Daily Scrum Anti-Patterns — An Introduction
An Excerpt from the Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide (6)
Hello everyone!
Welcome to the sixth excursion into Scrum anti-patterns—the Daily Scrum.
The Daily Scrum is a critical event for inspecting progress toward the Sprint Goal, run by the Developers and guiding them for the next 24 hours. The Daily Scrum is the shortest planning horizon in Scrum and, thus, highly effective in contributing to the Scrum Team’s success.
Moreover, the Daily Scrum is also a Scrum event with an exceptionally high anti-pattern density, ranging from becoming a reporting session to assignments to answering these bl**dy three questions never intended to represent a Daily Scrum template.
Contrary to popular belief, its 15-minute timebox is not intended to solve all the issues addressed during the Daily Scrum. Instead, it is about creating transparency, thus triggering the inspection. If an adaption of the plan or the Sprint Backlog, for example, is required, the Developers are free to handle the resulting issues at any time. In my experience, most Daily Scrum anti-patterns result from misunderstanding this core principle.
The Purpose of the Daily Scrum According to the Scrum Guide
Scrum Guide clearly describes the purpose of the Daily Scrum — no guessing is necessary:
The goal of the Daily Scrum is to review progress toward the Sprint Goal and make necessary adjustments to the Sprint Backlog.
The meeting must focus on progress and produce an actionable plan for the coming day.
However, Developers can adjust their plan anytime, not only during the Daily Scrum.
Developers choose the structure and techniques for the meeting.
More detailed discussions about work adaptation or re-planning often occur throughout the day.
The formality of the Daily Scrum fosters communication by dedicating a short, focused time box to identifying roadblocks and promoting quick decision-making to overcome those. Other forms of communication, from asynchronous chats to sipping coffee or having lunch notwithstanding, the Daily Scrum is hence a critical element of Scrum’s risk mitigation strategy.
Typically, a seasoned Scrum Team won’t need more than 10 to 15 minutes to inspect its progress toward the Sprint Goal. Given this short period, it is interesting that the Daily Scrum is often riddled with anti-patterns. The anti-patterns usually cover a broad spectrum, ranging from behaviors driven by dysfunctional Scrum Teams to apparent failures at an organizational level.
The Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide explores how pitfalls like ‘The Lost Scrum Team,’ ‘Daily Status Report,’ and ‘Monologuing’ can derail your Daily Scrum. From ‘Overcrowding’ to ‘Communicating via Body Language’ to ‘Daily Scrum Enforcer,’ the Guide will help you to recognize and address these subtle yet significant missteps.
Food for Thought
Synchronous and asynchronous Daily Scrum events: Some teams like to have Daily Scrum in Slack, particularly those not co-located. But, of course, using Slack does not manifest an anti-pattern per se; it is the prerogative of the Developers to run the Daily Scrum in any fashion that serves its purpose: inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the plan for the next 24 hours to meet the Sprint Goal if necessary. I was even working with a co-located Scrum Team—sitting around a large table—that used a synchronous Slack session as their preferred way of having their Daily Scrum. It worked well. But what about an asynchronous Daily Scrum in Slack?
Substituting the Daily Scrum: What about the idea of skipping the Daily Scrum altogether, as the Developers are heavily using more or less automated messaging systems on most aspects of their daily work, while they can handle the rest during other events, for example, pairing or mobbing sessions? Is it beneficial to allocate 15 minutes day-to-day to the Daily Scrum under these circumstances? Or is that mere dogmatism?
Extending the 15-minute time box: Suppose a Scrum Team works in an environment where they need to allocate a significant part of the daily capacity to operational issues. While this work is not part of the Sprint Goal, it is essential for the organization’s sustainability. Typically, dealing with these issues requires everyone on the team to participate. Should the team address these issues during the Daily Scrum, even at the cost of extending its time box?
Conclusion
Given the importance of the Daily Scrum for the success of the Scrum Team’s effort to achieve the Sprint Goal, its anti-pattern density is no surprise. Unfortunately, many people seem ignorant (or at least less well-educated) about its purpose. Or they—intentionally or not—interfere with the Developers’ self-management.
However, the solution to these problems lies mainly with the Scrum Master. They are tasked with educating and guiding all participants to uphold the purpose of the Daily Scrum by fostering a culture of transparency, respect, and shared accountability. It is the only way to make the Daily Scrum a valuable tool in achieving the Sprint Goal.
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Best,
Stefan
