By Stacia Viscardi
There’s a terrible affliction that seems to be going around many Scrum teams. Its symptoms are easy to recognize: glassy eyes, pale skin, robotic answers, and narcoleptic episodes during and immediately following daily standup meetings. Soon, the entire daily standup meeting has become infected. The good news is, this syndrome can (and should) be prevented.
When I’ve been called in to diagnose and treat daily standup withdrawal (DSW), I begin by observing an actual daily standup. In most cases, I observe that the meetings have denigrated to “status report” meetings where individual members “give status” to the ScrumMaster, the ScrumMaster writes everything down, and everyone else drools on the table. Not surprisingly, the goal then becomes to make this meeting as short and sweet as possible.
Many teams really, truly believe that the purpose of the daily standup* is to “just answer the three questions without exceeding fifteen minutes.” Maybe it’s that the questions (what did you do yesterday, what will you do today, what obstacles are you facing) seem so simple. They are not. There is so much underneath the surface of the three little questions. Coach your team to think about these questions and come prepared to the daily standup (see sidebar articles “The Power of Knowledge” and “Seven Fundamentals for Effective Daily Standups”). In other words, think about the tasks, the accomplishments, how it may impact John’s work or Mary’s next task, and keep in mind who you are working with to complete the task. Go into the daily standup with answers to the three questions that are meaningful, insightful, and proactive.
