Management Meetings Should Look Like This You start with donuts and coffee in the big meeting room. After a lecture by the CEO, who’s sitting like a monarch at the head of the table, each manager in turn gives his or her report: sales up, products shipped, hits on the website, suppliers paid. When it’s all over, those managers who have not been rebuked by the boss breathe big sighs of relief as they scurry back to their offices. The chastened ones – those who reported bad news – slink away to freshen up their resumes. Weekly management meetings have been a staple of business since, well, back in the sixteenth century, when managers dutifully scribbled notes with quill pens on parchment. For many companies, times haven’t changed. Just as management practices have evolved to keep pace with today’s fast-moving economy, so have management meetings. There’s no reason to run a weekly meeting like a scene from the TV show Mad Men. The same agile practices that have brought efficiency to organizations can also be applied to the ubiquitous managers’ meeting. While there’s nothing wrong with an occasional formal meeting with the boss and his or her direct reports, such meetings really should be formalities where there are no surprises, only a ratification of what everyone already knows. The real business needs to take place on a daily basis, with efficient meetings that reflect the scrum approach. The Scrum Meeting First, let’s briefly clarify the term “scrum.” If you think it sounds like something from the sport of rugby, you’re right. A scrum is a formation of players, used to restart play, in which the forwards of a team form up with arms interlocked and heads down, and push forward against a similar group from the opposing side. The rugby ball is thrown into the scrum, and the players try to gain possession of it by kicking it backward toward their own side. In the United States, the closest equivalent is a huddle in football that’s combined with a face-off in hockey. As applied to the world of business, it’s a specific subset of agile management that is characterized by a quick gathering that results in decisive action and forward progress. In the scrum methodology, each workday is started with a daily scrum meeting, also called the daily huddle or daily standup. It’s called a “standup” because the participants literally do not sit down. Standing up encourages people to finish the meeting and get back to the day’s work. Morning scrum meetings should last fifteen minutes or less. Donuts are optional. The goals are to identify completed items, note problems requiring attention, and to plan the day. In the daily scrum, each team member makes the following three statements: 1. Yesterday, I completed _______ [state items completed]. 2. Today, I’m going to ___________ [state task]. 3. My impediments are ________ [state impediments, if any]. Guidelines for a Scrum While the scrum is designed to facilitate creative freedom towards the goal, it’s a good idea to get started using a set of rules. These guidelines will create a structure that enhances efficiency and agility. Use the meeting for coordination, not specific problem-solving. Focus on immediate priorities. The scrum team should review only completed tasks, tasks to be done, and roadblocks. The daily scrum is for peer-to-peer coordination. The focus is purely on getting the team to the stated goal. To keep meetings from degenerating into problem-solving sessions, project teams maintain a list of issues that need immediate attention, and then address those issues directly after the meeting. Apply Scrum Concepts to Any Management Meeting The same ideas can be incorporated into a management meeting at any level. While you may not require that everyone stand up, you can ensure that meetings are efficient and reflect the principles of agile management. Have an agenda and stick to it. Don’t wander off topic. Make sure meetings are quick and action-oriented. Recognize progress, identify problems, and set goals for solutions. Focus only on what’s important and what will move the business forward. Remember to stay focused on those topics that create value for the company and the customer. Get commitments to continuous learning and improvements. Pursue detailed follow-ups offline. You don’t need everyone at the meeting to solve an isolated problem. If ten people are twiddling their thumbs while two people discuss their issue, tell the two to settle it on their own time.
Posted on: Sat, 24 May 2014 19:52:11 +0000
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