How can you make your Daily Scrum more engaging?

1 Rotate the facilitator

Instead of having the same person lead the Daily Scrum every time, why not rotate the role among the team members? This can help break the hierarchy and empower everyone to contribute and participate. It can also encourage different perspectives and styles of facilitation, such as using questions, games, or visuals to stimulate the discussion. You can assign the facilitator randomly, by rotation, or by volunteering.

2 Change the format

Another way to make your Daily Scrum more engaging is to change the format of the meeting. Instead of following the traditional three questions (what did you do yesterday, what will you do today, and what are your blockers), you can experiment with different ways of sharing information and feedback. For example, you can use a walk-the-board approach, where you go through each item on the Scrum board and discuss its status and dependencies. Or you can use a fist-of-five technique, where you ask each team member to rate their confidence or satisfaction with the sprint progress on a scale of one to five fingers.

3 Use a timer

One of the challenges of the Daily Scrum is to keep it short and focused. A long and rambling meeting can lose the attention and interest of the team members and waste valuable time. To avoid this, you can use a timer to limit each person's speaking time to a maximum of two minutes. This can help everyone to be concise and clear, and to prioritize the most important and relevant information. You can also use a timer to track the overall duration of the meeting, which should not exceed 15 minutes.

4 Celebrate achievements

The Daily Scrum is not only a time to report on work, but also a time to celebrate achievements and recognize contributions. You can make your Daily Scrum more engaging by acknowledging and appreciating the team members who have completed their tasks, solved problems, helped others, or learned something new. You can also use this opportunity to share positive feedback from customers, stakeholders, or other teams. Celebrating achievements can boost the team's morale, motivation, and confidence, and create a positive and supportive atmosphere.

5 Ask for input

The Daily Scrum is also a time to ask for input and advice from your team members. You can make your Daily Scrum more engaging by inviting questions, suggestions, or opinions from others, especially if you are facing a challenge, a blocker, or a decision. This can help you to leverage the collective wisdom and experience of the team, and to foster a culture of collaboration and learning. You can also use this chance to offer your help or support to others who might need it.