Brainstorms are about ideas. They are about getting people into a room, or on a call, and batting around ideas back and forth – whether they are good or bad – it doesn’t matter. It’s about nothing more than the ideas in a room. And the moment you start to shut them down, all that energy goes out the door. And you’re left with the worst ideas.
There are lots of discussions coming out on work weeks… When should we work? How long should we work for? When should we take breaks? When should we send and write emails? How about instead of hiring people based on time, we hire them based on delivery. We need X delivered in the next Y months? Is that possible? Great go make it happen. The goal is that they get it done (and it’s reasonable)…
Bugs become features, whether on purpose or by accident. Taken one by one you’ll fix the immediate issue, but if you’re not grouping them together, looking at the big picture, seeing if there is a feature hidden amongst all those issues. You’re doomed to fix them over and over and over again.
Fixing bugs isn’t the problem. Figuring out how they occur, now that’s the problem. That’s where we get hung up and where we spend the bulk of our time. That’s where we grind the gears trying to figure out what we are doing and what the next should be. And though this is the hardest of steps, it’s the most rewarding, we learn the most from them. If someone just gave us the answer and…
There is no “best way” to do Standups. I’ve done them at various different companies, all in different ways, some have been great, some not so great, some downright painful. What matters is you don’t give up, you recognize that each team is different and you move forward. Here are some thoughts on the subject via Remotely Prepared.