Standups for Scaled Agile (SAFe) Teams

What is SAFe Agile and how does this help our productivity?

(SAFe-Scaled Agile Framework ) is a free source available online.

Its understanding base allows you to apply the lean-agile practice at the enterprise level. It provides a unique and lightweight experience for the software development process. It is divided into three chapters. Those are Team, Program, and Portfolio.

The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) framework allows:

• Implementing the Lean-Agile software and systems at the enterprise level
• It’s absolutely based on Lean and Agile principles.
• The framework provides detailed guidance for the work at the enterprise level Portfolio, Value Stream, Programs, and Team level.

SAFe is designed to achieve the needs of all stakeholders within an organization.

The framework was first developed by Dean Leffingwell and explained in textbooks and blogs. The first version 0.1 is officially released in 2011. The latest version is 4.6 and it’s released in October 2018.

What are the Benefits of using the SAFe Framework?

It is a simple and lightweight framework. By implementing the SAFe agile framework, you will see the following benefits:

• Productivity increased by 20–50%
• Quality increased by more than 50%
• Time to Market is faster than 30 -75%
• Increased employee engagement and job satisfaction.

There are Different levels of SAFe agile events:

In the Scaled Agile Framework, there are some continuous events (ex. meetings) at various levels. Let’s see what all are they, and who should attend them? And what is the purpose of it?

Project or Program Configurations:

Events at each level:

Essential — Team Level

• Daily Stand up
• Iteration Planning
• Iteration Review
• Iteration Retrospective

Essential — Programme Level

• PI Planning
• ART Sync, Scrum of Scrums, and PO Sync
• System Demo
• Inspect and Adapt workshop

Optional — Large Solution level

• Pre- and Post-PI Planning
• Solution Demo

Optional — Portfolio Level

• Lean Budget Review
• Communities of Practice
• Portfolio Sync
• Roadshow

Essential — Team Level — Daily Meetings?

On the essential level, we will see how daily standup meeting helps increase productivity?

What is a stand-up meeting?

Stand-up meetings are also called scrum meetings, these are small meetings conducted by agile teams as regularly held gatherings. In short, Stand-up meetings are typically for the daily updates, obstacle identifiers and should last a set amount of time without going over (Should not be more than 15 minutes).

Some Benefits of Standup meeting:

• Shorten feedback loops
• Identify the problems faster
• Align on project goals and tasks
• Interact with team members
• Transparency and team collaboration
• Encourages positive team building

What is the structure of a stand-up meeting?

The stand-up meeting format is a straightforward one. The secret ingredient is to prepare a stand-up meeting is mentioned below:

• Meeting Preparation
• Stand-up Meeting
• Post-meeting Clarification

Meeting Preparation

Each of the team members should have answers for each of these three questions. It helps scrum master to understand and plan accordingly.

• What did you do in the project yesterday (Time worked on the output of the task)?
• What is your plan for the day (What you are going to do. Eg any new tasks)?
• Will you face any challenges today that will stop you from meeting your goals?

Meeting Indication:

It’s really important that your stand-up meeting is at the same time whenever you do meet, so your team can plan around it. Also, meetings should happen on everyone’s availability. Better to have it in the Morning.

• Dedicated Meeting URL: No one struggles to get access codes daily. Use a dedicated URL for your Audio and Video stand-up meetings. By one click-to-join helps sweet join.
• Video and Audio: Everyone should be able to see and hear clearly. it’s more important than others.

Tools:

Always take the help of technology and resources that help to keep daily stand-up meetings more productive. Nowadays there are many tools available in the market but the below one is more effective

• Google Drive
• Google Sheet
• Airtable
• Trello
• Slack

Post-meeting Clarification

Before you close your stand-up meeting, make sure to have a clear action plan.

Standup meetings are so effective isn’t discussing the status of a project, but what the next steps each employee is doing to reach out the goal to close the task.

Sometimes team members have an additional clarification on particular needs or need to discuss agenda items further.

If team members want to chat after the meeting closes, invite them to do so. Make sure all team members have spoken about their daily updates during the standup meeting.

During the meeting, team members (precisely the Scrum Master) who are running the meeting take notes on what is discussed. Then, send the meeting notes (Minutes of Meeting) over the internal communication messenger or email, or upload them to a shared folder to make it visible for all.

Productive stand-up meetings have the way for productive teams

• In short, stand-up meetings are a secret weapon to working smarter and connecting better.
• When we implement it better, the result will be outstanding and leads to more productivity altogether.
• Effectively running stand-up meetings is a value-addition to the company. It will help you accomplish business goals, and it is a process that you would be glad to have followed in the first place.
• Also, a fabulous way to build a collaborative culture that will last for a long time. Since the stand-up meetings are daily ones, the bonus is on you to make it as engaging and fruitful as possible.

Stand-ups are just one part of a healthy agile program. Just like other scrum ceremonies like Iteration planning, Iteration reviews, and retrospectives, stand-ups take time and iteration to get right. Don’t be afraid to make improvements that suit your team and your program. And don’t forget to have fun.

Author: Kalaivanan Subramaniyam
Edited by: Monica Ravichandran