@Kyeh@show_the_maw I understood that the whole point of making it a “stand up” meeting was to have everyone be standing so they’re incentivized to finish it quickly.
But I’ve never seen them work out that way.
(The daily stand ups on my last team were scheduled for 30 minutes, but never ended in less than 45. They usually ran a whole hour, until the team lead had to switch to a different meeting. And basically all of it was a waste of my time, since it had nothing to do with my work.)
(I take that back: a few times both the manager and the team lead were absent. Those times we finished in less than 20 minutes.)
@Kyeh@xobzoo confession time. I’m the project manager that leads standup. I will say on our team we get through 8 people in about 5-7 minutes because the only question I have people answer is “what’s your top priority for today”
I don’t care about yesterday. I don’t want to hear about your roadblocks unless overcoming it IS your top priority of the day. I don’t want to hear all the other fluff you think you need to share to justify your existence in the organization. What are you doing so we can all make sure you’re supported in getting that done.
@Kyeh@show_the_maw@xobzoo so… we have a team meeting every day that I guess I lead now. But I didn’t set this up. I’m just a tech lead though so how I got stuck with leading it IDK. I’m directing managers on it sometimes. SE and BA questions…
It’s basically just a are there new issues/does anyone need anything/help from someone else etc etc.
My expectation is if you don’t have anything you just do whatever you need and kinda listen in the background. That’s what I do on other calls
@show_the_maw@xobzoo
Wow - that’s so efficient that you actually could stay standing.
We had that guy, a drony bore who always had some long personal story to relate, and very soft-hearted supervisor who’d allow him to do that. Gaaaaah.
@phendrick Yes. The wasted time that can go on in faculty meetings was phenomenal. The one run by deans and chancellors at places I’ve worked were generally worse with all the bullshit they discussed that had nothing to do with my job as faculty, I had no input into, etc. than the ones run by chairs. On the other hand at one place the chair made us discuss each and every student (this was a weekly meeting no less that would last 1.5-2 hours WTF?) who we gave a D or F to in our classes and why they had bad grades… . Umm nope. I don’t give them their grades, they earn their grades. It is their responsibility to do the work, turn it in on time, study for exams, ask questions if they need help, and show up for class. Yes I snag them when they leave class (if they even come, if they don’t enough times I call or email or both) if they are failing or close to failing, but ultimately they make their own decisions.
In the military we called them “stand downs” because we were breaking from our defensive/readiness posture to address an issue as a group. “Safety stand down” or “budget stand down.”
Virtual drinks have no satisfaction, you are still at your desk with colleagues at their desks, and the hour drags on forever as people awkwardly try NOT to talk about work.
@sweetjoey
Lucky YOU, what a great job to have! As soon as I read “circle time” I thought how juvenile, reminds me of the TV show Romper Room! Lol
I think about my preschool days often, for several reasons but I’ll tell you about a good one. That’s where I saw baby hamsters or gerbils being born. They were so tiny and pink, and naked, totally furless was a surprise to my 4 year old self! It was probably my first experience with something being so ugly and cute at the same time. And nap time, who would’ve thought naps were going to happening thing at school?!
Oh yeah, fun times, first friends and lots of memories! 🫠
We used to have a stand-up meeting daily with the whole team (building). Usually had to wait on mid-level management to finish their pre-meeting. I always called this our stand-around meeting.
Now we have a focused daily meeting a half hour after start. They’re learning!
Ass-Chewing.
Scrum. Sounds silly to me, but probably serious to others, especially project managers.
@heartny Ours too this week. Also stand up and countless other jargony terms seemingly designed to make you look smart and feel important.
@heartny SCRUM is actually a thing. Aligned with AGILE
https://www.scrum.org/resources/what-scrum-module
I’ll leave it to your imagination about what my opinion is about such a overdeveloped sense of management. It’s certainly very scrummy.
Thankfully despite the corporate classes we were required to take we’re still allowed to actually get work done
@unksol I had to take coursework in agile and I found it very cockamamie, to quote one of my coworkers. I much prefer waterfall. Just get it done.
@heartny thankfully they are trying to apply it to product modules and new stuff/in development or. Something.
We’re an operational account and have work to do/things to fix/CRs that have deadlines. Don’t have time to waste with the mumbo jumbo.
When we were developing it more waterfall. Now it’s more… everyone’s working on something. Whole bunch of change orders/policies/reviews.
Plus system upgrades etc. I don’t want to SCRUM though lol
@heartny @unksol
And today I learned about scrum!
A stand up where no one stands
@show_the_maw
Exactly this - so stupid! We actually started out standing, but that didn’t last more than a few times. “Weekly Stand-ups.”
@Kyeh @show_the_maw I understood that the whole point of making it a “stand up” meeting was to have everyone be standing so they’re incentivized to finish it quickly.
