Tips for an Effective Daily Scrum Stand-up
The first ceremony of the day, the Daily Scrum Stand-up sets the tone for the workday ahead. Most people start their workday with this Agile ceremony. Unfortunately, the Daily Scrum Stand-up is the ceremony that goes stale very quickly. Team members “go through the motions” only providing general updates or other team members provide way too much details and people start to tune out. The main objective, plan as a team for the day, is not achieved.
So what can you do to enhance the effectiveness of your Daily Scrum Stand-up? Here are some tips.
What is the Daily Scrum Stand-up?
Before we get started, let’s have a refresher of what is the Daily Scrum Stand-up.
According to the Scrum Guide, the Daily Scrum Stand-up is described as:
The purpose of the Daily Scrum is to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the Sprint Backlog as necessary, adjusting the upcoming planned work.
The Daily Scrum is a 15-minute event for the Developers of the Scrum Team. To reduce complexity, it is held at the same time and place every working day of the Sprint. If the Product Owner or Scrum Master are actively working on items in the Sprint Backlog, they participate as Developers.
The Developers can select whatever structure and techniques they want, as long as their Daily Scrum focuses on progress toward the Sprint Goal and produces an actionable plan for the next day of work. This creates focus and improves self-management.
Daily Scrums improve communications, identify impediments, promote quick decision-making, and consequently eliminate the need for other meetings.
The Daily Scrum is not the only time Developers are allowed to adjust their plan. They often meet throughout the day for more detailed discussions about adapting or re-planning the rest of the Sprint’s work.
In my experience, treating the Scrum Guide as hard rules does not work in the real world. Each organization implements Agile differently and following hard rules would cause issues. The Scrum Guide should be treated as best practices, and exactly like the name states, guidelines. As an Agile leader, you should always try to follow the Scrum Guide as close as possible to achieve maximum success, but understand that not everything may be in control (team size, technology, team member experience/skills etc.). With that being said, here are some tips that may slightly differ from what the Scrum Guide prescribes.
Establish the Purpose and Ideal Outcome
Daily Scrum focuses on progress toward the Sprint Goal and produces an actionable plan for the next day of work. This creates focus and improves self-management.
Establishing the purpose and ideal outcome to all of the Agile ceremonies, and any meeting in general is important. Meetings without clear ideal objectives are just that, meetings for the sake of meetings. People are busy, and a meeting for the sake of a meeting just waste time and frustrate team members.
One characteristic of a successful Agile team is the ability to pivot quickly. When you establish the purpose and ideal outcome of the Daily Scrum Stand-up, a team can easily handle a sudden issue or risk that may occur. A risk to the Sprint Goal can be addressed quickly.
Reminding the team the purpose and ideal outcome will be ongoing. As a team works together for a long time, bad habits can creep in. Simple ceremonies like the Stand-up is one of the easiest places bad habits creep in. When you see that the outcome is not being meant, remind team members of the ideal outcome before the next Stand-up.
You may even have to take control of the Daily Scrum Stand-up. Instead of relying on each member to give their daily plan and share blockers, ask questions. Some questions that may be helpful in achieving the ideal outcome can be:
Did you face any blockers/issues/risk yesterday related to the Sprint Goal?
What is the priority story you are working on? Do you have a plan in place to move it forward today?
Do you need help? or can you help others?
Do you see any blockers/issues/risk that may come up in the next few days?
These questions will help keep team members focused on the Sprint Goal and the team’s daily plan. Also, they will uncover any areas where yourself or other team members can help.
Ensure Everyone is on time
The Daily Scrum Stand-up is meant to be a short ceremony. The ceremony sets the tone for the day, and the focus of the Sprint can change. The purpose of Scrum is to work smarter. If people start to miss or show up late, important information could be missed, or an opportunity to help with a blocker or issue could be missed. Missed opportunities can cause repeated work, missed knowledge transfers, or even worse, missed Sprint Goals. When team members are late, it could push the Daily Scrum Stand-up past it’s time limit. People are busy, and it may cause others to leave the ceremony before it is complete, or late for other important meetings.
When you see this issue start to appear, encourage your fellow team members to improve. Start by bringing this issue up in your Sprint Retrospective. Discuss the purpose and outcome of the Daily Scrum Stand-up, and what could be missed by being late. Even if it is only one or two people being late on a regular basis, discussing it at the Sprint Retrospective will remind the whole team of the value the Daily Scrum Stand-up provides. Ensure you don’t mention anyone by name, getting singled out is never a good feeling.
