Parking lots are essential to stand ups
A parking lot is a meeting organization technique to note items that need attention but shouldn't be discused at length during the meeting.
A stand up is a short daily meeting for a team to discuss work progress, work plans, and impediments to converting plans into progress. They are a mainstay of agile development and often are structured so each team member reports on three things:
- What did I accomplish recently?
- What will I accomplish next?
- Are there impediments that could block my accomplishments?
There is an emphasis on short so that they do not distract from actual progress. No one needs an extra hour of meetings each day. 10 to 15 minutes is the ideal maximum length. Thus, how do we keep the meeting from being unproductive or spiraling into a full blown meeting?
One important (and to me often overlooked) component of a stand up is the parking lot. It is a place to take a note of items to discuss later. By placing an item in the parking lot, we don't forget it but we also don't derail the meeting with a tangential discussion that could lead to it exceeding the time limit.
I'm going to begin making a physical parking lot on the whiteboard of the conference room where we have stand ups. It'll be a clearly labeled section of the board, not too large and not too small, that we will judiciously use. When a new side item or offline action item is raised, I will note it with a sentence and an assignee. The assignee is responsible for making sure the item is tracked and responded to appropriately.
Here's to experimenting and making meetings more effective!