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PO participation at Daily Scrum?

Last post 03:13 am November 2, 2020 by VIJAYAKUMAR KARUNAMOORTHY
14 replies
12:09 pm April 7, 2014

Hello,

I found the following question in the Scrum Master Training Manual:

The Scrum Master realizes that Product Owner attends all Daily Scrums and asks Team
Members about their tasks and gives them directions for the following day. What
should the Scrum Master do?

A. It’s wrong, the Product Owner should not attend Daily Scrum

B. It’s wrong, the Product Owner should not speak in Daily Scrum

C. It’s OK, the Product Owner can do this

D. It’s OK, it’s recommended for the Product Owner to give direction

According to the Training Manual the correct Answer is B.

But the Scrum Guide states on page 10:
"The Scrum Master enforces the rule that only Development Team members participate in the Daily Scrum."

So am I right that the right answer is A.?
What do you think?

Best regards,
Frank


12:26 pm April 7, 2014

I am no native english speaker, but I think there is a difference between the words "attend" and "participate", and the PO is allowed to attend the Daily Scrum.
I think the correct answer is E: The Scrum Master should teach the Product Owner about his role and the purpose of the Daily Scrum.
Given the answers above, we can rule out C and D because it is clearly not the PO's role to microcontrol the team.
I think answer B is better than A, because the PO has nothing to say in Daily Scrum if you think about the 3 questions. He will quickly see that he isn't much help in the meeting and stay away from it voluntarily.


12:04 pm April 9, 2014

None of the answers A, B, C, or D are right. The Product Owner might be a member of the Development Team. That's a perfectly viable situation and under such circumstances the PO can of course attend and fully participate in the Daily Scrum. Finding out whether or not that is the case is the first thing the Scrum Master should do.


12:50 pm April 9, 2014

Hi Ian,
I think you mean the same person can be in the role PO and Dev Team member at the same time.
In this case, the person would participate at the daily Scrum in the role Dev Team member, but not in the role PO. So the PO (as role) does not participate.


02:26 pm April 9, 2014

> I think you mean the same person can be in the role PO and Dev Team member at the same time.

That's right

> In this case, the person would participate at the daily Scrum in the role Dev Team member, but
> not in the role PO. So the PO (as role) does not participate.

Regardless of the capacity in which the individual is attending, they shouldn't be giving directions to the other team members, as that would stop the Daily Scrum from being a collaborative activity. That's the core problem which we need to address. However, the *way* we address it should be shaped whether or not the PO is also on the Development Team. As Scrum Masters we can't assume that everyone knows their roles and the capacity in which they should attend Scrum events. If their roles are clarified we can then coach them accordingly.


03:58 pm April 9, 2014

Frank,

> Scrum Master Training Manual:


Can you point me to this manual? (link?)


08:01 am April 10, 2014

Dear Charles,

the question is out of the Scrum Master Training Manual you can download under
http://mgmtplaza.com/downloads/Scrum%20Training%20Manual.pdf

It is question Q24 on page 67 that I am refering.

Regards,
Frank


04:04 pm April 10, 2014

Q24
.
The Scrum Master realizes that Product Owner attends all Daily Scrums
and asks Team Members about their tasks and gives them directions
for the following day. What should the Scrum Master do?

A.It’s wrong,the Product Owner should not attend Daily Scrum
B.It’s wrong,the Product Owner should not speak in Daily Scrum
C.It’s OK,the Product Owner can do this
D.It’s OK, it’s recommended for the Product Owner to give direction

Scrum guide:
The Scrum Master enforces the rule that only Development Team
members participate in the Daily Scrum.

The clue is in the fact the question says "PO attends the daily scrum and gives them directions for the next day",
This would mean the PO is attending as PO, not a member of the dev team, even if they were both roles.
PO cannot participate only dev team if we expand the guide without giving the answer away.







11:12 pm March 9, 2020

Hi All, I see the posts on this page are pretty old. But I have a related question here.

I know it is within the rights of scrum master to tell the PO about his concerns with him distracting the team on the Daily Scrum but is ok with scrum master telling the PO to stop attending the Daily Scrum for some time?


02:18 pm March 16, 2020

I know it is within the rights of scrum master to tell the PO about his concerns with him distracting the team on the Daily Scrum but is ok with scrum master telling the PO to stop attending the Daily Scrum for some time?

What do you think the consequences would be, if a Scrum Master told others what to do?


03:42 pm May 26, 2020

Hi Ian,

As a scrum master in this scenario, should I coach the Product Owner and Development Team about the purpose of daily scrum and let them sort it out by themselves (the reason behind is development team should be self organizing) OR should I jump in the daily meeting to raise it up and resolve the conflict for them? (however, the development team has not raised it to me as scrum master that reporting to product owner is an impediment, it's only by my observation which I think Product Owner should not 'manage' the daily scrum)

Thanks!

Sam


07:28 pm May 26, 2020

should I coach the Product Owner and Development Team about the purpose of daily scrum and let them sort it out by themselves (the reason behind is development team should be self organizing) OR should I jump in the daily meeting to raise it up and resolve the conflict for them?

I'd suggest that the most helpful course of action might lie between the two. You cannot reasonably expect to "resolve the conflict for them". However, you might reasonably facilitate the process by which they "sort it out by themselves" as you put it, including by being a coach. There are a number of stances involved in being a Scrum Master, and a useful skill is being able to shift between them when needed.


07:03 am May 27, 2020

This questions is not well designed. There is no right question. 

Even though, in practice, a PO being part of the Dev Team; there is an obvious conflict of interest on this kind of situation.

It may work for a small or simple projects, but for a more complex scenario I would never recommend this. 

The PO (as developer) will be in charge on technical development activities. This, he or she can easily influence or be influenced by the developers and still be concerned with business issues, as he/she is still the focal point of that product throughout the entire organization.

When we are acting as development team member, and we are guiding both business and technical perspective, there is a bias. What happens when you are the solo developer for your own product? you decide! Sometimes it is important to have an outside point of view to drive the technical challenges based on business issues. That's why there is the role of the PO.


01:54 pm October 27, 2020

Excerpt from the Scrum Guide on Daily Scrum:

The Daily Scrum is an internal meeting for the Development Team. If others are present, the Scrum Master ensures that they do not disrupt the meeting.

A Product Owner may attend but the Scrum Master must ensure they do not disrupt, which includes: "ask[ing] Team Members about their tasks and giv[ing] them directions for the following day."

Sounds like "B" is indeed the right answer.


03:13 am November 2, 2020

The answer is B.

The Daily Scrum is for Development Team and not to the Scrum Team.

So Scrum Master or Product Owner can not participate (giving direction or clarification or talking) in the Daily Scrum. 

They can be a silent listener (that is also 100 % optional)

Thanks.


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