Daily
#workhack
Helps with
- teams that want more transparency about the work of other team members.
- more independence from the boss, because the members organize their tasks more and more themselves.
- an increase in solidarity and trust. It demonstrates that everyone is in the same boat and working towards the same goal.
To be considered
- It will start on time – regardless of who is, or who is not, there yet.
- The timeboxing plays a special role and the contributions of the members should not be longer than one to two minutes (depending on the size of the team). To avoid discussion, everyone focuses on their own brief status report.
- Pay particular attention to two content-related aspects: responsibility for tasks is not given in a daily and others are not to be judged.
- There are also people who decline to participate in the Daily because they feel held accountable and thus put under pressure. It could help to invite them to try it out (with the option to decline) and intervene immediately if someone gets judged or evaluated.
Tools
- Make sure to use the timeboxing and set up a clock (which is visible to all).
- For teams working on a joint project, the introduction of a task board with various status updates such as “to do”, “work in progress”, “to verify” and “done” can be helpful. The permanent visualization can also motivate the team members to achieve the goals.
Dailies are an essential part of one of the most popular agile methods: SCRUM. In the Daily, interim results are presented each day, next steps are explained, and problems are addressed – all in no more than 15 minutes.
As the name suggests, the Daily takes place each working day. Usually it takes place standing up and helps the team to coordinate on the status of, and to inform each other about, open and completed tasks. The time, duration and location are fixed so that they do not have to be constantly organized. Participation is mandatory for all team members. The Daily is about an exchange among peers on equal footing, about synchronization and not about accountability. The team members should form a circle and report to each other on the following questions:
- What have I been doing since the last Daily? (Progress)
- What do I plan to do until the next Daily? (Upcoming activities)
- What was hindering me at my work? (Possible problems)
If problems or needs for discussions arise, these are clarified with those concerned after the Daily. If one team member has a problem, maybe someone else can help. The aim is for each member to get an overall picture of what everyone is working on.
Helps with
- teams that want more transparency about the work of other team members.
- more independence from the boss, because the members organize their tasks more and more themselves.
- an increase in solidarity and trust. It demonstrates that everyone is in the same boat and working towards the same goal.
To be considered
- It will start on time – regardless of who is, or who is not, there yet.
- The timeboxing plays a special role and the contributions of the members should not be longer than one to two minutes (depending on the size of the team). To avoid discussion, everyone focuses on their own brief status report.
- Pay particular attention to two content-related aspects: responsibility for tasks is not given in a daily and others are not to be judged.
- There are also people who decline to participate in the Daily because they feel held accountable and thus put under pressure. It could help to invite them to try it out (with the option to decline) and intervene immediately if someone gets judged or evaluated.
Tools
- Make sure to use the timeboxing and set up a clock (which is visible to all).
- For teams working on a joint project, the introduction of a task board with various status updates such as “to do”, “work in progress”, “to verify” and “done” can be helpful. The permanent visualization can also motivate the team members to achieve the goals.