Scrum meetings are based on the values of the tenets of The Agile Manifesto. Scrum meetings are precisely about agile, flexible, effective methods, rather than formal, rigid methodologies. This type of meeting guarantees transparency in communication, collective responsibility and progress measurement. The postulate of the Agile Manifesto identified as the most important to consider is:
We value individuals and their interaction more than processes and tools.
The talent and motivation of people are fundamental to providing creativity, innovation and growth. Processes and tools are not devalued, since they are the ones that provide efficiency and guide us, but in the agile framework, they are only a “support to guide the work” (1).
Summary
- All the tips to keep in mind when planning a successful Scrum meeting.
- The different events within the Scrum Meeting. The types of questions to ask, the roles of the members, the duration of the meeting, and much more!
- Tools for Communication, Management, Documentation, and other doubts you may have about Scrum Meetings.
11 must-have tips for running a successful Scrum meeting
Giving more value to people than to processes and tools has its cost. You must understand the Scrum method. So if you were thinking of running a successful Scrum meeting, this will interest you. Here are the different factors to take into account to plan a Scrum meeting in the best way!
1. Agile Scrum structure
Scrum is an agile process that allows us to focus on delivering the highest business value in the shortest time. As we said, it is an implementation of “The Agile Manifesto”.
It is often thought that Scrum and agile methodology are the same because Scrum focuses on continuous improvement, which is a core principle of agile methodology. However, Scrum is a framework for getting work done, while agile methodology is a mindset (2). It is then a matter of using the Scrum framework to help team thinking and putting the principles of agile methodology into use in daily communication and work.
2. The 3 typical questions that should be asked in a daily Scrum working meeting
| Function | Questions to answer in a Daily Scrum |
|---|---|
| Developers (Development Team) | Lead the daily Scrum meeting. They ask the members the questions: – What did I do yesterday that helped the Development Team achieve the Sprint Objective? – What will I do today to help the Development Team achieve the Sprint Objective? – Do I see any impediments that prevent the Development Team or me from achieving the Sprint Goal? |
3. Establish a schedule or agenda template
The type of timeline or agenda template depends on the type of meeting. It should be shared with everyone participating in or attending the meeting. It is important to highlight to your participants what is expected of them and what their responsibilities are for the meeting.
However, there are a number of factors to consider for successful planning:
- You can set your agenda according to the highest priority tasks first to ensure that the most critical tasks are addressed and ranked.
- Identify goals and objectives.
- List of questions you want to address for discussion.
- Purpose of the meeting, whether it is to make a decision, share information, or seek input.
- Collaborative agenda: solicit feedback from participants.
- What is expected of participants at the meeting?
- Estimate time for each agenda item.
- Review at the end of the meeting. This allows summarizing what was discussed, as well as considering what went well and what went wrong, so that the next meeting will be more efficient.
4. The weather
Related to the previous point, save yourself the mistake of including too many items on your meeting agenda! You may suffer from running out of time or having a meeting that lasts too long. Especially in Scrum-type meetings, duration is key to making sure it is effective. Otherwise, people may lose interest and get tired, which would not be conducive to the Scrum philosophy and objectives.
5. The frequency
The frequency of the Scrum meeting will depend on the type:
- A Daily Scrum, for example, should be frequented every day.
- A Sprint Retrospective, most commonly conducted once a week or every Sprint.
- A Sprint Planning Meeting is held at the beginning of each Sprint.
- A Sprint Review is held at the end of the Sprint.
6. Time of day
It is important to think of a schedule that works for everyone. If it is a multinational, then think of a time that is consistent with the time difference between all members. If it is a national one, then the most common and best is to have the meeting in the morning.
7. Ask yourself the following questions, and plan.
Ask: What do we need to reinforce or pay attention to? What should be discussed each day? Planning these types of questions in advance makes the purpose, and therefore the meeting, more productive. In addition, the questions prompt discussion from the members, and thus help gather information relevant to each agenda item.
It is also important to make it clear what is expected of the participants at each meeting: whether to share information, make a decision, discuss a certain topic, etc.
8. Define clear objectives
Having the objective of the meeting clear, identified and outlined from the beginning ensures that everything that follows and the tasks on the agenda are relevant. Objectives should be clear, and realistic. Both of these factors contribute to a focused and effective meeting for an achievable meeting objective.
