Why a daily standup meeting is pointless, and what to do instead?
In agile marketing management, there's this trend of daily standups for marketing teams. It came from the agile development method. Now, I'm not sold if a daily standup is needed for developers, but I'm 100% sure it is unnecessary for marketing teams. Let me explain why and what you need to do instead.
Frankly, I'm not a big fan of regular meetings in general. My aversion towards meetings doesn't come from my personality, I'm not an introvert or extrovert, and I'm super confident enough to lead a discussion. I've spent years in the ad business, where we had these creative sessions, brainstorming gatherings, and account meetings. Looking back at it, we would have been better off with 90% of these meetings if we had used emails instead. I can't stand if we waste each other's time, imitating that we are working.
So now you know where I'm coming from when it comes to meetings in general. But I have a rational explanation why any daily standup, especially a marketing standup, is utterly pointless. Let me explain.
The essence of a standup meeting
For a start, let's quickly run through the basics of a daily standup. An agile daily standup is not about solving problems but reporting on project progress, delegation, & asking for support. Usually, they cover the three main points: what are you doing today, what are you trying to finish today, and do you have any blockers to achieve your daily work? The daily standup is also short, usually keeps a fast 15-mins format. There can be minor differences depending on how you run your agile team, but that's the gist of it.
The question of independent work
Now, first, and I have to be frank here as well. I think every leader's responsibility is - and as a CMO, you are a leader - to hire grown-up people. People who can manage their time, manage their workload, and if they are stuck, they are proactively raising their hands. They are independent. If you don't have these people on your team, it is time to do some human resources check-up.
The question of remote work
Second, we are talking about remote teams. In a remote environment, the entire company is operating online. It also means that all project management is online, hopefully, run through a versatile and capable online tool. If you are a good marketing leader, your team should have pre-populated tasks already, not for a day but for weeks to come; most of them are regular tasks, such as sending out newsletters, updating marketing channels, etc. If you are a good marketing leader, you also manage the tasks and the individual responsibilities - everyone is aware of who's doing what and who is responsible for specific tasks. If they don't, they can look it up online on the tool you use - it is transparent. Since an agile standup meeting never addresses problem-solving, that's another meeting, just the what you did, what you will do, and do you need support to do it. It is entirely pointless to discuss if everything is up online transparently. It is a waste of time. It also feels like you are checking up on others, making sure they are doing their work.
The question of marketing teams
What happens if you don't have a daily standup for your marketing team? Two problems can occur. One, the task won't get done. You will know immediately if that newsletter won't send it out itself. You will also know from the project management tool who was the one who checked out. Two, someone makes a mistake because they didn't ask for support for their task. I understand that not everyone is proactive in seeking help, but after one mistake, anyone can be reminded to ask for support if needed.
Instead of having daily standup meetings
So what to do instead of an agile daily marketing standup meeting?
You can do three things, very simple.
Just don’t do it
First, you can skip them altogether. If your team has independent, responsible, and proactive people - they not just won't need this meeting, but they will feel that this meeting is entirely pointless for them anyway. You will still have a weekly project meeting, but that will be a more extended meeting with room for problem solving and support. And there will be a feedback meeting at the end of the week where you reflect on the week's results. These are valuable meetings.
Bet of automation
Second, use automation. If you use a project management tool, Trello or Asana, or pretty much anything, they usually have automated notifications for those assigned to particular projects. You can hook up these notifications to any other tool; I would opt-in for Slack or a team chat solution. When you start your day in a remote team, you open up your laptop, then our email, then your team chat. With automated notifications, you immediately see your tasks for the day - and your manager also sees them. No need for the daily standup - it's in the notification transparently. If you need support, you contact those who can provide support for you separately and proactively.
Have asynchronous meetings
Third, have an asynchronous meeting. It is useful especially for those who operate across continents with very mixed timezones. It is also helpful if you are working on an urgent project with a strict deadline approaching. In this case, a face-to-face standup might be more effective than simply relying on the project management tool and its notifications. Now the format can be anything. Since this is still a remote environment, it will be better if you write it down as it will be searchable, and you can document & archive everything. A simple routine of a daily email or chat would do, but you can do recorded video or even audio as well. It forces everyone to think through their day, report on what they will do, and write it down or speak it out. Now, it is still a daily meeting - but instead of gathering into one place at one time, everyone can express themselves without pressure or personal expectation.
Meetings for the marketing team
In general, I feel that marketing workflows are much more hectic and more fluid than a development process. Sometimes you can't segment it into days of work; you have to spend more time delivering some results. Therefore I think daily standups are pointless tools for overengineering the work. Also, in the creative process, you need to discuss ideas - you can't just break them down into tasks.
Because of all of the above, I think meetings for a marketing team should be much longer than 15-mins, and they should be not daily but weekly. Suppose you have a large team of marketers with multiple people assigned to performance marketing, content production, and others. In that case, you can have separate meetings with them, but also not as a daily schedule. If you do so, make sure you have weekly all-hands scheduled for everyone.
There is a lot to discuss on organizing workflows for your marketing team - but I'm sure daily standups are not viable solutions for getting things done. What's your experience? Do you agree?
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