Using Scrum in a consulting Environment
Hello Everybody,
first of all I have to admit, that I am a SCRUM rookie. So please apologize if you have answered that kind of questions several times before.
I'm working as an engineering consultant in close contact with my clients. So normally we spend 2-4 days at our clients and the rest of the time in our office. I'm very convinced, that SCRUM could improve our daily project work, because it is closely related to the whole lean management idea. But for us it is almost impossible to establish a regular daily Scrum meeting, because we cannot ensure that all team members are at the same place / same time every day.
I am sure that we are not the first company facing that problem. So I would be happy for any experiences or ideas you can share.
Thank you,
Oliver
P.S. Please excuse my English, I'm not a native :)
> I am sure that we are not the first company facing that problem.
What problem? What problem is the lack of co-location on those 2-4 days causing, or likely to cause, in your specific situation?
Oliver,
First, your English is great.
While it's best to have everyone participate in the daily Scrum, I personally see no problem in getting as many people to participate and then catch up with the others later. This will present some difficulties which may make it more trouble than it's worth. For example, you could have a daily Scrum and log everyone's "Yesterday, Today, Impediments". Then have the people who couldn't attend update the log for all to review. The biggest flaw is that all members of the team will have to review the log each time it changes. Using a chat/IM tool may help with this.
Remember, the "rules" of Scrum are in the Scrum Guide. Don't feel you have to do everything exactly as stated. That said, any deviation is likely to result in inefficiencies that may outweigh the benefits.
Good luck!