Why would anyone not want to hold Daily Scrums?

This is a question I ask myself each time I hear someone complain about the Daily Scrum. Some people complain that it is a micro-management tool, a loss of time, does not change anything to the quality of their work, takes too much time, etc.

There are indeed many ways… to do it wrong!

And indeed, these complaints tend to be true… for them! Because that is the way it happens in their organization. When the Scrum Master or the Scrum Team falls into the traps they mention, then, yes the Daily Scrum is a micro-management tool. If each team member only looks at the Scrum Master or Product Owner while talking, or only reports on what (s)he did and will do in excruciating details trying to justify the time (s)he spent, then yes again, the Daily Scrum is a loss of time. And the same applies when people do not share anything that helps to reach the Sprint Goal (or share too many details about tasks or brag about their accomplishments).

And yes, the Daily Scrum may never change anything to your way of working or the quality of your work if you do not share anything about your difficulties and impediments.

Now, my question to you is: Is your Daily Scrum your Daily team's solidarity moment?

Let's have a look at one of my first "application" of the Scrum framework. Context: a cybersecurity project. The team: a bunch of IT security experts who did not want to share their knowledge, and certainly not speak about gaps in knowledge or experience, or about their difficulties.

The guys were working on a complex Product Backlog. They had each 1 or 2 computer screens left and right of their laptop, dozens of applications running, multi-tasking from morning till evening, but were never able to tell what they had planned to work on within the next 2-3 days, nor were they able to tell what they expected to complete by the end of the week.

Sounds familiar? This is where the Scrum framework comes in their life.

The impact of the Daily Scrum

I will not go into the details of how we started with Scrum. My focus now is to speak about the impact the Daily Scrum had on the team.

The Development Team was initially very reluctant to the Daily Scrum:

• Gathering every morning at the same time, same place was perceived as infantilizing;
• Having to "talk about what you did yesterday and what you will do today" was considered a micro-management practice by most of the guys;
• No one would talk about his/her difficulties or impediments, other than blaming someone else for whatever obstacle or work slowdown;
• Playing around with sticky notes on a wall was considered childish, and breaking down your work into tasks was unnecessary. (I know my job, I know what I must do, trust me, I am an expert…)

a short cycle was necessary to adjust quickly to our new way of working.

So, we've started with 1-week Sprints since it was quite difficult at first for the team to break down properly their work and to estimate it. Also, a short cycle was necessary to adjust quickly to our new way of working.

It took the Development Team nearly two months to start feeling the advantages of participating in the Daily Scrum, and especially understanding the solidarity aspect of it.

Why "solidarity"?

Remember the 3rd question every team member answers during the Daily Scrum: Do I see any impediment that prevents me or the Development Team from meeting the Sprint Goal? (Scrum Guide p. 12)  Whether you use the 3-questions format or discuss the Sprint Backlog in front of an electronic Kanban board, user story per user story, the concept of solidarity remains the same.

Do I see any impediment that prevents me or the Development Team from meeting the Sprint Goal?

The impediments that could prevent the Development Team from meeting the Sprint Goal can be personal obstacles like:

• missing theoretical/technical knowledge;
• lack of experience on a subject;
• feeling insecure about doing something new;
• not understanding something in a User Story (and not daring to ask);
• having difficulties communicating with people outside the team.

In this context, two of the most important things that each team member must be willing to accept are:

• When in need for help: being ready to expose themselves: mention your problem, your weakness, and ask for help and support. Exposing a weakness is not bad! It shows you want to learn something.
• When asked for help: remaining humble, listening, and remaining non-judgemental.

Self-Improvement, Team improvement

Exposing yourself requires first of all a safe team environment and being ready to trust your fellow team members: Am I ready to speak about a weakness or a lack of knowledge, a lack of experience, feeling overwhelmed, not seeing the right solution or the best way to do something?

Revealing this to your fellow team members might be hard at first but will eventually be liberating if there is trust and a sense of solidarity in the team. It will help you and your team to grow, not only in terms of technical knowledge, but also in terms of self-confidence and collaboration.

So, team solidarity is a two-way principle: you must be willing to give and to receive it. We can be on either side:

• Am I ready to trust my fellow team members?
• Am I willing to spend time and energy to help my fellow team member?

Revealing yourself to your fellow team members will eventually be liberating.

Back to the Guide…

The Scrum Guide (p. 12) tells us that the Daily Scrum has many advantages: Daily Scrums improve communications, eliminate other meetings, identify impediments to development for removal, highlight and promote quick decision-making, and improve the Development Team’s level of knowledge. This is a key inspect and adapt meeting.

And if you look at the synonyms of "solidarity" in your favourite word processor or online thesaurus, you will find much of what the Daily Scrum promotes directly or indirectly: Unity, Empathy, Harmony, Cohesion, Commonality, Understanding, Camaraderie, Unanimity, Team Spirit, Esprit de corps, Shared aims. Isn't that interesting?!

Well run Daily Scrums will not resolve all your team issues, but they will certainly help your team operate and deliver better.

It is not a cure for all diseases, but…

Don't get me wrong: I am not saying that you have to transform your Daily Scrum into some sort of group therapy or a "quick Sprint Retrospective". Well run Daily Scrums will not resolve all your team issues, but they will certainly help your team operate and deliver better.

The Daily Scrum is your daily gauge of how the team is functioning together.

And when the Daily Scrum becomes a true "solidarity moment", the benefits for the team are numerous:

• Increases T-shaping: team members will be less shy to learn stuff from other team members
• Improves collaboration;
• Enhances the 3 pillars (Transparency (among team members), Inspection (better collaboration), Adaptation (personal and team improvement));
• Stimulates 4-eyes/Peer working;
• Lowers the competition among team members;
• Expedites the removal of impediments;
• Increases job satisfaction;
• Increases PO and stakeholders' satisfaction.

The Daily Scrum is your daily gauge of how the team is functioning together.

A safe place

So, what is happening during your Daily Scrum? How does it help the team grow together? Is there real solidarity? Do your Development Team members feel safe?

Could this be a topic for your next Sprint Retrospective? Let me know.

Have a nice day, enjoying and serving your team!

(If you want some good advices about running your Daily Scrum, Mike Cohn wrote an article called "Overcoming Four Common Objections to the Daily Scrum" that includes Seven Attributes of a Well-Run Daily Scrum, which I highly advise to read)

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