Skip to main content

Daily Scrum Question About Distractions

Last post 07:58 pm February 19, 2018 by Jeremy Saal
6 replies
02:54 pm February 14, 2018

Who should handle distractions during the Daily Scrum? 

Distractions vary, such as too much talking by an individual to chickens participating.  

I want the team to self-organize and solve the issues on their own so I reiterate the purpose of the Daily Scrum and remind them that they own this ceremony.  However, since this is an inexperienced Scrum Team, the issues continue to exist.  If I step in and talk with the chickens, or even the Developer who likes to talk, they will expect me to solve their Daily Scrum issues.  

 


03:08 pm February 14, 2018

Do you see opportunities for the Scrum Master to provide timely coaching, and to explain which behaviors are helpful and which are not helpful when implementing Scrum?


03:52 pm February 14, 2018

Hi Jeremy Saal, 

Step 1: As you are saying inexperienced Scrum Team. The main solution should be training Scrum/Agile/Lean training program for new joiners or staff who is new to Agile/Scrum.

Usually it needs to be done by either:

<1> Scrum Master in the team

<2> Or by the continious improvement team (Who is responsible/accountable in an organisation) to new staff and existing staff who is new to Agile development.

Step 2: Need to explain the Daily Scrum time box (15 minutes), reason, and what is the agenda for daily scrum (What is expected to share in the daily scrum by each individual). Actually the daily scrum is mainly for the development team to be present on the same time and same place. Scrum master is optional and scrum master is to monitor and remove the impediments. And if require coach the team in case if they do not follow the time box duration and each individual not follow the Scrum process.

Assume there are 6 staff then each staff get approx. 2 minutes to explain ( What was done yesterday, what is the plan for today, is there any dependencies, is there any risks, etc.). If the staff are more than 9 then the team needs to be split logically. 

I hope this clarify your question.


04:37 pm February 14, 2018

Absolutely, Ian.  I guess you would say that these behaviors are an impediment to the team so I, as the Scrum Master, should handle them appropriately.

Thank you!


01:41 pm February 15, 2018

It's funny you mention this Jeremy. I'm working with a new scrum team as well and we have had a few daily stand ups that are very scrum content light and heavy on chatting about movies and such. The times that were full of distractions I allowed because I wanted to see how it would affect the team. Interestingly enough, the days when they fooled around during the stand up were the days that were full of chaos and uncertainty; they wasted a ton of time the rest of the day talking about problems because they didn't get on the same page from the get go. When I called this out to them, it helped them realize that the stand up is not something that I am forcing just to check the box that we did the stand up. They realized how helpful it was to know what everyone is working on because they were much more efficient on days when they utilized the stand up for the true purpose. 

With that said, the stand up can still be fun and lighthearted. We have a foam football that we pass around. We don't go in a circle; the person with the ball shares and tosses it to someone else. It's small but makes for a little break of monotony. It's good to find a way to keep the stand up from being insanely boring, just make sure you stay on target. 


02:56 am February 18, 2018

Thank you for sharing your experience, Curtis.  It's amazing how those 15 minutes can affect the rest of the Developer's day.  I appreciate the insight and totally agree with keeping it fun. 


07:58 pm February 19, 2018

Thank you, Vijayakumar.  I appreciate the great details you provided.  


By posting on our forums you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.

Please note that the first and last name from your Scrum.org member profile will be displayed next to any topic or comment you post on the forums. For privacy concerns, we cannot allow you to post email addresses. All user-submitted content on our Forums may be subject to deletion if it is found to be in violation of our Terms of Use. Scrum.org does not endorse user-submitted content or the content of links to any third-party websites.

Terms of Use

Scrum.org may, at its discretion, remove any post that it deems unsuitable for these forums. Unsuitable post content includes, but is not limited to, Scrum.org Professional-level assessment questions and answers, profanity, insults, racism or sexually explicit content. Using our forum as a platform for the marketing and solicitation of products or services is also prohibited. Forum members who post content deemed unsuitable by Scrum.org may have their access revoked at any time, without warning. Scrum.org may, but is not obliged to, monitor submissions.