It’s typical to aim for 15-minute Standups, but how many times have your standups gotten side-tracked and suddenly more than a half-hour has gone by? These occurrences are not exactly my cup of tea…
Of course, sometimes topics need to be discussed, and planning a follow-up meeting will only slow down or delay resolution.
It’s important to keep Standups on-topic, and if run effectively, consider taking time after the Standup (I like to call it a Stay-After) with a smaller audience to cover “Tea-time” topics:
- T: Tabled discussions.
- E: Expectation setting.
- A: Addressing blockers.
Why have a Stay-After
Likely, Standup meetings have all members of a team in attendance. To make the best use of everyone’s time, staying after Standup is a great opportunity to have a smaller, focused discussion with only the relevant team members. Typically, a Stay-After meeting is used to cover time-sensitive topics – “TEA”:
- Tabled discussions: These are conversations that perhaps went too long during Standup and need to be continued once everyone else completes their updates.
- Expectations: Often, the project manager or another team member may have process changes or other announcements to make to the team or specific team members, making a Stay-After an ideal time to communicate those quick updates.
- Addressing blockers: Part of Standup is that team members escalate any blockers they are facing on an assignment. A Stay-After is also a good opportunity to troubleshoot or help provide clarifications to help unblock the team member.
Determining the agenda for a Stay-After
Stay-After meetings can be planned or unplanned.
Planned topics typically come up during the prior workday. These are usually if a team member requires some clarification of a work assignment, or, to share information. The project manager can send an invite immediately following the next standup that contains the necessary attendees and agenda.
Unplanned topics typically arise during the Standup itself because of one of these scenarios:
- A team member requests other specific team members to stay-back after the Standup for a specific topic.
- A team member requires help to troubleshoot a technical blocker.
- The project manager requests specific team members stay-back after the Standup if they recognize that a conversation is going too long.
It’s not uncommon that there may be both planned and unplanned topics for a Stay-After. The PM or team needs to determine which topics to give priority to for that specific day and time. De-prioritized topics may need to be addressed as part of a different meeting or as part of the next day’s Stay-After.
Running an effective Stay-After
Like actual Standups, there is likely only limited time available to hold a Stay-After. Consider these tips to make sure the time is used most efficiently:
- Keep the conversation on-topic. Keep the focus on what decisions or help is needed.
- If you find that a conversation requires more time or team members who are not in attendance, pause and plan a dedicated meeting for that topic.
- Record any quick decisions or action items and move on to the next topic, if applicable.
- Allow team members to drop off the call if the remaining topics are no longer relevant to them.
In Summary
Taking advantage of Standup Stay-After “Tea-time” is a great way to make sure that all team members get a chance to participate in the daily Standups, but, also allow time-sensitive topics to be addressed without delay. Consider these tips at your next Standup, and it will help get your team started off to a tea-rrific day.
