Collective Wisdom from the Experts 179
Our rituals and ceremonies include weekly “Show and Tells” to demonstrate prog-
ress on projects to sponsors, weekly “planning games” to authorize project scope,
daily stand-up meetings, and weekly kick-off meetings to brainstorm about how
we will work together toward common goals on client projects in the upcoming
week. The meeting has a structure that makes participation easy and fun.
Try a daily stand-up meeting for one week and see if it catches on. Here are
some lessons we’ve learned to make this meeting more effective:
• Invite everyone involved in the project. We often have 50–60 people in
this meeting.
• Call the meeting with an alarm clock loud enough for everyone to hear.
An impartial device calling the meeting is more likely to get participation.
We use a dartboard that has an alarm clock in it.
• Use a speaking token. We use a plastic Viking helmet to control the meet-
ing. Just hand it around the circle of people standing (no sitting allowed).
The person who has the token has the floor.
• Have people report what they recently completed, what they are working
on, and where they need help. Help doesn’t come during the meeting, but
afterward.Our typical stand-up meeting takes 13 minutes! Call it, assemble it, hold it, give
everyone a chance to talk, finish it, and get back to work in 13 minutes. I defy
most organizations to complete a useful meeting of 60 people in 13 minutes.