--- title: "Adjusting the Agile Standup - Fostering Team Accountability" description: "A guide on how to adapt your agile stand-up meeting format by introducing a rotating host system, empowering team members to take ownership, develop self-management skills, and build a succession pipeline." canonical_url: "https://blog.markkulab.net/en/post/agile-development-take-turn-as-host" author: "Mark Ku" author_url: "https://blog.markkulab.net/en/author/mark-ku" site: "Mark Ku's Tech Notes" date_published: "2023-08-19 01:01:35 +0800" category: "Management" tags: ["management", "agile", "scrum", "team", "leadership"] language: "en" license: "CC BY 4.0" license_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" attribution: "when reusing or quoting, credit the author and link back to the original" --- # Adjusting the Agile Standup - Fostering Team Accountability ## Purpose As the team matures, the company wants to move towards an OKR / OGSM approach. To give everyone more room to contribute, I think we should also try to adjust our current meeting format while also training the next generation of leaders. ## Purpose of the Stand-up Meeting * We are all knowledge workers. If we are mature enough, we should be able to manage ourselves autonomously, and the company can give us more space. * This is everyone's team, not just the manager's or the boss's. We should be able to cultivate the work environment we want. * Understand what your teammates are doing. You can ask for help, and perhaps your expertise can help others as well. * Everyone wants to put their professional skills to good use, but often, one person's expertise alone can't create business impact. You need to rely on others. * This is a channel for everyone to practice speaking. As you advance in your career, you'll need to learn how to report on your work, understand what the team is doing, and figure out how to use your expertise to help the team and make an impact. * The PM needs to report to the US boss about what we're doing, so they must be involved in our work (I think every manager has information anxiety. If Michael doesn't get updates for a long time, he might spend his days wondering what we're up to). ![Abstract blue and grey figures in a circular team meeting](https://blog.markkulab.net/content/markku/posts/agile-development-take-turn-as-host/images/SJgDKH3n3.png) ## The Biggest Change: Rotating Hosts The hope is to have one person each week rotate as the host. The host's main responsibility is to gather the team for the meeting, guide it to run smoothly, and ensure team goals are met. The PM and manager will no longer be the hosts; the manager will sync up at the end. This is because managers will get busier and busier—busy with meetings, planning, and finding resources. Eventually, they might not even be in this meeting anymore. P.S. The manager will no longer be the host. ## Daily Stand-up: Information Sync Format Before the meeting, please make sure to update your ticket statuses. 1. What did you do yesterday (on this sub-project)? 2. What will you do today (on this sub-project)? If you didn't do anything, just say so. If you need to do research, or are in the middle of it, that's also something to sync up on. Or if you need help. 3. Any problems or blockers to discuss (for this sub-project)? ## What to Avoid 1. Long meetings. Each person should speak for about 3-5 minutes. For overly detailed topics, bring them up during the meeting but discuss them afterward. 2. Including unnecessary people in the meeting. (Grouping by project helps maintain focus. If the topics are too irrelevant to most attendees, people will stop participating.) 3. Pressuring for timelines. Estimates should always be made by the person doing the work. They don't need to give an answer on the spot; it can always be discussed. ## Finally If you have any better ideas for team collaboration, please feel free to propose them. --- ## About this article and its author Originally published on [Mark Ku's Tech Notes](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/post/agile-development-take-turn-as-host) License: [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — when reusing or quoting, credit the author and link back to the original ### About the author **[Mark Ku](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/author/mark-ku)** — Software Solution Provider - 10+ years senior software engineer, now an AI Builder - Focused on large-platform architecture — North-American e-commerce, AI SaaS subscription billing - Combining AI Agents and automation to build evolvable product foundations ### Free tools built by the author All of these are free to use: - [Free PDF Sign Tool](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/pdf-sign): Online PDF sign tool — draw, type, or upload a signature, then drag, resize, and download. 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