Today we used a new "Roundabout" mechanism in our daily stand-up, which is in a conference room. We have our artifacts on the walls, and our focal point for stand-up is our sprint status board with our story cards (large post-it's) and tasks on a progress chart. We use this chart in addition to an electronic mechanism to track the progress through the sprint. We have been just each standing around the table and pointing to the story cards and talking about our progress and status.

Today, (at the suggestion of a team member) we each stood by the chart, moved our tasks and story cards as appropriate, and then all the team moved around to the right walking around the table, so the next person could stand by the chart and talk about their tasks. I think this worked very well, as it kept focus on the team member speaking, and the team member was able to focus completely on the tasks and stories on the wall by physically touching them. It helped keep status focused and short. The movement around the room and around the table gave us a new perspective on the room and the chart, each time someone was speaking. Also, it gave us some physical motion to keep our bodies and minds engaged and present. Stand-up was shorter, and more effective. All the team felt that this was a good new addition to the daily routine, and the team is now wanting to add this movement to our working agreements.

Just moving around a table one team member at a time is a small thing, but it's FREE and seemed to help focus and productivity, so I am going to suggest the mechanism to any scrum team I have the pleasure to be part of in the future. Try it out and see what happens!