Scrum is based upon collaboration. Each team member participates in some way or the other, and contributes towards the common goal defined for the particular project. When scrum is implemented, each day the team members spend some time discussing about the development to be carried out on that particular day in the daily scrum meeting. The meeting is brief, and held before the sprint commences for the day. This meeting is important since it supports one of the basic features of scrum methodology – Share your findings and discuss about the pitfalls which are likely to occur during the sprint.
The basic questions asked during the daily scrum stand-up meeting are:
- What has been accomplished or “completed” in the sprint carried out the previous day?
- What is planned to be achieved during the sprint activity today?
- Is any team member facing some problem or impediment during the sprinting process?
The daily scrum meeting is generally conducted in front of the task board. A task board is the list of development activity which is carried out by individual team members on a daily basis. It is important to keep the meetings brief, and to the point. Only those topics should be discussed in the meeting which are relevant to the sprint activity. Ideally, the meeting should not last for more than fifteen minutes or so. However, scrum implementation is flexible. If the team is large in size, or if the project is big and includes many tasks to be developed, the meeting can be further extended as per need. Nevertheless, even after considering all the technical points and issues, the meeting should not last for prolonged durations.
Other names used in lieu of “Daily Scrum Meeting” to describe the meeting
Scrum experts and professionals sometimes use different names to describe the daily meeting. The words used means the same thing, but using different terminologies may tend to confuse the readers as to what the person is trying to say, or implying. Some of the commonly used words are:
Scrum experts and professionals sometimes use different names to describe the daily meeting. The words used means the same thing, but using different terminologies may tend to confuse the readers as to what the person is trying to say, or implying. Some of the commonly used words are:
Daily stand-up
The term is extensively used by individuals who follow extreme programming methodology. It means that the participants attending the meeting should remain standing, and the meeting should be kept brief and short.
Daily scrum
This term is generally used by professionals who follow the Scrum framework. It alludes to the huddle-like appearance typical to a rugby scrum because the members stand close to each other, or “huddle” when the meeting is conducted.
This term is generally used by professionals who follow the Scrum framework. It alludes to the huddle-like appearance typical to a rugby scrum because the members stand close to each other, or “huddle” when the meeting is conducted.
Huddle, roll-call, or any other name
These terms are used by people who understand and know about scrum methodology, but due to some reason use other terms to describe the daily meeting.
These terms are used by people who understand and know about scrum methodology, but due to some reason use other terms to describe the daily meeting.
The daily scrum meeting is very important during scrum implementation. Irrespective of which terminology you use to describe the meeting, it does not lose its significance. The meetings help to identify potential pitfalls, and support the “self-correction” feature which is very important to scrum.
Find out more, and download our free QuickScrum tool which can help you in implementing scrum in an effective and profitable way!
