark an X on the sticky and place it into today’s plan.  The red X provides visibility on things that are not getting completed. It is the facilitators responsibility to understand root of cause of the slip. Coaching and following up with the team member.

The daily stand up is a game changer for Project Teams, Engineering Teams engaging and delivers results.

 

Michel Handfield, CET, LSSBB