Ways to Improve Daily Scrum Meetings

Scrum meetings: some people swear by them, others swear at them, but like them or not, they are an essential part of utilizing agile project management techniques.

Oftentimes, the people to reject scrum meetings were stuck in bad ones. Quick, 15-minute standups turned into hour-long debates with no real solutions in sight. While scrum meetings can be valuable in keeping a project on track, they can also quickly get out of hand.

Reference: https://theuncommonleague.com/blog/2018410/how-to-improve-your-agile-scrum-meetings

Here are the tips for improving your daily scrum meetings.

Only Talk About the Work of the Current Sprint Preparation for the Coming Sprint

Discussion should be limited to work team members performed in pursuit of the team’s sprint goal.

Beyond that I allow a little bit of discussion about work preparing for the next sprint. For example, “I split the stories for next sprint and think they’re all small enough now. Also, I scheduled time with Miss Important so we can meet with her next sprint.”

Reference: https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/ten-tips-for-more-effective-daily-scrums

Stick to the rule: Time is money

The meetings should start at a fixed time every morning and the timing should be followed strictly irrespective of the fact that some team members have not arrived. You could offer incentives for those who arrive on time and impose penalties on those who do not. Also keep the meetings short and to-the-point. The daily scrum meetings should last for around 15 minutes or so.

Reference: https://www.scrum-institute.org/blog/10-Tips-To-Get-The-Best-Out-Of-Your-Daily-Scrum-Meetings

Late Penalties

You arrive on time and you start your meeting on time. However, you still struggle to get your team to be punctual. Even worse, some of your team are failing to turn up because they claim to be too busy.

Sound familiar?

There's a very simple solution. At the start of a scrum project, agree together with the team a small fine for anyone who fails to attend a daily scrum or turns up late. A popular idea is a small financial penalty that goes towards the drinks funds for the end of the project celebrations. Whatever you choose to do, you can make it lighthearted and still get a serious point across: attend the meeting or pay the price.

Reference: https://toughnickel.com/business/5-ways-to-improve-daily-scrum-meetings

What time do we have it?

There is no prescribed time to have the Daily Scrum, as long as it is held at the same time and same place each day to reduce complexity. The specific time can be whatever the team are comfortable with.

If the idea is to inspect, plan and adapt for the next 24 hours then I find it is better to hold the Daily Scrum as soon as possible. In my experience if you are running the Daily Scrum at 11am or 1pm then it’s not going to have the same impact. The working day is already underway and conversations will of already been held.

Reference: https://medium.com/serious-scrum/10-tips-to-improve-your-daily-scrum-f3d66946a487