Mark Levison
Posts: 877
Nickname: mlevison
Registered: Jan, 2003
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Mark Levison an agile software developer who writes Notes from a tool user.
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A Tale of Two Daily Scrums
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Posted: Dec 21, 2013 6:42 PM
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This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Agile Buzz
by Mark Levison.
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Original Post: A Tale of Two Daily Scrums
Feed Title: Notes from a Tool User
Feed URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/NotesFromAToolUser
Feed Description: Thoughts about photography, software development, reading, food, wine and the world around us.
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From surveying many people in my CSM trainings I’ve found most people think that Daily Scrum is about team members answering the three famous questions: What did you do yesterday? What will you do today? What are your impediments or roadblocks? These questions are a useful starting point; yet adherence to exactly the same questions is an impediment itself. Daily Scrum is intended to help the team: Self organize Prepare to collaborate for the day Ensure that we’re still on track to meet the Sprint Goal I’ve often suggested that teams consider improving the three questions to: What did you complete yesterday? What will you complete today? What is slowing you down? I find focusing on completion helps the team focus on getting features to completion. I also find that asking about slowdowns finds more impediments. I’ve also been known to suggest that problem solving happens best immediately after the Daily Scrum. Allowing team members who’re not interested to sit down, while those who want to solve the problem(s) remain engaged. However, recently I’ve watched several teams turn this into an exercise with militaristic precision. With the first Daily Scrum our ScrumMaster, John, has established the Daily Scrum time at 10am every day. The meeting is held in front of the team’s Sprint Backlog and John insists stand and not lounge against the desks. At the beginning he reminds team members of the three questions: “What did you complete yesterday?” He also reminds team members that problem solving is saved for after Daily Scrum. As the activity progresses John barks at one team member who gets off track and gently reminds another when they move to problem solving. The activity almost always ends in less than 8 minutes. John is surprised that team members rarely hang around afterwards to resolve issues. In addition, instead of collaborating, most team members seem to go off to their respective silos to work for the day. Rereading this post and reflecting on the purpose of Daily Scrum John decides to loosen up. He realizes that the past approach was all about him and not about the needs of the team. John begins by polling team members – is 10am the best time for Daily Scrum? Can you commit to being present for your team by that time every day? Then he creates a big poster with the purpose, the time limit and the three sample questions. Instead of reading them from his list of rules, he often asks which team member would like to read out the purpose and guidelines. Depending on the energy level and mood of the team, he sometimes opens with a simple warm-up game – anything from a ball-passing game to something from the world of Improv. Not until the team has warmed up does he invite them to get started. To remind people of the passage of time he displays a countdown timer on a large monitor near the Sprint Backlog. His daily standups sometimes lose focus, and they don’t always finish on time. However, they’ve become more energizing events for the team. Ask your team if their current Daily Scrum is helping them achieve the purpose: Self organize Prepare to collaborate for the day Ensure that we’re still on track to meet the Sprint Goal If it isn’t, then change your format and style until it does. After each change assume it will take 2-4 weeks to sort out whether the right change was made. Remember there are only two rules: it happens daily, its 15 minutes or less. Daily Scrum is not about following a checklist – it’s about collaboration. This has been a very popular topic recently. For some other viewpoints try: Standup and Shut-up from Neil Killick. Richard Lawrence – Focusing on the Right Things in Your Daily Scrum. Best Daily Scrum Activity Ever (Tai Chi) – David Koontz. Tobias Fors – Worst Daily Scrum Ever. Another Story about John – his Daily Standup Challenges What problems have you and your team suffered through over the years with Daily Scrum?
Read: A Tale of Two Daily Scrums
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