Scrum Daily Standup: Help, our dailies take forever!

Daily scrums are an everyday topic in product management. If they work effectively, they are a benefit for the whole team. If not, they become one of the most annoying aspects of everyday life. With structure, good leadership and a few more tips, your dailies will become what they should be.

What are Daily Scrum Meetings anyway?

Dailies do not serve as a daily status report for product managers, nor are they a tool for daily progress monitoring. Rather, dailies are a chance for all team members to share their progress and get blocks out of the way. A clear definition of the daily standup meeting is that it serves to synchronize team members and identify obstacles early on.

The intention for a daily is: Is there an obstacle since yesterday or today that could jeopardize the team's sprint goal?

In theory, a team needs no more than 15 minutes to do this.

Why do dailies often take so long? Can a time box help?

Two points in particular lead to overlong daily stand-up meetings: unclear structure and digressive discussions. However, you can avoid this with good leadership and a coordinated communication style. Let's take a closer look at these points.

Structure in the Daily

The excessive length of many dailies is often due to the structure. Perhaps the goal was not clearly communicated to the team beforehand. If the team itself does not know exactly what the framework for the Daily Scrum Meeting looks like, it is more difficult to filter topics. So make it clear what belongs in this meeting and what does not. The structure is extremely important here. It should be communicated clearly and unambiguously.

The Daily should only focus on three core questions:

1. What was the last thing you finished?
2. What are you going to finish next?
3. What is preventing you from completing the next task? (Do you need anything else?)

The Daily is an opportunity for all team members. Everyone can get what they need from the team to complete their next task.

Digression in the Daily

As dailies become more and more digital, they can become the only point of contact between team members. So if the team only talks in person in the daily stand-up, the topics tend to digress and drag out the daily. If this is the reason for inefficient dailies, a simple division is recommended. For example, hold the Daily first and then give the team 15 minutes to talk in person.

Discussions between individual team members can be an extreme time waster. The technical content in the daily should remain within the scope of the discussion. If necessary, postpone discussions between individual participants until later.

Management of the dailies

In the best case scenario, the Daily Scrum Meeting does not require any special leadership. Depending on how effectively the Daily is already functioning, a Scrum Master can take the lead. However, the task of ensuring compliance with the daily rules can also rotate within the team. A new "Scrum Nanny" can take on this task for each sprint. This prevents the dailies from mutating into a mere monitoring of progress.

Situational communication in the team

Thomas compares the type of communication in the Daily to a quick meeting at half-time in a team sport: quick allocation of tasks. Effective exchange of completed tasks and to-dos to check progress.

In exactly 15 minutes, you discuss with your team what is needed for the next stage. It's all about how to solve the really acute problems.

3 tips to make your dailies even more effective:

Also note the following three tips for more effective daily stand-ups:

1. Code word

A code word helps to interrupt digressions. Each team member can say the word to interrupt other participants if they digress from the actual content of the daily.

1. Open the board

Many teams find it helpful to open the digital or analog board during the dailies. This makes it easier for members to work through the current tasks.

1. Collect topics in advance

Post obstacles or critical topics in a daily chat beforehand. This gives everyone an immediate overview. Perhaps the problem can be solved before the Daily.

Conclusion

Team members play a central role in the design of the dailies. There are many tips and tricks for making dailies more effective. In practice, however, the daily can be an anchor for the team despite its excessive length. If the exchange in the daily helps the entire team to work and perform better, then that's a good thing. With this outcome, the Daily can also be extended by a few minutes.

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