One of the challenges we faced at IBM was helping teams run efficient standups. Therefore, I was asked to use TopCoder resources to design and build a working prototype of a tool that could help keep people on track during standups.

Challenges

• The project had a 60-day, $30K limit.
• Although it was intended to be just a working prototype, I wanted it to show value and be usable by real teams.

What I did

The hardest part of this project was keeping it small. There were many ideas for what this tool could be, coming from both stakeholders and the TopCoder community. Knowing my tight budget and time constraints, however, and my end goal, I wanted to limit the tool to the most critical functionality:

• An easy way to run a standup meeting, with a timer, and a timer on each speaker
• Scrum masters could easily set up the meeting.
• The ability to tell who was in the meeting (as many of our teams work in disparate locations), who was speaking, and who was up next.
• Capturing the mood of the team members.
• Letting anyone start the meeting, so teams wouldn't be stuck if the scrum master was out.
• Allowing for either fixed or random speaking order.

The tool is very simple. It does not connect in with an audio channel, or force people to stop speaking. It just serves as a reminder, to help team members stay on track.

Although the tool is just a prototype, I have seen various teams use it successfully, to help keep their stand-ups on time and on topic.