9. Start and end on time
Encourage punctuality and be strict. Meetings should start and end on time. Daily meetings take as little as 15 minutes, so it is very important that every team member joins on time. Otherwise, the meeting becomes meaningless.
To avoid wasting time and talking about what is scheduled, it is also very important that there is a mediator in case there are discussions, this is the role of the scrum master. He/she must intervene to ensure that the discussion is short and that the key points of the meeting are discussed. What is “beside the point” should be discussed after the meeting.
10. Ensure the contribution of each team member
The Sprint Planning meeting marks the beginning of each sprint. The most common protocol is for each member to report on what was accomplished the previous day, what they plan to do next, and if they foresee any impediments.
Each person updates in the sprint stack the time or effort pending on their tasks, and with this information the graph with which the team monitors the progress of the sprint is updated: the burn down graph (1).
11. Evaluate results
The agile methodology has its own particular results that are born from the scrum experience in planning, development, monitoring and iteration of tasks to build software.
The review and analysis of the results are fundamental to compare them with the objectives. Detecting achievements and weak points in the process allow planning of new goals based on what has been analysed.
Atlassian
Who makes up the Scrum Team?
The Scrum Team is made up of:
- A Product Owner.
- The Development Team.
- A Scrum Master.
The 5 types of Scrum meetings or ceremonies that exist
For inspection and adaptation, Scrum contains 4 events or formal meetings, contained within the Sprint.
N°1. Sprint Planning
The work to be done during the Sprint is planned in the Sprint Planning Meeting. This plan is created through the collaborative work of the entire Scrum Team. How long does it take? For a one-month Sprint, the Sprint Planning Meeting has a maximum duration of 8 hours.
The Sprint Planning Meeting answers the following questions:
- What can be delivered in the Increment resulting from the Sprint that starts?
- How can the work be done to deliver the Increase??
N°2. The Daily Scrum
The Daily Scrum lasts 15 minutes. It is best to do it at the same time and place every day to reduce complexity. Then, the Development Team inspects what progress was made in the last Daily Scrum and starts to synchronize their activities and create a plan for the next 24 hours. They inspect the work advanced since the last Daily Scrum and make a projection about the work that could be completed before the next one.
The Development Team uses the Daily Scrum to evaluate progress toward the Sprint Goal and to assess what trend this progress is following toward completion of the work contained in the Sprint Checklist (2).
N°3. The Sprint Review
The Sprint Review meeting is held at the end of the Sprint. The attendees determine the next steps that could be taken to optimize value. Here, the Scrum Team and stakeholders collaborate on what was done during the Sprint.
Some of the elements that this type of meeting includes:
| Sprint Review Participants | Roles |
|---|---|
| The Product Owner | – Explains which elements of the Product List have been completed and which have not – Discusses the Product List in the current state – Projects likely completion dates over time based on progress to date. |
| The Development Team | – Talks about what went well during the Sprint, what problems appeared and how those problems were resolved – Demonstrates the work that has been completed and answers questions about the increment. |
| The whole group | Collaborate about what to do next, so that the Sprint Review provides valuable input for subsequent Sprint Planning Meetings (2). |
N°4. The Sprint Retrospective
The Sprint Retrospective takes place after the Sprint Review and before the next Sprint Planning Meeting. In the Sprint Retrospective, the Scrum Team inspects itself and creates a plan for improvements to be addressed during the next Sprint.
The purposes of the Sprint Retrospective are:
- Inspect how the last Sprint went in terms of people, relationships, processes and tools.
- Identify and rank the most important elements that went well and possible improvements.
- Create a plan to implement the improvements to the way the Scrum Team performs its work.
Upon completion of the Sprint Retrospective, the Scrum Team should identify improvements that they will implement in the next Sprint.
N°5. Refinement Meeting (ex-Grooming)
What used to be a Grooming meeting is now called Refinement meeting. This is because during the Sprint, the Product List is refined instead of groomed. Its objective is to help the Product Owner to refine or improve the Product Backlog for the next Sprints.