It might just be one or two team members who are late on regular basis. Don’t be afraid to have an ad-hoc conversation with them after a Daily Scrum. Ensure it is casual and non-judgemental. Instead of telling them they have to be their on time, just ask questions if the time doesn’t work, or if other things may be taking up their attention. A team member could have a very legitimate reason they are late, and you can work with them and the team to find a new time that works for everyone. You may even discover an ongoing blocker that you can solve for the team member.
Start with Fun
For a lot of people, the Daily Scrum Stand-up is the start of their workday. Team members may be tired, or not yet in work mode. Starting on a fun, or positive note will help set a positive tone for the day and get the mind moving. There are many techniques you can use to start light.
A Minute of Movement, where a team picks a different stretch or light exercise to do for a minute is great to get the blood flowing, just ensure the movement is accessible for everyone.
Tell a dad joke. Dad jokes may be cheesy, but some goofy humour will put a smile on people’s face. Make sure you have great joke delivery skills though or you will get some awkward looks.
Share the fun holiday of the day. There are so many fun and made up holidays, it is hard to find a day that is not claimed. The meaning behind some of the holidays are just as fun too. “Put a Pillow on your Fridge” day, May 29th, is my personal favourite.
These are just a few ideas to add some fun. Remember though to keep these very short. Everyone’s time should be respected and anything longer than a minute may cause your Daily Scrum Stand-up to run overtime.
Use the Sprint Board
First thing, Monday morning, do you remember what you or others worked on the previous week? I sure don’t. A visual will help remind team members of the work ahead. This is where sharing the Active Sprint Board comes into play.
If you are a team that relies on a tool like Jira to manage Sprints, present the Active Sprint Board in the virtual call. If you work on-site, use a meeting room and present the Sprint Board on a screen.
If you are a team that uses a physical Sprint Board, have the Daily Sprint Stand-up take place around the actual board. Encourage team members to point to the physical Story card they are working on and use it as their main point of discussion.
Sharing the Active Sprint Board will provide a visual of the priorities of the Sprint. Sprint Boards should be ordered by priority of the Story and will keep the top items on top of mind for every team members.
Other items you can share on the Sprint Board can be Action Items the team agree to try. Having these action items on the Sprint Board can serve as a reminder of an Agile experiment the team may be trying.
Limit Time and Encourage Deeper Discussions Afterwards
Here is where a Daily Scrum Stand-up can really go off the rails. Team members going through long updates of every single detail they did the previous day, asking one other member of the team for a solution mid Stand-up, and having a full conversation between the two of them. It’s not the kind of thing that others would typically stay to hear.
Limiting time of each team member is important. Going through fine details of their previous day provides very little context to the overall output of the Daily Scrum Stand-up. When you notice a team member starting to get to detailed, step in. Remind them quickly of what information is valuable, or ask some of the example questions from above. The focus is on the Sprint Goal, not a daily update.
The Daily Scrum Stand-up is a great place to communicate with each other. But if you notice a pattern of team members mentioning they need another team member, this may be a bigger issue that they wait till ceremonies to talk with each other. Bring this learning up in the moment and reinforce it at the Sprint Retrospectives.
Allowing team members to ask questions of each other’s stories is great. Be careful though. If the questions and answers start to take time and does not involve the whole team, step in right away and ask the team to wait till after to continue the conversation.
When conversations are taking too long, or team members are not providing valuable information, people will start to tune out. Once people start to tune out, important information will easily be missed.
Everyone Listen for Hidden Blockers
Every team is made up with members with different skills, experience, and roles. A back-end developer may see a potential blocker another developer is facing, while a Scrum Master may not see it all. A DevOps team member with development experience may notice a team member going in the wrong direction. These hidden blockers may end up being critical issues late in the Sprint.
As the team is focused on the Sprint Goal entirely, relying on one person to handle blockers is a recipe for disaster. If the entire team listens and calls out hidden blockers or potential blockers, you can address a blocker sooner. Addressing a blocker or potential blocker as soon as possible will ensure minimal interruption to the Sprint.
Not only does listening for hidden blockers help the team achieve their Sprint Goal, it will help less skilled team members learn what could be a hidden blocker in the future. Solving a blocker is a great learning opportunity for everyone on the team.
