Every day, countless teams worldwide participate in daily stand-ups or scrums. It’s that short meeting where everyone shares what they did yesterday, what they plan to do today, and mentions any blockers they’re facing.
But let’s be honest - these meetings can quickly become routine. People show up, give their updates mechanically, and miss out on a perfect opportunity to actually connect with their teammates.
Enter “Question of the Day”
A few weeks ago, Sean from my team introduced something called “Question of the Day”. The concept is simple: whoever moderates the stand-up asks one random, fun question that helps us learn more about each other.
Some examples of questions we’ve used:
- What’s your favorite caffeinated drink?
- What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
- What’s your favorite candy?
But it doesn’t always have to be about favorites! We also ask things like:
- Share a fun fact about yourself
- What would you do with an elephant if it were gifted to you and you couldn’t sell it or give it away?
The answers can get pretty wild, and that’s part of the fun!
How We Organize It
We rotate moderators weekly, which gives each person time to prepare a week’s worth of questions. They’re free to come up with questions on their own or generate them using an LLM if they want.
Every Friday, we use a spinning wheel to pick the next week’s moderator. Once someone has been a moderator, they’re removed from the wheel for that rotation. When everyone has had a turn, we reset the wheel and start over.
The Impact
We’ve only been doing this for several weeks, but I’ve already noticed we’re starting to know each other better outside of work context. It’s been great for team morale!
The “Question of the Day” brings a human element to our stand-ups, which is especially valuable in a remote setting where we don’t get many chances to see each other in person. Since we have to set up explicit calls to talk, having this built into our existing meetings makes connecting more natural.
I highly recommend giving this practice a try with your own team! Find your own style and questions that work for your group - it’s a small change that can make a big difference in how your team connects.