WATCH The Board

Agile teams should perform a daily stand up meeting to bring energy and coordination to the day's work.

During this short meeting, an Agile Project Manager (ScrumMaster, Coach, etc.) should ensure the team highlights the important points around the current work--but it is often difficult to articulate and probe every aspect to every card in flight on the team board.

How can I possibly be quick to consider all the aspects of each card?  I needed a mnemonic acronym to make me quick on my feet.


I bring you the WATCH The Board technique.
(See the updated version of WATCH the Board containing more detail)

WATCH The Board

Agile Project Managers can enable their teams by WATCH'ing the board during the daily standup, interaction with team members, or casual observation of a team's board.

W

Where, Where, What, WIP.
Who is working on the card?  Where is the card?  Where should it be? Where did it come from? What is the WIP limit?

A

Average time.
A card this size should take how long?

T

Technology & Test
Build ready?  Environments ready?  Access available?  Integration complete?  Automation working?  Testing started?  Testing issues resolved?

C

Card, Conversation, Confirmation
Are the card details complete?  Who are on the tasks?  Who was in the conversation?  Dates identified?  Criteria identified?

H

Help.
Who is available to help?  What help is needed?  Should this card be returned so team members can help elsewhere?


I'm really excited about bringing innovation to the acronym space :)  Hope this helps you daily!