Re:3 Tips for Effective Stand-Up Meetings
by maximilianburke on Monday September 17, 2012 @12:55PM
(#4533495)
My team is split up across two locations with 9 people in one office and two in another. How have people handled remote standups? Do you get the remote guys on speaker phone? Have a separate meeting with them? Are there any tips/suggestions for making standups with remote employees work well?
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Re:3 Tips for Effective Stand-Up Meetings
by MikeCodeAwesome on Tuesday September 18, 2012 @01:55AM
(#4536579)
My team consists of four people, two of which are remote, spread across three adjacent timezones. We find that a regular three-way conference call is sufficient. This arrangement has worked well for three years.
The idea of using Skype has surfaced once or twice but we've gotten by without it. I doubt we'll ever need it.
As for advice…
* I would suggest everyone place their call from a suitably quiet room. Someone doing dishes, making tea, or wrestling with a dog is extremely distracting.
* Hold the standup meeting on time and don't delay more than five minutes. If you don't, you're effectively chaining people to their phones for an indefinite amount of time.
* Two or more people in a room together should remember to speak to the phone and not each other. It's amazing how much of a statement or conversation can be lost over the phone when co-located people use gestures and glances to communicate.