Fixing the daily standup routine

Let's picture a dysfunctional sprint standup first. The one we've all been through at some point in our careers. The critical ingredients are:

1. The "Scrum confession". It occurs when the Product Owner or Team Lead asks each participant about the status of their task. Asks about the details of day-to-day work and the estimated time of delivery. Leaves no room for discussion, this is a status report for the boss.
2. The teammates wait daily to resolve all issues that require communication. No one will communicate directly or on a group chat to explain their issue. It is better to wait for a 15-minute meeting to delve into the details of their tasks. Usually, several people are waiting in line to discuss their problems.
3. The sprint of "individual" sprints. Everyone runs their own backlog, the Lead has assigned all tasks upfront. Finishing "my" tasks is the incentive while unblocking others is not. Forget about the idea of the sprint goal. Almost nothing gets delivered, but everything is "almost finished" expanding WIP (Work In Progress)

Now let's see what the daily standup could look like.

1. Clear sprint goal - One overarching theme for the next two weeks or a task with the most business value from the set that has been planned to be delivered during this iteration.
2. Value only what's delivered - Fight against the individual sprint & "almost delivered" mindsets. Whatever is not ready to be shipped to production is a waste. Instead of big, rescheduled multiple times, release the users will be happy with these few bug fixes and small features next week.
3. Prioritize collaboration over individual work - Do you really think we are running out of tasks to do? We won't expand the sprint scope as long as there is something to review or test. Your colleague might need a pair programming session. Another one has two items in progress, discuss if one can be taken over. What about releasing the latest changes? Remember - what isn't delivered IS A WASTE.

This perspective sounds more like a team working towards a common goal. Now let's see how we can use a simple rule and set of questions to achieve it.

RULE: Right to left. Sprint Goal -> Done -> Almost Done -> Blocked -> In progress

1. Start with addressing the sprint goal - "Who is on it? Do you need help? What can we do to assist or unblock?"
2. Done but not yet in production - "Who can handle the release?"
3. Almost Done aka In Review/Testing - "Who can review and pair with the author if changes are needed?" - This one is usually the game changer. Everyone can be busy with their in-progress work, so you need to emphasize that switching to "Almost Done" will bring the VALUE. It is a low-hanging fruit.
4. Blocked - "What can be done to unblock these items? Do we need help from outside the team?"
5. In Progress - "Do we have anyone with more than one task?" - This is an opportunity to give re-assign tasks. I often see that the "Almost Done" work still needs a round of changes, so other items can be taken over. You can also leverage pairing so that multiple people contribute to each of the tasks.
6. BONUS - "Is anyone working on items not shown on our board?" - This question is crucial if your teammates face a problem of being constantly asked through "unofficial" channels to do work outside of the sprint. It can help capture the work, prioritize it (or rather de-prioritize it), and address the issue of unofficial channels. I hope these tactics will prove useful for your team.

Implementing this change takes time, weeks, or even months depending on how dysfunctional the team might be. It is a part of teaching the team to collaborate, that I want to talk about in my future posts.

My daily standup approach was inspired years ago by an article The daily standup greatness!.