Use the Car Park
Daily Stand Up and Agile Meetings
I want to share a cool technique I picked up a while ago. It’s a good technique to use if your daily stand up or other agile meetings go off track .
Car Parking Technique
This is a simple way of making sure that any discussions stay on subject. Any tangents are quickly isolated and ‘postponed’.
All you need is:
- Post It Notes
- A pen
- A whiteboard / paper attached to wall or something similar.
On the whiteboard / paper, draw a square box and label it ‘Car Park’. This will become a space where you can ‘park’ ideas, suggestions, questions. It’s also good for feedback that is not directly associated with the topic.
The scrum master (or meeting facilitator) has the right to say “This is off topic, let’s car park this and take it off-line”.
You then write the topic on a post it note and stick it in the car park for later discussion.
At the end of the daily stand up / agile meeting, you can then quickly review the board; you might find that some questions have already been answered, and topics that involve certain people can then commence.
Summary
Not only is it a good way of keeping meetings on track. They can also act as a reminder that a discussion needs to take place. I have seen many times a topic or question raised for later discussion, and then at the end of the meeting its forgotten or not addressed.
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