The morning stand-up question

It was a small thing, really. Just the question of who would kick off the daily stand-up. But the silence that followed the ask was always a little too heavy, a little too long.

That moment of hesitation

You could see it in their eyes. No one wanted to volunteer, but no one wanted to be seen as avoiding it either. It created this tiny, unnecessary tension right at the start of the day. I hated being the one to just point at someone.It felt arbitrary. Like I was playing favorites, even when I wasn't. The decision itself was trivial, but the weight of making it wasn't.

Letting the wheel decide

So I built a simple digital wheel with everyone's name on it. I didn't make a big speech about fairness. I just shared my screen and gave it a spin before the meeting officially started. The click was audible, the wheel spun, and it landed.The relief was immediate, and it wasn't just mine. The person chosen gave a small, accepting nod. There was no grumbling, no side-eyes. The responsibility was just… assigned, by a neutral third party.We could all just move on. The stand-up began, and the actual work took center stage again. That tiny friction was gone.

A quiet reset

It became our new normal. Now, the spin of the wheel is just part of the routine, a five-second ritual that clears the air.