Coach Your Team to Run Daily Scrums Without You.
The frequent question I hear from many Dev teams is, Who is the right person to host the daily Scrum meeting? Majority people would expect me to answer answer “Scrum Master!” I enjoy watching people’s jaw-dropping expression when I told them, “Not Scrum Master!”
Daily scrums are an essential component of teamwork, giving teams a defined time when people share information with and reinforce their accountability to one another.
Daily scrums are not status meetings or status update meetings in which a boss is collecting information about who is behind schedule.
The daily scrum is likely the most misunderstood event in Scrum. This short 15-minute event can be either the fuel that drives a team’s collaboration each day or the bane of the developer’s daily existence.
The Scrum Master does not need to be present at the Daily Scrum, though can attend if it is advantageous to do so. He or she is responsible for making sure that this event happens and that the rules are followed.
As a Scrum Master, taking a back seat is one of the most important things you can do to help your team get the most from this event. All too often Scrum Masters become the center of attention during daily scrums, which can lead to a whole host of dysfunctions. The Scrum Guide says this event is “for the developers,” so it’s important that Scrum Masters coach their teams into taking ownership of this event as soon as possible.
Although that may sound easy, it’s not. Many subtle decisions you make along the way will point a team toward ownership of this event or let them fall back knowing that you are in charge instead. Scrum Masters need the vital knowledge that in the daily scrum, the developers are the only ones who are required.
Don’t get me wrong — a Scrum Master has a great influence on this event and should absolutely attend as many as they can. If they are out sick or on vacation, though, the event can (and should) still take place.
Scrum Masters need to coach their teams to reach a point in their maturity where the team can function independently at daily scrums.
Development Team should be able to hold their Daily Scrum properly and in a timely manner, and without any need for supervision at all.The Scrum Master does not need to attend the Daily Scrum but they need to ensure that it happens.
If you have a well-formed team who work well together and know to raise impediments as and when they arise as opposed to waiting to the Scrum then I think that team should manage a Daily Scrum without their Scrum Master once in a while.
In my opinion, the best way of that is facilitating it. It’s also best if they do as the Scrum Master would need to resolve any impediments and these can frequently surface at the Daily Scrum but it shouldn’t be the only time.
A daily scrum is a synchronization meeting. Team members are synchronizing their work: What you think?
Sources: Scrum Org, Mountain Goat
The key is to stay focused and work hard towards achieving your goals.
Good luck!
If you wanna share your experiences, you can find me online in all your favorite places LinkedIn and Facebook. Shoot me a DM, a tweet, a comment, or whatever works best for you. I’ll be the one trying to figure out how to read books and get better at playing ping pong at the same time.
