One of the first things you learn about Scrum is that it has five events. One of these events is the Daily Scrum: a short, 15-minute daily check-in for Developers. And at first, it might seem like just another meeting—another obligation that eats into your "real" work. But stick with it long enough, and you might just fall in love with it.
The Early Days: "Another 250 Meetings? No Thanks."
At the end of our first Sprint, during the Retrospective, someone pointed out that the Daily Scrum alone would add over 250 meetings a year. It felt excessive. We were already frustrated with too many meetings, so why would we willingly add more?
But as we kept going, something changed. We started seeing the benefits—not just in theory, but in practice.
Why We Love It Now:
1. It shortens Hand-Offs
We work on complex tasks that require multiple handoffs. One person gathers client input, another delivers the work, someone else updates it, and finally, another team member ensures it reaches the right place. The Daily Scrum keeps these collaboration points tight.
Instead of work sitting on someone’s desk for hours or days, it moves. We don’t lose time due to unclear ownership or delays in passing work along. For example, the designer knows someone will send her creative work tomorrow, so she makes space for it. No surprises, no scrambling.
In many workplaces, only the "squeaky wheels" get attention. But in Scrum, the Daily Scrum ensures everything keeps progressing. There’s no room for work to stall, go unnoticed, or gather dust.
2. It Forces a Reality Check
I often think I know everything I need to do. But then the Daily Scrum reminds me of tasks I forgot, so I can add them to my list before it's an emergency.
3. We Learn from Each Other
Hearing how my teammates approach their work makes me better at mine. I see how they break down tasks, how long things take, and how they plan. It’s a window into expertise I wouldn’t otherwise have access to. I am better at my job now, because I have talked through my approach with my peers.
4. We Spot Problems Faster
We realized we lacked a key skillset (a designer). Everyone kind of knew it, but the Daily Scrum made it undeniable. It gave us the push to escalate the issue and get leadership involved. We also saw who was consistently overloaded, helping us distribute work more fairly.
5. It's not awkward to ask for help
Because we’re all aligned on the same deliverables, we build trust and camaraderie. It's easier to ask for help, and gives us visibility into each other’s workloads. That visibility can help also us as a team say "no" when we know we are overloaded as a team.
6. It's just 15 minutes
The Daily Scrum is not allowed to go longer than 15 minutes. It is an opportunity to uncover issues - but issues are not resolved in the Daily Scrum. Instead, any issues uncovered during the Daily Scrum should be discussed afterward by whoever is necessary to resolve them.
7. It saves us time
This short investment of time actually saves us time down the line because it prevents anything from becoming an emergency by helping the Scrum team to uncover blockers earlier.
The Turning Point
At first, the Daily Scrum felt like a burden—an unnecessary daily interruption. After three months? We wouldn’t give it up. It’s what keeps our team moving, our work flowing, and our collaboration tight. You’ll hate the Daily Scrum… until you love it.
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Rebel Scrum hosts the annual Scrum Day Agile conference in Madison, Wisconsin. With speakers from companies like Google, Meta, American Family, and US Cellular, we bring together industry leaders and experts for a day of networking and learning.