Have you ever been invited to a wedding without food? Have you ever been to a birthday party without a cake? What about a barbecue without the meat? Watching a football match without chips and beer? Even at a funeral they serve some food. Usually when people meet, there is also something to eat (and to drink). People love to socialize around some (great) food.
So why don’t you serve some food, when you have a meeting in your company? I attended an awful big number of boring (and even some interesting) meetings without food. But what I did observe is, that food is one of the secret ingredients for a successful meeting.
Think about your last sprint planning meeting. In the worst case, (for a 4 week sprint) the whole sprint planning lasts for 8(!) hours. But even a 4 hours sprint planning is quite long. It doesn’t matter if you plan such a meeting in the morning or in the afternoon; towards the last 1 or 2 hours, everybody gets hungry. And if you are hungry you start thinking, where to get food. And if you think about food, it is very hard to focus on the latest user story. But if of you’re a smart ScrumMaster, you’re prepared. You ordered a big chunk of pizza that will arrive just in time. That way nobody has to think about food, because everybody knows that the ScrumMaster took care for it. But bringing food also has other advantages, even in smaller meetings:
- The atmosphere is more relaxed and comfy
- Better results
- People will love to attend your meetings
- Less late comers
- No collywobbles 😉
If you still don’t believe me, ask e.g. @vinylbaustein. He loves to bring food to his meetings. Try it, you won’t regret it. I promise…
Good Thinking, again:-)
And thanks to Thorsten for leading by example!