Share Who Leads
After awhile, the same person, asking the same questions, at the same time everyday will get very boring. With only ever one person leading the Daily Scrum Stand-up, improved ways of discussion could also be missed.
Sharing who leads the Stand-up will get everyone involved. When a team member is takes the lead, it will naturally encourage them to be an active participate, and listener. The person leading the Stand-up will now get a better understanding of the current Sprint.
Not only does sharing who leads a Stand-up help team members get a deeper understanding of the current Sprint, leading any ceremony will help grow the team members soft skills.
You can pick a team member to lead an entire Sprint’s worth of Stand-ups, or can pick a new team member each day. You will see the awareness of the Sprint pick up immediately.
Show or Review the Burndown Chart
The Sprint Burndown chart is an easy, and quick look at how the Sprint is progressing. Burndown charts are used to predict your team’s likelihood of completing their work in the time available. They’re also great for keeping the team aware of any scope creep that occurs.
Starting with simply having the Burndown chart on the screen while people start to join as a visual. This will give the team a visual reminder how the Sprint is going and the progress towards the Sprint Goal. Once everyone joins, continue as normal with your Stand-up.
Later on in your team’s Sprint, and time permitting, using the Burndown chart as a discussion point is helpful. If you notice the Burndown chart is showing little progress, this may be a case of Stories are too large and need to be broken down. If you notice the Burndown chart is going up, this is a case of scope creep and should be addressed soon.
Hold a Mid Sprint Check-In
A deeper dive into the progress of a Sprint is a great way to find if the team needs to pivot. A team may need to pivot due to production issues, priority items not showing progress, or unexpected new work that needs to be completed within the Sprint.
Start off by discussing the high level overview of the Sprint. Showing the Sprint Burndown, percentage of work in each swim lane on your Active Sprint Board, and any other information that will be helpful. If you use a tool like Jira, this is an excellent opportunity to create a Jira Dashboard.
Once you are done with the high level overview, I suggest going through each Story based off priority instead of by person. Discuss the highest priority item first. Asking these questions will help with a plan to complete the story.
Did you face any blockers/issues/risk yesterday related to this Story?
Do you have a plan in place to move it forward today? Is there a risk it may not finish?
Do you need help? or can you help others?
Would the team swarming on the Story help?
Continue for each priority Story. If you have Stories that are low priority, feel free to skip these to save time. One trend you may notice is a team member working on a low priority Story. If there is a high priority Story not progressing, you can encourage the team member to help with the high priority Story instead.
Holding a Mid Sprint Check-in may need some extra time though. Depending on your team size, and the length of time it normally takes to complete your Daily Scrum Stand-up, you may need to add extra time to this Mid Sprint Check-in.
The ideal outcome of the Mid Sprint Check-in should be a plan for the rest of the Sprint to knockout the remaining work.
Play a Game Early On
The end of a Sprint can be rough on a team. Between Sprint Retrospective, Sprint Review/Demo, Sprint Planning, and the potential rush of work that may happen at the end of a Sprint, team members are tired. Take a break and enjoy a game.
On the first day of the Sprint, a Daily Scrum Stand-up may not be needed. The Story priorities have been set the day before, the team has a plan for the Sprint, and work is just beginning. Using the Daily Scrum Stand-up time to play a quick game is great to inject some fun, and do some team building without people even knowing they are doing team building.
Depending on the team size, ensure the games can be quick, and everyone can participate. A few games I enjoy are:
Gartic Phone — A fun drawing game much like the game Telephone. There are many different versions of the game so you can mix it up.
Codenames — Split into two teams, one team member from each team gives one word hints and the rest of the team guesses what words are related from tiles of choices. Pick the black card and you lose. Pick the other team’s cards and it gets them closer to a win.
Three Minute Animal — Pick a random animal and then everyone gets 3 minutes to draw it. This can be done both on and offline. Not team building but you get some great laughs.
Conclusion
Implementing these tips will maximize the benefits of your Daily Scrum Stand-up. Your team will become more involved and prepared to tackle the day with a solid plan.
Share in the comments what tips that work for you and your team to improve this important Agile ceremony.
Find these tips helpful? Check out my tips for other Agile ceremonies:
Tips for an Effective Agile Sprint Retrospective
Tips for an Effective Agile Product Backlog Refinement
Tips for an Effective Agile Sprint Review
Tips for an Effective Agile Sprint Planning
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