Searching for a Retro or Agile Game to explain the Scrum Events better
Hey Guys,
thanks for letting me Part of this community. Maybe someone of you can give me a hint.
I am searching for a game or Retro-Idea to show the Team the values of particular Team Events. In my current case I am talking about the daily stand up meeting, which regularly spills over in time because it is getting way to technical. But when I try to interrupt, the Team argues that these are important information which should be shared and that's what the daily is for.
But in my opinion it is not, as parts of the Team are not involved in the particular Area and actually getting bored of this technical stuff.
But what I do not want is just strictly interrupt them. Instead I would like to make them learn the values and benefits of short and spicy dailies.
Thanks for any Ideas
Cheers
Mike
Hi. One of the suggestion would be end "stand up" meetings, because there is no such thing in Scrum
There is Daily Scrum, 15 min. long, and its entirely run by Developers. They can sit, stand, or lay down if they choose.
Let's start with your own understanding of what the Daily Scrum (not stand up) is for. How would you express its purpose?
As for teaching the team to keep Daily scrum in time, there are number of techniques to help team do that.
Please use this free of charge recourse with lots of free feedback and videos about good ways to help team properly handle the Scrum events
This may sound strange coming from me if you are familiar with any of my other posts but is it really a problem if they go long in order to discuss information that impacts their plan for the day? Sometimes the technical discussions are necessary to gain clarity into the work that they need to accomplish that day. So, those conversations need to occur. Whether it is why they are all gathered for the Daily Scrum or afterwards isn't really a concern for me.
However, if these discussions are occurring and there are some of the Developers that do not need to be included, I usually take an opportunity to suggest that the Developers let those that will not have any contribution to the discussion leave. But to do that, the entire team needs to be aware of what everyone will be doing for the day so the technical discussion needs to be delayed (or put in the "parking lot") until everyone understands the daily plan. After doing this a few times, the Developers usually start doing it themselves especially if one of them has nothing to contribute to the discussion of the day.
I wouldn't look for any kind of game for this. I would bring it up point blank in the next Retrospective. Have a discussion with the team. Ask some leading questions to see if there are people that feel like the discussions are holding them back from starting their day's work. Encourage the team to try the "parking lot" for one Sprint and see if it improves anything for them.
Perhaps start with helping them understand what the Daily Scrum's purpose is using the game's definitive rules, the Scrum Guide. Help the team understand the Scrum values, one of them being focus, and why events are time-boxed.
Taking a teaching stance could be a great step to help the team understand the why and what of the Daily Scrum. The rules of the game as Chris shared.
Revisiting or establishing team working agreements could also be something to try including how the team will keep their Daily Scrum within the time box. Perhaps they will establish something like ELMO (Enough Let’s Move On) or some other mechanism for this.
I think it is also worth noting that the Daily Scrum is not the only time for Developers to talk and share details. Contrary to their current understanding, this is not what the Daily Scrum is for.
The Daily Scrum is for Developers to review progress towards the Sprint Goal and make a plan for the day to make more progress.
Waiting until Daily Scrum for sharing details or issues may be a sign of a dysfunction to explore with the team or something to discuss at retrospective.
To address the issue of lengthy and overly technical daily stand-up meetings, consider incorporating a game or a retrospective exercise that highlights the core values and benefits of concise and focused daily scrums. This could involve activities like a "three-word update" challenge, where team members must summarize their progress in just three words, or a "parking lot" approach, where non-urgent technical discussions are deferred to a separate space to avoid bogging down the daily meeting.
By emphasizing the purpose of the daily scrum as a quick synchronization tool rather than an in-depth technical discussion, the team can learn to prioritize brevity and focus, ensuring that everyone remains engaged and contributes effectively.