In my current environment We have the following:

Developers System Analysts : QA Testers Business Analysts : Domain Experts

Every morning at 9am we have our daily stand-up/scrum to enlighten the whole team and let everyone know what is going on.  We have a schedule sheet that dictates the primary organizer that week and who their backup is.  This week it is my duty.  I had it a couple of times last week also because the primary was off work or was handling a critical business item.  Either way we had stand-up coverage.  If both people are out, the following week’s primary is next in line, etc.  You get the idea.

Our list of items to discuss with all groups present is the following:

  1. Resources 1. Development 2. Systems 3. Business
  2. Production Support (usually 1 infrastructure team member and 1 developer)
  3. Build Status  (Iteration and Release updates) 1. Development 2. Systems 3. Business
  4. Administrative Items (managers)

This has worked out really well to enlighten everyone in all groups.  Does anyone have something similar or close?

After that session, which ends usually around 9:10-9:15, then we have individual group stand-ups.

For the developers group we do the age-old list:

  1. What did you work on the previous business day?
  2. What are you currently working on or will work on?
  3. Do you have any obstacles or pending information inquiries directed to the domain experts?

This has also worked out really well.

When we started the developer stand-ups they would drag out due to other developers asking questions and other such things and we would lose track of time.  Joe (agilejoe), my manager agile coach, decided to use cooking timers.  Each developer has ~1 minute to answer the 3 questions above.  Timer goes off or you are done, then you pass the timer on.

What does everyone else do?  Remember, we are in a “corporate” XP/Scrum environment and this has been our “solution”.

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Joe Ocampo: Coach!!!! LOL

Christopher Bennage: I heard a spot on NPR a few years back that suggested we do away with the term Boss, because a boss is someone big baddy you have to fight at the end of a level. They recommended the label Strategy Guide. This really only applies to those of us who grew up on video games.