“Any leader who asks the right questions of the right people has the potential to discover and develop great ideas.”
John Maxwell
There are certain questions we should ask ourselves each day. A gratitude journal is based on the idea that regular and repetitive expressions of gratitude increase our happiness (Basic and Applied Social Psychology, Dickens, 2017) and higher life satisfaction, productivity and meaningfulness (American Psychology Association, Emmons & Crumpler, 2000). The questions in our standup should be aimed and focused on achieving the win; questions should be on increasing productivity, adding value, and reaching goals.
Head to this excellent article posted on DZone by Dan Lines on better stand-up questions for context.
Here are some questions you could consider to identify the definition of the goal:
- What’s The Purpose?
- What Does A Successful Outcome Look And Feel Like?
- Is My Goal SMART?
- What is the big picture?
- What could I measure that will help me stay on track to achieve the goal?
In the book The Four Disciplines Of Execution by Stephen Covey, there is a team-based purpose-centric-goal concept called a “Wildly Important Goal”. If you haven’t read this book, you can get the run-down by searching the internet for it.
If your team has a Wildly Important Goal (“WIG”), you already have the aforementioned questions answered and your purpose is defined. The additional question “Did I work on my lead measure yesterday?” would then be the only question about the past that you should need to answer… rambling on about what we did yesterday takes up precious time and doesn’t identify whether we are on track to complete on time.
After defining the goals, the daily stand-ups should have quick bullet questions. Preferably, limit this to three. If you need a fourth question, use the Yes/No question: “Did I spend time yesterday on our ‘WIG’ lead measure?”
Questions that increase productivity:
- Is anything blocking or slowing down the completion of my work?
- Am I potentially blocking or slowing down someone else?
- Are there any tools or processes that would help me achieve my work faster at a higher quality?
- What knowledge do I need to become more productive?
- What is something I could show a team-mate to help them be more productive (providing they’re ready to receive that help)?
Questions that add value:
- How often will this product I’m working on get used?
- How useful will this product be by release date?
- Who else in the company or customer base could benefit from this with minor changes?
- What are other ways people can accomplish what this product will do for them?
- What pain (and its level) does this feature alleviate?
Questions that reach goals:
- Did I spend time yesterday on our team’s Wildly Important Goal?
- Are BHAGs broken down well enough or did I uncover work that will take more than 6 hours to complete?
- Am I doing the right work, or steering off course?
- Am I encountering scope creep?
- Is this still going to ship on time?
“Quality questions create a quality life. Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.”
Anthony Robbins