In this article, we will discuss Scrum Master Role in Daily Scrum. This article will help you to understand the Daily Scrum better. Some common real life scenarios around daily scrum are explained in this article
If you want to read more about over all day to day Scrum Master Roles and Responsibilities, the linked article series can help
Scrum Guide Says Only Developers are mandatory in Daily Scrum. Then how can Scrum Master help where are not even required? Read on to find out Scrum Master Role in Daily Scrum
Observer
Even though Scrum master is NOT mandatory during the Daily Scrum, they can learn a lot if they can take the role of an unobtrusive oberserver during the Daily Scrum. Scrum Masters can get an insight into many key areas
- Team Dynamics and interaction patterns – Daily Scrum will uncover a lot of communication patterns within the Scrum Team – do some people tend to dominate? Are few people unduly silent?
- Team Skills and Scrum Knowledge – Does the Scrum Team know what Daily Scrum is? Are they able to facilitate the session well? Do they create actionable plan for the next day
- Team maturity in terms of Self management – Self management is a difficult trait to inculcate. Self Managed Scrum Teams will be more independent and will manage their Daily Scrum effectively. However, Scrum Teams that are NOT yet self managing will tend to wait for Scrum Master to run the meeting.
- Any recurring or long persisting impediments. Often impediments recur or go on for a long time because of some underlying issue. If the Scrum Master makes these impediments and patterns visible to everyone, it will help the Scrum Team address the root cause.
These observations will form the basis of coaching/Facilitating and mentoring a Scrum Master can do through out the day
Facilitator (ONLY if /when needed):
Daily Scrum is a Developer forum and NOT a status meeting. Scrum Master should facilitate only when Scrum Team does not know how to do it themselves. As a part of this Facilitation it may be helpful to
- Help to keep the event within the 15-minute time-box.
- Keep the discussions focused around what will be the actionable plan for next working day
- Gently help the Scrum Team to avoid diving into problem-solving right during the Daily Scrum
Coach – Beyond the 15 minutes of Daily Scrum
Scrum Master Observations during Daily Scrum will often form the basis of Coaching through out the day
- Guide the Developers to take ownership of
- The Daily Scrum.
- Cause impediment removal
- Encourage collaboration and a self-managed approach.
- Make the anti-patterns visible .Then help the scrum team to address those. Some common Anti-Patterns may be
- Turning the meeting into a status update for the Scrum Master.
- Not creating an actionable plan
- Trying to solve impediments during the Daily Scrum
- Extending 15 Minute timebox routinely
Teach Formats and Techniques Of Daily Scrum
One key Scrum master Role in Daily Scrum is to teach relevant tools and techniques. Some key areas to consider can be
- Alternative formats other than 3 question format
- Techniques to manage timebox – some examples may be – meeting after and flexible timebox
- Gamification techniques
- Some Techniques for managing Daily Scrum effectively
Read this article to understand more about Formats and techniques of daily Scrum
What the Scrum Master Should Avoid
- Becoming the de-facto leader of the Daily Scrum: The Developers should learn to own and manage the Daily Scrum, not the Scrum Master.
- Turning It Into a Status Meeting: Daily Scrum is not about reporting status to the Scrum Master( or the Product Owner or anyone else for that matter!)
- Problem Solving in Real-Time: Encourage the team to take detailed discussions offline.