With the growing need for high performance, scrum meetings are being held by most organizations. Especially when it comes to working with an offshore software development team, scrum meeting enables better collaboration among the team members and ensure a transparency atmosphere. But while conducting scrum meetings with offshore teams, a lot of hurdles may come across. Starting from time management to resistance to change, a lot of hurdles may crop up. Some of the effective tips to overcome the potential scrum meeting hurdles include:
Stick to the Set Timeframe
While the scrum meetings are usually designed for 15 minutes, they tend to extend, thereby leading to distraction among team members. Strictly sticking to the timeframe can help in enhancing the effectiveness of the meeting. Staring the meeting on time and adhering to the fixed timeslot ensures brisk and relevant discussions without the waste of any productive time.
Plan the Meeting
Proper planning before the scrum meeting is essential for optimum success. Effective planning helps in determining the goal or purpose of the meeting. It also enables you to be informed about all the details with much precision. Preparing the list of topics that are of high priority can ensure that the meeting does not go off track.
Informing your offshore team about the scrum meeting also gives them time to be prepared. Prior preparation will enable your team members to understand and discuss their specific roles and contributions better. It will help them to plan tasks for the future more effectively.
Stick to the Objective
Ensuring a smooth scrum meeting with your offshore team becomes easy when you stick to the main objective. While there are chances that questions, issues, or clarifications may arise during the meeting, but make sure to discuss them only after the meeting. Emphasizing on the key objective of the meeting helps in avoiding deviations and ensuring better outcomes of the meeting.
Coaching for Behavior and Agility
While working with offshore teams, there are chances that your team members may develop differences due to different belief systems and working styles. As such differences may lead to difficult situations during the project, resolving them at the earliest is important. By creating an atmosphere of inclusiveness and encouraging respect for each other’s working style and background can help in better collaboration.
Choose an Appropriate Time and Venue
Time and place, when not decided carefully, can also create hurdles for scrum meetings. To avoid such situations, make sure to choose a convenient time and a convenient place where all your offshore team members can meet. The choice of appropriate time and venue ensures that all the team members are present, and the progress of the project is not affected in any way.
Keep Every Individual Team Member Engaged
In order to ensure the successful completion of a project, the participation of all your team members is important. Make sure to keep all the members motivated and encouraged. Encourage them to take active participation in the scrum meetings. It not only gives them a feeling of belongingness but also helps them in understanding as to where the project stands now.
Review Scrum Meetings
Conducting a review of your scrum meetings help in keeping track of the progress made after the meeting. Make sure all the points discussed in the meeting are properly dealt with and are completed with the set timeline.
Following the above tips can help in overcoming the potential hurdles of scrum meetings with your offshore team and enhancing the success rates.
Top comments (1)
The first step towards improving team dynamics and enhancing morale is to drop the term "offshore" in your conversations.