Verne's Tips on running Huddles!

Barriers to Successful Daily Huddles

A CEO from an India-based company sent me the following reasons why his teams are having a difficult time with their daily huddle -- what they call their D15:

• Was busy at that time, was late to work today, was caught up in something urgent
• "Everything is already in my daily/weekly report. I don't think D15s are required"
• Boss (myself) was not in the office and could not call in so the D15 was not convened
• The accountable person for the Sales group did not have good sales to report so he lost interest in D15s
• "We meet daily anyway throughout the day"
• Group shrunk down to 2 people due to staff turnover
• Work is going fine, nothing is stuck, have discussed offline with concerned person, no new great progress to report
  

Some thoughts:

• First, like the rules for the SCRUM, the meetings must start and stop on time and be held each day at the same time whether everyone is available or not, including the boss.
• Second, even though you might get a daily report, there's something about hearing the information which let's another sense process the data and look for patterns.
• Third, even if you're bumping into each other during the day, specifically focusing on "What's up the next 24 hours; Daily data/metrics; and Stucks?" is critical to everyone hearing the information at the same time and looking for potential opportunities or avoiding train wrecks. Even if it's just two people, taking 15 minutes to review these key questions keeps communication clear.

Anyone that's married understands that just because you see each other a lot doesn't mean anything close to clear communication is happening. And if anyone things they are not stuck, is probably really stuck or not pushing the envelope.

If you do the daily properly it will save a number of emails, prevent a number of needless interruptions, and keep everyone connected.

Email Mike...