To get scrum to work stay focused on immediate tasks and roadblocks. The only topics should be what was done, what will be done and what roadblocks there are to getting stuff done. Anything else is off mission so nip it in the bud. Some teams have "safe words", like "Squirrel!", to indicate when someone is going off topic or rambling.
Don't get bogged down in technical details. If someone needs some help, assign someone to help/mentor them and move on. Don't use the scrum to do that. If the majority of the team is need to work out a problem, schedule a separate meeting to work on it.
Keep it short as possible. Just because you blocked out 15 minutes doesn't mean that you have to use every minute of it. There is the temptation to fill in the space so don't give into it.
Hold the scrum away from desks, offices meeting rooms and even white boards. This will keep you standing to keep the meeting short and avoid distractions like "let me just show you on my screen" or "let me draw it out" or "does the projector work?". For example, at one company we held our scrum in the break/coffee room or on an outdoor patio (weather permitting). One big drag I've seen on these meetings are ones where the lead brings up the project management software on their PC and walks through the sprint.
If people don't show up, which can happen due to unavoidable things like traffic and so forth, just keep going. Don't wait around, just get it done. They can fill in the team later via email if they need to. If people are intentionally tardy/absent frequently, then some additional measures may needed to get better cooperation.
Don't waste time doing a recap email or the like. I've had some managers insist on this kind of thing and it is a micromanaging waste of time.
Don't do scrum if there's no purpose in it. For example, a team that's primarily maintaining and supporting deployed applications may not need a daily scrum since they really aren't in a focused development sprint where tight team collaboration is needed. Everyone may be working on mostly unrelated tasks. A simple emailing of roadblocks to the team may suffice in this situation.
Thanks! I love the safe word. We just had a scrum today but was more like a project status update. And since not all are working in an active project, like me, some are less cooperative. It's hard to lead when you're one of the uncooperatives really. I will discuss with my fellow seniors on this. Obviously we have different definitions and intentions on this scrum. Thanks for the input.
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To get scrum to work stay focused on immediate tasks and roadblocks. The only topics should be what was done, what will be done and what roadblocks there are to getting stuff done. Anything else is off mission so nip it in the bud. Some teams have "safe words", like "Squirrel!", to indicate when someone is going off topic or rambling.
Don't get bogged down in technical details. If someone needs some help, assign someone to help/mentor them and move on. Don't use the scrum to do that. If the majority of the team is need to work out a problem, schedule a separate meeting to work on it.
Keep it short as possible. Just because you blocked out 15 minutes doesn't mean that you have to use every minute of it. There is the temptation to fill in the space so don't give into it.
Hold the scrum away from desks, offices meeting rooms and even white boards. This will keep you standing to keep the meeting short and avoid distractions like "let me just show you on my screen" or "let me draw it out" or "does the projector work?". For example, at one company we held our scrum in the break/coffee room or on an outdoor patio (weather permitting). One big drag I've seen on these meetings are ones where the lead brings up the project management software on their PC and walks through the sprint.
If people don't show up, which can happen due to unavoidable things like traffic and so forth, just keep going. Don't wait around, just get it done. They can fill in the team later via email if they need to. If people are intentionally tardy/absent frequently, then some additional measures may needed to get better cooperation.
Don't waste time doing a recap email or the like. I've had some managers insist on this kind of thing and it is a micromanaging waste of time.
Don't do scrum if there's no purpose in it. For example, a team that's primarily maintaining and supporting deployed applications may not need a daily scrum since they really aren't in a focused development sprint where tight team collaboration is needed. Everyone may be working on mostly unrelated tasks. A simple emailing of roadblocks to the team may suffice in this situation.
Thanks! I love the safe word. We just had a scrum today but was more like a project status update. And since not all are working in an active project, like me, some are less cooperative. It's hard to lead when you're one of the uncooperatives really. I will discuss with my fellow seniors on this. Obviously we have different definitions and intentions on this scrum. Thanks for the input.