But I’ve never seen them work out that way.
(The daily stand ups on my last team were scheduled for 30 minutes, but never ended in less than 45. They usually ran a whole hour, until the team lead had to switch to a different meeting. And basically all of it was a waste of my time, since it had nothing to do with my work.)
(I take that back: a few times both the manager and the team lead were absent. Those times we finished in less than 20 minutes.)
@Kyeh @xobzoo confession time. I’m the project manager that leads standup. I will say on our team we get through 8 people in about 5-7 minutes because the only question I have people answer is “what’s your top priority for today”
I don’t care about yesterday. I don’t want to hear about your roadblocks unless overcoming it IS your top priority of the day. I don’t want to hear all the other fluff you think you need to share to justify your existence in the organization. What are you doing so we can all make sure you’re supported in getting that done.
@Kyeh @show_the_maw @xobzoo so… we have a team meeting every day that I guess I lead now. But I didn’t set this up. I’m just a tech lead though so how I got stuck with leading it IDK. I’m directing managers on it sometimes. SE and BA questions…
It’s basically just a are there new issues/does anyone need anything/help from someone else etc etc.
My expectation is if you don’t have anything you just do whatever you need and kinda listen in the background. That’s what I do on other calls
@show_the_maw @xobzoo
and very soft-hearted supervisor who’d allow him to do that. Gaaaaah.
Wow - that’s so efficient that you actually could stay standing.
We had that guy, a drony bore who always had some long personal story to relate,
Before I retired, I occasionally had to go to “Faculty Development Sessions”.
What generally developed was mostly boredom.
@phendrick Yes. The wasted time that can go on in faculty
meetingswas phenomenal. The one run by deans and chancellors at places I’ve worked were generally worse with all the bullshit they discussed that had nothing to do with my job as faculty, I had no input into, etc. than the ones run by chairs. On the other hand at one place the chair made us discuss each and every student (this was a weekly meeting no less that would last 1.5-2 hours WTF?) who we gave a D or F to in our classes and why they had bad grades… . Umm nope. I don’t give them their grades, they earn their grades. It is their responsibility to do the work, turn it in on time, study for exams, ask questions if they need help, and show up for class. Yes I snag them when they leave class (if they even come, if they don’t enough times I call or email or both) if they are failing or close to failing, but ultimately they make their own decisions.“Touch base”
@boc we had meetings to touch base from time to time to time…
Alley Rally
Stand down instead of stand up, and I have no clue why.
In the military we called them “stand downs” because we were breaking from our defensive/readiness posture to address an issue as a group. “Safety stand down” or “budget stand down.”
At the pickle factory, I image they are called: Circle Gherkins
Conference.
Virtual Happy Hour
Virtual drinks have no satisfaction, you are still at your desk with colleagues at their desks, and the hour drags on forever as people awkwardly try NOT to talk about work.
How about we list what we think they should be called?
I’ll start.
Management droning
@tweezak Waste of valuable time, more often than not.
@tweezak (not my) status update
@tweezak 3-Ms
Meaningless
Management
Monologs
Teams or Zoom, they both suck
@somf69 As does Webex.
Quick followed by any word
Our staff meetings are called “back to basics” meetings. I almost always skip them. I’m much too busy, after all…
Circle time…
…I have daily meetings with preschoolers.
@sweetjoey
Lucky YOU, what a great job to have! As soon as I read “circle time” I thought how juvenile, reminds me of the TV show Romper Room! Lol
I think about my preschool days often, for several reasons but I’ll tell you about a good one. That’s where I saw baby hamsters or gerbils being born. They were so tiny and pink, and naked, totally furless was a surprise to my 4 year old self! It was probably my first experience with something being so ugly and cute at the same time. And nap time, who would’ve thought naps were going to happening thing at school?!
Oh yeah, fun times, first friends and lots of memories! 🫠
Special
High
Intensity
Talk (or “Training”)
Thinking or talking to myself.
Self employed here.
uhhh… meeting… is what we call it…
We call them meetings. Conference calls if they’re via phone.
@wtabt Sane employer?
We call them meetings.
I just finished my tech huddle which followed my stand-up. I feel seen by that entire write-up today.
@mikey did your colleagues find your “stand up” to be humorous?
We used to have a stand-up meeting daily with the whole team (building). Usually had to wait on mid-level management to finish their pre-meeting. I always called this our stand-around meeting.
Now we have a focused daily meeting a half hour after start. They’re learning!
something that could have been covered in a 2 paragraph email that somehow takes 3 hours…
So. Many. Tag-ups.
Ugh, didn’t matter what they were called, they were 90% small talk and about 95% unnecessary. One of the most painfully stupid aspects of the workday.
(These days I work for myself. Meetings involve dogs and snuggles.)