Increase the value of your stand-ups with different questions.

I’ve recently started working with some teams who have elected to use the classic three questions during their stand-ups - “What did you do yesterday?”, “What will you do today?”, and “Are there any impediments in your way?”

I’ve been talking about and advocating for different stand-up formats for quite some time. I, frankly, think the three questions are too focused on individual activity and lack focus on group progress.

If you like the format of three questions, may I suggest you try some different questions?

“What did you do yesterday?” => “What progress did we make yesterday?”

The question, “What did you do yesterday?”, is focused on the activities of the individual. Answers generally include what meetings were attended, a list of story card numbers worked on, and activities completed. Lots of output talk, not much outcome talk.

The question, “What progress did we make yesterday?”, is focused on the outcomes the team achieved. Answers generally include the decisions made in meetings, the progress made on story cards, and the impact of activities. Less output talk, more outcome talk.

I do believe that a team can condition themselves to answer, “What did you do yesterday?”, with work-focused decisions, progress, and impact. I am certain that many teams have. I expect that many would tell me that sharing outcomes is the intended spirit of the “traditional” question. That may very well be true. And if it is true, why not ask a question that more accurately implies the spirit?

“What will you do today?” => “What are today’s goals?”

Again, “What will you do today?”, is focused on the activities of the individual.

Asking about the goals of the day allows a team to consider their own goals as well as their collective goals. By thinking in terms of goals, the team can move past activity (meet with Jane) and get to outcomes (align with Jane on the core architecture).

Asking about the goals can help the team assess feasibility. When asked what will you do, a team member is likely to say, “work on the purchase story”. For the team, this is a binary evaluation - do you believe the team member is going to work on the story or not. But when asked what are today’s goals, a team member is more likely to say, “complete the purchase story.” For the team, this is now a probability question - how likely is it that the story will be completed. The latter leads to more questions and better discussion.

Note - stand-up is about alignment, not status. Questions and discussion are paramount to alignment.

“Are there any impediments in your way?” => “What would help move things more smoothly?”

The question, “Are there any impediments in your way?”, is a poorly worded question. It can be answered with a simple yes or no. It does not prompt us to think deeply. So it is easy to throw away with a simple, “no”. You sent an email to Jane about the architecture and you know that she’ll get back to you, so no impediments. You know that the ops team is working on getting the CI/CD pipeline running again, so no impediments there either. Besides - there’s no need to throw people under the bus and call them out as impediments; they’re doing the best they can.

The question, “What would help move things more smoothly?”, is not a binary question. It begs to be answered with specifics, therefore, it prompts us to think more deeply. It doesn’t have to be a blocker or an impediment. Just something that would help move things more smoothly. When prompted with this question, teams are more likely to bring up things that they would not have previously reported.

A slow test suite isn’t seen as an impediment. After all, the tests haven’t stopped running, they just take a while. But fixing a slow test suite easily makes the list of items that would move things more smoothly. As does fewer hand-offs, faster communication cycles, smaller stories, and a host of other items.

What about you?

These are just some suggestions. I’m not proposing some new standard set of questions. I’m offering alternatives that I think can lead to better discussions, better teamwork, and better outcomes.

What have you tried?