What Happens After Standup?

There is enough written about effective and more so ineffective stand-ups. This time I want to explore the idea of what
happens after a stand-up is over.

Specifically, the moment stand-up ends, what happens right after. There are two styles I want to kind of dive into:
Parking-Lot, and Nothing.

Parking-Lot/Dev Huddle

First up is the parking-lot or dev huddle. There may be other terms, but it's easy to spot because it is a fairly
formalized time that allows the team or a sub-set to have time set aside to continue a conversation after the stand-up
is over.

This can be a pretty great thing. A really good sign of a successful stand-up is excitement to dive into topics amongst
interested members of the team. We should all be so lucky to be a part of a stand-up that actually sparked that
magical, "C," word: Collaboration.

Then, a good parking-lot or huddle would be a purpose built container for those topics to be discussed and
collaboration to continue, maybe even with some solid facilitation. I say solid facilitation should be a part of it
because there may be many topics that need to be covered to varying degrees. Also, these discussions tend to have
multiple agendas that need to be addressed. To get the best of it, facilitation is probably going to help keep that
collaborative moment going well for all the interested parties.

What then, would make this kind of a bummer? Well, let's imagine a stand-up that doesn't have the spark. Then imagine a
formal time on your calendar for 30 more minutes to, "Deep-dive." Sounds great right? Imagine again that this time is
only for some people, and not for others. Or, imagine that lurking behind that last statement there is an connotation
of who is valuable and who isn't. Imagine it turns into a conversation where no insights are gathered, the conversation
meanders and rambles until some other calendar appointment comes up, and people leave less sure than they started?

Nothing

So there is the formal time set aside for conversations and collaboration to continue. The other concept is to let it
happen organically.

This is also pretty great, and just like before, the buzz created from a good stand-up will naturally want to continue
into more detailed conversations or whiteboarding.

The interesting thing is that we don't intentionally set a time for this to happen. We simply let the team go for it
themselves. I don't want to seem snarky, but this to me, a great expression of self-organization. The other interesting
aspect that happens is that often teams that have high levels of trust, will split themselves off to talk about
specific topics. In other words, instead of working through a topic list where only some people may care or want to
engage on it, everyone self selects to the ones that they have the most interest or impact in. Trust becomes a factor,
because what comes out of these conversations can be radical and of tremendous significance. The only way that works is
if the team trusts one another to communicate back out and invite more and more in to see what is on the table.

Now, what would make this a bummer? Well, lets start at where we just left off. The team actually doesn't have that
level of trust, and so small cliques and factions form where they begin to inflict their decisions to everyone. Another
bummer that is possible is that resentment begins to form between those who were in the room and those who, "Should
have chosen differently." This looks like a team that has little to no patience or outright frustration when one asks
for context or information from the others. Lastly, some teams never realize that it is perfectly fine for them to take
their hands off their keyboards and talk. They have been conditioned to so narrowly define work as time at a computer
that they never think to relax and let the creative juices flow.

So What?

Well, I don't know your team, culture, trust, or any number of things. Hopefully you do. The team certainly does. What
makes sense for where you are now? Would having some time set aside to get the ball rolling help? Does your team simply
need encouragement and permission to talk?

Point is, one option isn't right or wrong, just more appropriate now than the other. Tomorrow it can change, but the
value of a team collaborating on how they can best deliver value and strive for excellence together is worth it.