Eureka: The Daily Scrum

We have a team at the client site that is holding daily scrum meetings. I am onsite this week and was listening to the conversation (as a chicken from the other room). What I heard caught me off guard; it was a status meeting where they would actually go through and update each task in the Sprint Backlog.

I took the ScrumMaster to lunch and discussed with him the purpose and benefits of the 3 questions:

1. What did you do yesterday?
2. What will you do today?
3. What is preventing you from accomplishing your goal?

He was very receptive and acknowledged that he needed to make a change. We held a daily scrum this morning and went through the 3 questions with each team member.

The difference was remarkable. The meeting turned into a conversation rather than a status meeting. Team members were offering help to each other. They finally get it that they are a team and that they are measured as a team.

If anyone is running a project without the daily scrum, they are really missing out on significant opportunities.