This process allows identifying impediments or blockages in advance. As for the other events, it is part of the fixed agenda, at the same time and day of the week. Its frequency may vary depending on the team’s needs.
What are the items on the product list for?
Original English version of the Scrum Guide by Schwaber, K and Sutherland, J. Provided by Tardini, D.H. and Marti, D. “The refined Product List items are transparent, well understood enough to serve as input to the Sprint Planning Meeting and for selection in the Sprint. Product List items with this transparency are called Ready.”
The artifacts of the Scrum Meeting
Communication Tools for Scrum Meetings
The most efficient and effective method of communication with and within a development team is face-to-face. However, asynchronous meetings without a camera are necessary in order to schedule what is going to be discussed in the meeting. Also, synchronous online meetings may be necessary on home-office days.
Some of the most useful free applications:
Google Meet
Zoom
Slack
Telegram
Documentation sharing tools
Google Drive
Nextcloud
Management tools for Scrum meetings
Trello
Asana
What shouldn’t happen in a daily Scrum meeting?
- Don’t try to solve problems in a Daily meeting, but plan and make decisions.
- Be careful with the abundance of issues to solve, at the end of the meeting no task will be finished! In short, it is better to cover little, but sure.
- Topics without connection. This would lose the interest of the members, adding to the feeling of working individually, which does not correspond to the function of this type of meeting.
- Instead of taking notes, prioritize memorizing what is being discussed. The notes will remain in your notebook, forgotten. It is better to pay attention to the person who is speaking, since it favours the non-dispersion, opening the possibility of giving different points of view and giving opinions on the subject in question.
What are the 3 Scrum roles?
- Product Owner. The person who optimizes and maximizes the value of the product.
- Scrum Master. He is the one who manages the Scrum process and helps to eliminate impediments that may affect the delivery of the product. He can also be in charge of tasks such as mentoring and training, coaching and facilitating meetings and events.
- The Development Team. This may consist of 3 to 9 professionals and is responsible for developing the product, self-organizing and self-managing to deliver a software increment at the end of the development cycle.
Deloitte
What is a Scrum Master and what meeting does he/she lead?
In order to guide the team in the work principles implicit in an agile management approach, another relevant role is defined: the scrum master or facilitator, who is usually in every meeting. This last characterization is due to the fact that he is the facilitator of learning in the initial phases of the work process. Here are some of his many tasks:
- Responsible for guiding the team in the application of appropriate practices to achieve the expected benefits of this management modality.
- Responsible for removing impediments and reducing frictions that the work dynamics may produce.
- Facilitates the follow-up of Scrum practices, leads and guides the organization in the adoption of Scrum.
- Maintains focus and order in the work team.
- Is responsible for ensuring that Scrum is understood and adopted.
- Serves the Development Team in various ways.
- Plans Scrum implementations in the organization.
- Helps employees and stakeholders understand and carry out Scrum and empirical product development.
- Finds techniques to manage the Product List effectively.
- Motivates changes that increase the productivity of the Scrum Team.
- Teaches the Scrum Team to stay within the time block.
- Works with other Scrum Masters to increase the effectiveness of Scrum application in the organization.
Conclusion
The Agile methodology on which the Scrum ceremony is framed, allows reaching results of collective intelligence and extraordinary innovative value. Organizations that use Agile principles such as assertiveness, talent valuation, trust, clarity, de-hierarchical structure, and common purpose will benefit.
Finally, it is important to have a business philosophy and management that believes in and supports Scrum meetings. Also, trust in your employees and the importance of empowering them with training and resources. Finally, keep in mind that complications or inconveniences may arise, so be patient. Successful results take a lot of dedication and teamwork in an organized manner. Now is the time to start planning the agenda with the tips we gave at the beginning of the article!
References
1. Palacio, M. Scrum Master – Core Curriculum 1, Version 3.07. [Internet]. https://scrummanager.net/files/scrum_master.pdf Pearson. Iubaris Info 4 Media SL; February 2022.
Source
2. Translation of the original English version of the Scrum guide by Schwaber,K and Sutherland,J. Provided by Tardini, D.H. and Marti, D. The Scrum Guide. [Internet]. https://scrumguides.org/docs/scrumguide/v1/Scrum-Guide-ES.pdf. July 2013 Source
