Where should Daily Scrum be held?

In Scrum, on each day of a sprint, the team holds a daily scrum meeting called the "daily scrum.” Meetings are typically held in the same location and at the same time each day. Ideally, a daily scrum meeting is held in the morning, as it helps set the context for the coming day's work. These scrum meetings are strictly time-boxed to 15 minutes. This keeps the discussion brisk but relevant.

There is an old joke in Scrum about a chicken and a pig that illustrates the differences between being committed and being involved.

Scrum affords special status to those who are committed, and many teams enforce a rule in which only those who are committed are allowed to talk during the daily scrum meeting.

The team and Scrum Master are considered committed by nearly everyone in the Scrum community. There is some disagreement about the product owner. My view is that a product owner should be considered a dedicated participant of the project. (And should behave as one, too.)

All team members are required to attend scrum meetings. Since both the Scrum Master and product owner are committed team members, they are expected to attend and participate. Anyone else (for example, a departmental VP, a salesperson or a developer from another project) is allowed to attend, but is there only to listen. This makes scrum meetings an excellent way for a Scrum team to disseminate information -- if you're interested in hearing where things are at, attend that day's meeting.
 

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The daily scrum meeting is not used as a problem-solving or issue resolution meeting. Issues that are raised are taken offline and usually dealt with by the relevant subgroup immediately after the meeting. During the daily scrum, each team member answers the following three questions:

1. What did you do yesterday?
2. What will you do today?
3. Are there any impediments in your way?

By focusing on what each person accomplished yesterday and will accomplish today, the team gains an excellent understanding of what work has been done and what work remains. The daily scrum meeting is not a status update meeting in which a boss is collecting information about who is behind schedule. Rather, it is a meeting in which team members make commitments to each other.

If a programmer stands up and says, "Today, I will finish the data storage module," everyone knows that in tomorrow's meeting, he will say whether or not he finished. This has the wonderful effect of helping a team realize the significance of these commitments, and that their commitments are to one another, not to some far-off customer or salesman.
 

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Any impediments that are raised in the scrum meeting become the ScrumMaster's responsibility to resolve as quickly as possible. Typical impediments are:

• My ____ broke and I need a new one today.
• I still haven't got the software I ordered a month ago.
• I need help debugging a problem with ______.
• I'm struggling to learn ______ and would like to pair with someone on it.
• I can't get the vendor's tech support group to call me back.
• Our new contractor can't start because no one is here to sign her contract.
• I can't get the ____ group to give me any time and I need to meet with them.
• The department VP has asked me to work on something else "for a day or two."

In cases where the ScrumMaster cannot remove these impediments directly himself (e.g., usually the more technical issues), he still takes responsibility for making sure someone on the team does quickly resolve the issue.

The vast majority of teams conduct the daily scrum meeting by having each person answer the three questions in order. You answer all three, then the next person, the next and so on. An interesting alternative that some teams find helpful is to talk through one product backlog item before moving on to the next. In this way, an individual may give an update at multiple different times during the same meeting.

Learn About the Daily Scrum Event

As described in the Scrum Guide, 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.

Inspection and Adaption at the Heart of Scrum

The Developers use the Daily Scrum to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and to inspect how progress is trending toward completing the work in the Sprint Backlog. The Daily Scrum optimizes the probability that the Development Team will meet the Sprint Goal. Every day, the Developers should understand how it intends to work together as a self-organizing team to accomplish the Sprint Goal and create the anticipated Increment by the end of the Sprint. Team members often meet immediately after the Daily Scrum for detailed discussions, or to adapt, or replan, the rest of the Sprint’s work.

Daily Scrums improve communications, eliminate other meetings, identify impediments to development for removal, highlight and promote quick decision-making, and improve the Development Team’s level of knowledge. This is a key inspect and adapt meeting.

The structure of the meeting is set by the Developers and can be conducted in different ways if it focuses on progress toward the Sprint Goal. 

The Role of the Scrum Master During the Daily Scrum

The Scrum Master ensures that the meeting happens, but the Developers are responsible for conducting the Daily Scrum. The Scrum Master teaches them to keep the Daily Scrum within the 15-minute time-box.

The Daily Scrum is an internal meeting for the Scrum Team. If others are present, the Scrum Master ensures that they do not disrupt the meeting.

The Daily Scrum is Not a Status Meeting

In this video, Professional Scrum Trainer Stephanie Ockerman discusses the differences between a status meeting and a Daily Scrum and why they are very different.

Search all Resources related to the Daily Scrum.

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