Daily Scrum Meeting: the sprint development team’s daily meeting

Seven FAQs about the daily scrum meeting

1. What is a Daily Scrum?

A Daily Scrum is a daily meeting. Agile Scrum project management is derived from rugby, which has inspired this method with its focus on speed, responsiveness, coordination, self-organization, and team member empowerment.  Working in agile Scrum mode means setting up development cycles known as “sprints”. Routine meetings, aka “agile ceremonies”, are an integral part of these cycles, which include the Sprint Planning, used to schedule the project ahead of each phase, the Sprint Review, conducted near the end of a cycle, and the Sprint Retrospective, where the team takes a bird’s eye view of the previous cycle before launching the next cycle, as part of a continuous improvement approach. Browse our template library for templates covering these key phases. The Daily Scrum Meeting, covered here, is in fact the daily meeting during each sprint.

You’ll find the reference guide about Scrum management, drafted by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, here: The Scrum Guide.

2. What is the Daily Scrum Meeting for?

The Daily Scrum Meeting template is a Scrum team ritual, and is part of the Agile Scrum project management model. Agile Scrum is an iterative project management method, which is broken down into development cycles with the aim of designing of a new app, new features, a website, etc. The Scrum Team syncs every morning during the Daily Scrum for a to-the-point progress update.

Team members can share what they did the previous day, the day’s tasks, and can bring up any obstacles they may have encountered. This Scrum ritual helps engage the entire team.

3. Who uses the Daily Scrum Meeting template?

The Daily Scrum Meeting template is naturally intended for teams already working with the Scrum method... as well as for those just starting out! Our templates, with their detailed instructions and dedicated page, will help you understand and adopt this agile project management method.

4. Who takes part in the Daily Scrum meeting?

The Daily Scrum Meeting is intended for the entire team involved in the project. Traditionally in Agile Scrum project management, the Daily Scrum Meeting concerns the whole development team. The Scrum methodology has its own glossary, which can be transposed to any project team. You will find in the template the term scrum master: it's a coach who must help the team find its most efficient way of working. His role is to guide the team so that it is autonomous. During the Daily Scrum Meeting, he is the one who has the role of facilitator.

5. How long does a Daily Scrum Meeting last?

Maximum 15 minutes, with about 2 minutes per person. Enough time to share the previous day’s tasks, the day’s tasks, and optionally, to raise an alert. Remember: stick to the timing! The ceremony won’t be as effective if it drags on for too long. This is not about discussing points or going into the fine detail. The purpose is for the team to be on board with and focused on the sprint’s objective.

It’s very simple to keep within the allocated time if you are in hybrid mode and using Live, Board’s built-in videoconferencing tool. In fact, by running the video, you automatically select its length: 5, 15 or 30 minutes (renewable). Click on 15 minutes and get started! A beep will sound near the end of the allocated time to let you know that it’s time to wrap up. If necessary, you can allow for an extra 5 minutes, but this mustn't become a habit. This feature will help you to manage everyone’s speech time and to be concise, efficient, and to the point.

6. How to run the “Daily Scrum Meeting” with Klaxoon’s Board?

The Daily Scrum is an opportunity for the team to meet every morning throughout the project. Klaxoon’s Board is ideal for working in agile mode. Everyone can chip in at any time. The digital whiteboard is updated instantly. With Live, Board Hybrid’s built-in videoconferencing tool, the team can work in hybrid mode: whether the team is working from the office, from home or anywhere else, it’s never a problem. In just one click, the whole team is on the same wavelength and can interact and share ideas.

Use the Daily Scrum Meeting template on a daily basis. It will become the team’s first port of call every morning. In 15 minutes max., the development team can sync on the sprint’s progress. Everyone says where they stand and brings up any problems… The team members check that they are still in sync and working together towards the sprint objective.

First set up your Board: it’s very simple, just click on “use the template” and follow the instructions. Before the launch of the first Daily Scrum, add the team’s task list for the sprint. Import your list of user stories directly from your Sprint Backlog. In the "to do” column, copy-paste your prioritized task list, whether you created it from the Sprint Backlog Template or from a spreadsheet.

Then invite your team to join the Board for the initial sync review:

You’re now Live, so provide a few elements of context about the product you’ll be working on as a team, such as the duration, how long the sprint will last, or a review of the sprint’s objective and the number of stages it involves. Everyone enters their last name, first name and posts a photo, to make it more friendly.

Then the team shares out the tasks in the first column according to everyone’s skills. Enter your name in the box. Boxes are fields embedded with the idea, which provide additional information in a simple and visual manner. Once this step is completed, the team members know what they will be doing during the sprint.

Schedule a daily sync review every day throughout the sprint, when you update the Scrum Task Board and Burndown Chart.

The Scrum Task Board features the list of tasks. That is where the list of tasks to be completed and the prioritized user stories imported from the Sprint Backlog are stored. At each change of task status, for example when it switches from “in progress” to “completed”, everyone moves the idea corresponding to the task to the appropriate column, also remembering to change the color according to the caption. Pending tasks in yellow, in progress in blue and completed in green. Red is for alerts and pink for tasks “to be tested”.

Every day, also follow the Burndown Chart in chart format, showing the remaining workload over the sprint’s duration. If necessary, refer to the detailed instructions on the dedicated page.

7. What are the key tips and key features you need to know?

When running the Scrum task board, you can at any time switch to column view mode to view the priorities, and to list view mode to assess the workload per person. You can change from column mode to list mode in one click to measure the various parameters. The view modes are easy to use, and this option is directly available from the Board.

It’s important to stick to the timing. A good Daily Scrum takes 15 minutes at the most. To help you, use the Board’s Timer! Team members together in the same room should remain standing to get the day off to a running start (known as a stand-up daily meeting).

If a blocking point is mentioned during the daily scrum, this is not when it will be solved. It is only an opportunity to alert the team and the people involved, who will be able to sync after the daily scrum meeting to discuss the problem and find a solution, without holding up other team members who carry on with their own tasks meanwhile.

Need more information about certain tasks? Use the Questions feature to address the whole team. Everyone can then answer directly and a collective decision can be taken quickly.

With the daily scrum meeting on Klaxoon, you only need to share one link, regardless of where the team members are. You know where to sync every morning during the sprint. The team stays together and focused on the same objective. This daily review also helps to check progress step by step, and to keep everyone moving in the right direction. Try this agile ritual with your development team now and discover its benefits for yourselves!