Standup Before Planning, Because Agile Time Isn’t Real Time

Photo by Hassaan Here @hassaanhre on Unsplash

You know what, agile meetings grind my gears when they don’t use the time of developers effectively. The problem is that meetings that suck time seem to be becoming more popular than ever before.

I mean we could talk about standup meetings. You share what you’ve done, what you’re doing and what’s blocking you (you’re probably blocked by another meeting). We’ve been told that standup is a cornerstone of efficiency, and software development would scream to a halt without it.

I’m calling into question this assertion. That’s because we have a standup scheduled right before sprint planning. It’s a joke where the punchline is the death of productivity.

The Situation

I’ll give (real) scenario. My standup is at 9:00 for 30 minutes because what’s more effective than dragging devs out of bed for an overlong discussion about what everyone else is doing. 

People at our place are WFH (cameras off) so we are doing the obvious. Grab a coffee, stay in bed etc. It doesn’t matter because nothing actually gets achieved during this meeting. You have just long enough to question your career as a software developer.

But wait, it gets better. At 10:00 we have two and a half hours of sprint planning. Everything that gets said in standup can and will be repeated verbatim in sprint planning. It is nonsense but it makes sense because agile, right? You have to love three hours of back-to-back meetings as a developer in any case.

Before you start on me and tell me that I can head into a retrospective declaring “our team could improve if” but I’ve chosen not to. I’ve been trying not to rock the boat and keep my job if that makes sense, and I’m not in an environment where “improvements” are easily accepted by members of the team. More on my fate in future blog post (spoiler: it doesn’t end well).

Why This Makes No Sense

The premise of a standup is simple: a quick sync-up to keep the team aligned. When it precedes sprint planning, the standup is effectively repeated in the subsequent meeting.

Let’s break down why this royally annoys me.

Repetition Wastes Time

You’re essentially providing a sneak peek of sprint planning. Why bother when the main event is moments away?

No Time to Act on Updates

Standup blockers don’t get resolved immediately before planning. If Rajit hasn’t finished his ticket, no amount of wishing will make it ready by 10:00 AM. That means we simply repeat the same problem time and time again, with no clear benefit.

Momentum? What momentum

Those precious 30 minutes become a black hole in which our short lives disappear. We spend much time solutionizing in these meetings anyway (I guess that’s how they are so long) and they often overrun. When that happens there is often an extra gap between the meetings to grab coffee that kills all momentum in the conversation and things need to be repeated again. It’s not a good look.

Agile Theatre

Here’s where the irony hits: Agile is supposed to make us more productive, not less. But in this scenario, standup before planning is just a ceremonial waste of time. It’s like running a lap before a marathon when you need to save your energy for the main event.

You’re expending energy on a pointless preamble when you should be saving it for the real task ahead.

What Should We Do Instead?

If you’re in a situation where you have repeated meetings like this here’s a radical idea. Combine the meetings and move unnecessary information into your JIRA tickets and slack conversations.

Imagine a world where blocker flows seamlessly into a planning discussion, and nobody has to hear about TS917 twice in one morning. Give people time to actually get something done before they sync up regarding process. The last thing developers need is another meeting which accomplishes nothing.

A Call for Change

Agile isn’t about following ceremonies for their own sake. It’s about adapting processes to make teams more effective. So, let’s take a good hard look at how we’re using our time. Are we working smarter — or just harder to keep up appearances?

In the meantime, I’ll see you in standup. And planning. And retrospective. And backlog refinement.