Daily Scrum Myths

1 - Daily Scrum as a status report

There is a need (even if it's a small one) for the managers and even the project managers to implement command and control. This is the main reason why many companies are using the daily scrum as a status report.

This way the daily scrum looses its purpose as a team's self-organized meeting and turns to be an evaluation of how the job has been done.

The scrum guide says that the team members use the daily scrum to follow their progress regarding the sprint objective. Another important point is that the scrum master must always remind that the daily scrum belongs to the team members and is up to them to decide how they will drive it.

2 - Daily scrum as problem solver meeting

There is a reason why the daily scrum is also known as a stand up meeting: If the participants have a sit the chances of the meeting extends more than necessary raise significantly.

The scrum guide makes it clear: The daily scrum is a 15 minutes meeting for the team synchronize its activities and create a plan for the next 24 hours.

Many people mistakenly believe that the daily scrum is used for:
- Notify problems to the scrum master
- Discuss a solution for a problem that you had yesterday (that hasn't been solved yet)
- Gather team members to discuss technical issues

Just to make it clear: If you have an impeditive issue that you cannot go through by yourself than you shall ask for help in that moment. Don't wait until next meeting to ask for help ok?

3 - Daily scrum as the only opportunity to update the team's board

You've seen that already, right? The team members wait until the meeting day to move their completed tasks in the kanboard. But wait: For what reason do we have a beautifully strutted board in a place where everyone can see if it stays 23 hours and 45 minutes outdated every day?

When a task is completed move it to the "done" and move the next one to the "doing". Don't wait until the next daily scrum. It doesn't make sense. Remember the following rule: The team's board has to be always up to date. And it's a team's responsibility to keep it this way.

And how's your team's daily scrum?
The daily scrum is incredibly effective if executed right. It is simple and direct, but you need to ask yourself all the time: Do I know why I'm doing it?

To think like this may help you out to always get to the next step.