Scrum at SageSure

There are many ceremonies around Agile: sprint planning, daily scrum, sprint review, and sprint retrospective to name a few. Teams usually take Agile and shape it to what fits their culture and team. During the last few months I have observed the majority of our Software teams performing their daily scrum, and have some observations and tips on better practices I want to share with you all.

Some observations

Agile methodology teaches us that the daily scrum is 15 minutes, where each member of the team shares what they did yesterday, what they will do today, and if they have blockers. No more and no less.

This is the methodology, but Agile needs to be flexible to live up to its name and purpose. Now that Software teams have become more hybrid and co-located, the daily scrum can be repetitive and boring, causing team members to lose investment in the meeting. The heart of scrum can remain: a team update and work progress touchpoint, but the format needs to be willing to change.

• Yesterday’s update. If a team is working very closely together, they already know what the members did yesterday. They were most likely doing the work along side each other. If your team is working in lock step, I would recommend completely eliminating the portion of scrum where each member reviews what they did yesterday.

• 15-minutes. Working from home means less watercooler time or less casual conversion when people arrive in the office, or mingle around lunch. Invest in your team and don’t restrict the meeting to 15 minutes. The extra time can be used to further discuss blocking issues, or share upcoming weekend plans.

• Person-by-person. Variety can create a higher engagement level from the team members. Some teams prefer person-by-person (traditional) updates during the stand-up, allowing everyone to speak and share their progress. Other teams opt for a Split plan stand up, discussing initiatives one by one. When speaking through initiates, assigning one person to be a primary owner, or champion, is valuable. This ensures that no single person dominates the entire meeting and helps reinforce which team member is the primary contact for that initiative. Some teams mix and match these update styles. Some days, they go by person, and some days, they go by initiative.

Better practices

Whichever style you adopt, here are some practices I would encourage.

• Sharing your camera during Scrum is a good thing because it promotes stronger team connections and enhances communication. Visual cues and body language play a significant role in understanding and interpreting messages, fostering a more empathetic and collaborative environment. By enabling team members to see each other, it encourages active participation, engagement, and accountability during the meeting, leading to more effective and productive discussions.

• Giving each person an opportunity to speak during Scrum is a good thing because it ensures that all team members have a chance to share their progress and challenges, fostering a sense of inclusivity and ownership within the team. It also prevents the dominance of certain individuals, promoting a more balanced and diverse input during the meeting.

• Engaging blockers—it’s essential to prioritize and discuss blockers each scrum. Is something preventing a work item from progress? Discuss the problem and appoint a person to be responsible to track it down!

• Varying the order of speakers during Scrum is a good thing because it prevents the meetings from becoming predictable and encourages all team members to stay engaged and attentive. It also ensures that different perspectives are heard, leading to more diverse insights and fostering a collaborative team environment.

• Setting aside time to talk about life during a remote team Scrum is beneficial as it fosters stronger connections, builds trust, and promotes a supportive and empathetic work environment. This can be once a week for 10 minutes. It can a prepared topic or informal, like a “how was your weekend?”.

• Wins, wins, wins! Delivered a feature? Celebrate it! Call it out and have the team recognize the achievement. A celebration doesn’t have be a pizza party. It can take a minute or less the daily scrum. Pizza parties can still be done, but don’t fit every delivery or accomplishment. Did the team perform well in a debugging session? Did an individual have a great insight? Is it someone’s work anniversary? Build and maintain a team that celebrates their deliveries and its team members!

Further enhancements

• On the subject of documentation, teams have the option of documenting their updates or not, and it’s essential to find the right approach that works for your team. Some teams benefit from detailed documentation, while others prefer a more fluid and verbal approach.

• Color coordinating and categorizing the split view based on areas of work (backend, frontend, design, product, etc.) can be beneficial as this visual organization makes it easier for team members to understand the distribution of work and responsibilities. In addition, returning to this page during the week can help members understand their work and its status at a high level.

• Giving each week a theme name inside the split, such as Texas Hold ‘em’s betting stages, can make the process more fun and engaging for team members. The betting stage convention can also give an idea of how mature the Initiatives should be at that time during the split.

• Finally, it’s a good idea to open the floor for demos, allowing teams to showcase their progress and achievements during the sprint. Demos not only provide an opportunity for the team to showcase their work but also encourage collaboration and feedback. Attending a demo of work you’re not directly involved with can also help deepen and broaden the knowledge base of the entire team.

Making scrum work for you

In conclusion, the key to successful Scrum implementation is to mix things up and not shy away from trying new approaches. There are some best practices, like sharing your camera, but beyond that each team is unique. Experiment with different meeting styles, themes, and communication methods: be adventurous! After trying something new for a few meetings, gather feedback from the team to assess whether the change is beneficial and should be kept or not desired and should be abandoned. Continuously learning from these experiences will help your team refine its Scrum practices and create a more efficient and productive workflow.

Happy Scrumming!