Scrum Standup: Effective Team Synchronisation and Management

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A scrum standup is a daily meeting held in the workplace to discuss what members of a team are working on, and any issues that may arise. The purpose of this meeting is to keep everyone up-to-date with what's happening on their project, as well as get feedback from the team about how things are going. In this blog post, we will explore the significance of the Scrum standup and how it revolutionises team dynamics and fosters effective communication.

What is Scrum Daily Standup?

The Scrum daily standup is a short meeting, usually held daily or multiple times per week to inspect the progress of a team and adapt it to the changing needs of its stakeholders.

The main purpose of the daily standup is to provide transparency and information about what everyone on the team has done since the last daily standup. This helps everyone see what they need to do to complete their tasks and reach their goals.

The daily standup will also give you information about any obstacles that have been encountered so that you can work with your manager or customer to resolve them as soon as possible.

The daily standup should only take 15 minutes or less; anything longer than this means that something is wrong with your process or workflow, which needs to be fixed immediately.

Each participant answers three questions:

What did I do yesterday?
What will I do today?
Is there anything blocking me?

The answers to these questions are typically captured in a brief bulleted list.

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Rules to be Followed in Scrum Standup

The daily Scrum is a 15-minute meeting for the team. The daily Scrum is held every day of the Sprint.

The team members take turns answering these questions to maximise participation and get a full understanding of what’s going on. The Scrum Master can ask clarifying questions if necessary.

The daily Scrum is not an update session; it’s more like a quick status check-in with other people on your team so they can plan accordingly with you and ensure they aren’t blocking you from getting work done.

Here are the 6 rules that you need to follow:

1. Start your standup on time.

2. Keep the update short.

3. Share what you did yesterday, and what you plan to do today.

4. Ask for help with anything that's blocking your progress.

5. If someone has prevented you from finishing something yesterday, bring it up now.

6. Make sure everyone understands the current status of the project.

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Detailed Process for Scrum Daily Meeting

The daily Scrum is an important part of Scrum because it helps maintain visibility into the development process and keeps everyone on track. This includes keeping all of your stakeholders informed about the status of your project and making sure that you have everything you need to move forward with development.

Here are 6 steps in the process:

1. Set an agenda

The first step in the process of daily Scrum meetings is to set an agenda. The agenda could be anything from what has been done yesterday and what needs to be done today, to what was learned yesterday and how it can be used today. It may also include discussions on upcoming projects or tasks that may require more details or brainstorming sessions on any topic related to work or personal interests.

2. Fill in any missing information from previous meetings

In this step, team members have to fill in any missing information from previous meetings by checking their notes and coming up with answers to any questions raised during previous meetings. Team members should also update their status on deliverables completed so far as well as those which are currently being worked on by them.

3. Review yesterday’s tasks and accomplishments

In this meeting, you review what was accomplished yesterday and what will be done today. The team discusses any issues that may have come up during the previous day or while completing the tasks laid out in their backlogs. The team also plans what they'll accomplish today based on what they've learned from their previous days of work.

4. Identify and discuss today’s work priorities (tasks)

Based on the status report, each person decides what they will do today, who will help them if needed, and when they will have something ready for review by others (e.g., demos or testing). This helps people share knowledge across disciplines and understand where others are working as well as when they can ask for help from others in their own work stream.

5. Discuss any roadblocks or challenges that may affect the team’s ability to meet its commitments

The team should discuss any roadblocks that may have occurred during the last 24 hours, including problems with other teams or individuals who have blocked progress for one reason or another.

6. End with a quick look at tomorrow's plan

At the end of the Daily Scrum Meeting, the team should have a clear idea of what they'll be doing next. Each member should be able to explain what they are going to do and how they will be working with other team members.

Benefits of Daily Scrum Standup

The short, daily Scrum standup is a time-boxed meeting that helps keep teams on track. It’s a quick check-in that keeps people focused on the work at hand.

Here are five benefits of daily Scrum standups:

1. It's a way to track progress and make sure everyone is on the same page.

2. It helps you identify roadblocks and problems before they get out of hand.

3. It keeps everyone accountable for their work and encourages transparency throughout the team.

4. It helps improve communication between team members, which in turn improves productivity and collaboration within the team (and also reduces miscommunication).

5. It helps identify imbalances in workloads or other issues that need to be addressed immediately (e.g., "I'm swamped with work right now" or "My feature isn't ready yet").

Conclusion

If you're an agile project manager, you're likely using the scrum methodology to help you manage your projects. This means that you'll be conducting daily standups and planning meetings, as well as performing other tasks that are common to the scrum methodology. The PSM certification is the industry-standard Agile certification. Achieving PSM status will demonstrate that you have the knowledge, skills and ability to effectively coach teams in all aspects of agile software development.