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Remote Daily Scrum

This blog is the 3rd in a series of five: Remote Working Scrum Events, Done Right.

When it's clear e have to meet, let's make sure to level it up to a proper event, like you should in Scrum. The objective and the artefacts to inspect and adapt are clearly defined in the Scrum Guide. We've summarized those below. 

We've outlined three great ways to meet the objective, as well as some tools to help you do it. Pick the one you prefer, and get after it!    

OBJECTIVE
Create a plan for the next 24h and identify impediments to development for removal. Read more.

INSPECT
Progress toward Sprint Goal.

OPTION 1

  • Keep It Sweet & Simple:
    Video call with all people visible, answering the regular Daily Scrum questions in a disciplined, one person at a time talking, fashion.
  • What did we do yesterday that helped us meet the Sprint Goal?
  • What will we do today to help us meet the Sprint Goal?
  • Do we see any impediment that prevents us from meeting the Sprint Goal? 
  • Do we need or want any help to accelerate our progress toward the Sprint Goal? 
  • Is there anything we can do to accomplish the Sprint Goal today?
  • Use Liberating Structures to maximize inclusion and engagement, e.g. Troika Consulting or 15% solutions. 

OPTION 2

  • Daily Cafeor Weekly Huddle, combine a daily event with a social call.
  • Start your weekly huddle with a grounding exercise, e.g. box-breathing.  
  • High-fives all around. Share genuine appreciation and praise for each other. 
  • Assign a timekeeper for the next round and set a time-box. The timekeeper holds up three fingers when there are 30 seconds remaining. 
  • Ask who wants to go first in checking-in and answering the question of the week. After doing so, that person selects who is next. Check-in by telling how you’re doing and feeling. Then, answer the question of the week. 

OPTION 3 –ASYNCHRONOUS

  • Daily Scrum in a Slack channel, MS Teams, WhatsApp, or any other tool that allows for asynchronous communication. 
  • Use a bot to automate the process. 
  • Send out email prompts to make sure everyone gets to contribute.
  • Promote video updates in addition to text. 

TOOLS

  • Slack, MS Teams, Zoom, Google Meet or any other tool with videoconferencing. 
  • Tatsu.io for Slack. Free during COVID-19, then $1 per user/month. 
  • Jell for Slack and MS Teams. $4 per user/month. 
  • Use the tools you already have!

ADAPT
Sprint Backlog

Go to the next blog: How to facilitate an awesome remote Sprint Review?

This blog is the 3rd of a series: Remote Working Scrum Events, Done Right by Laurens Bonnema, Marianne Pot, Marnix van Wendel de Joode (Business Agility Consultants and Scrum Boosters) and Laïla Nouijeh (Scrum Master at PGGM).

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