Jerry took me aside afterwards and suggested that the next time I am in that situation, simply put the marker down and physically move.

Stupid, right? I should have just done that, right? Well the best time to plant a tree is 100 years ago, right now is the next best time. I have not forgotten that lesson. In fact, I often do just that and I often train people to do the same thing. It is absolutely amazing what moving can do. (It often increases the congruence between your words and your actions.)

What about pair programming? More often than not, workstations are not conducive to working in pairs. One person is “in front” and the other is over the shoulder, off to the side, whatever. Or, worse yet, the monitor is in the corner. The setup needs to allow for equal access to the keyboard, mouse and monitor. If not, then you are not peers, there’s the driver and the other person. That’s just a fact. The physical location is of first-order importance.

Here’s another example. In the scrum meetings you’ve attended, are people talking to each other or is everybody reporting to the manager? More often than not, I observe a status meeting with everybody standing up.

This week I observed a profound transformation that I hope sticks (OK, I thought it was important, we’ll see). I’ve been working with a team that was really doing the stand-up, activity-oriented, daily status report – cargo culting scrum meetings.

Last week we had a “come to your deity” meeting. The result, while painful, was useful. We went from having mostly activities in the backlog to a much better mix of deliverables and some activities (I’m not looking for perfection, just striving for it – perfection is a journey, not a destination). I came back this week (on Wednesday) and I was unimpressed with the wall of tasks – or rather the seeming lack of progress.

Wednesday we created a sprint burndown, calculated both by number of tasks and estimated ideal days (I prefer story points, but this team is using ideal time for a good reason).

Based on that, the team was simply going to be way too late. We published that chart and next day things were looking better. By idea days, we were going to be late but closer. Tasks were just about there.

Then today two things happened. During the scrum, better than half of the reporting was on what tasks had been completed and what tasks were on the table. It was simply amazing.

Another thing that I noticed was that the developers seemed to be talking to each other. Not 100%, but rather than a nearly visual conduit between the manager or scrum master and the person reporting, it was more of a broadcast. The quasi-circle stayed such; it did not become a line between reporter and manager, followed by another line.

I mentioned it to a few people. I’m not sure the team noticed it. I was really impressed with the team.

Of course I make a huge mistake. I did not tell them this right after the meeting so I missed a prime reinforcement opportunity.

The difference was palpable.

Years ago I learned the “trick” of not sitting “on a side” in meetings. If I was in a meeting with colleagues and clients, I tried to make sure to mix it up. This is another example of the same idea.

Bottom line, you often have a profound tool at your disposal that you can use. That’s your current location. If you need to mix things up then change from standing to sitting, or one side of the room to another. If you are at the front of the room, move to the back of the room. If you’re cowering in a corner, consider moving up to the table.

It really makes a difference.

What do you think?