Timing is Everything: The Daily Stand up

In a recent meeting for one client we were talking about timing for the daily stand up and I shared a great idea that another client is using.  They have their daily stand up on a quarter-hour, specifically 8:45 AM (though the actual time isn’t as important as the fact that it is at 15 till an hour).  When I first joined the team I asked why this was the case and got a great answer: “Because people schedule meetings for 9:00”. 

What better way to make sure your daily stand up stays short than by putting up a reason for it to have to stop by a specific time.  People don’t normally schedule meetings for a quarter hour, but they do for the top and bottom of the hour.  So, by scheduling on a quarter hour you are likely putting up a hard end for the meeting.  If you schedule for the top of the hour then the next meeting (if there is one) likely won’t be until thirty minutes later so the stand up “can” bleed beyond the 15 minutes.

I’m sure others have figured this out as well, but I thought I’d share.  If you aren’t having a problem with this then I wouldn’t move a stand up, but if you find that you are constantly going over, maybe moving the stand up to a quarter hour might help.