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Can a scrum master share their daily plans during a Stand-Up Meeting?

Last post 08:46 pm January 25, 2022 by Ian Mitchell
9 replies
09:37 am December 20, 2017

Hi All,

I am a kind of scrum rookie, however with my dev team we are wondering whether a scrum master can participate during the stand ups just as any other member of the team, if that is what the team wants? By this I mean they would share their plans for the day, and it would be:

1. nice to integrate more our project family (we already invite our managers/product owners to the meetings, and we are fine with it),  

2. useful to be informed what impediments the scrum master will focus for the next 24h to overcome

Thank you for your help

Agnieszka


06:20 pm December 20, 2017

Personally, I would not be in favor of it.

The Daily Scrum is designed specifically for the Development Team to touch base around sprint progress and meeting the sprint goal.   Team discussions should be restricted solely to active sprint items (progress made, progress planned, and any issues), and this needs to be enforced (guided?) by the Scrum Master.   

Since the Scrum Master is usually not actively involved with any sprint items (unless s/he is working to resolve an impediment/issue), there shouldn't be any need for the Scrum Master to speak up.

Allowing others besides the Development Team to share their plans for the day risks turning the Daily Scrum into a status meeting, which is not the intended purpose of the Daily Scrum.

Perhaps another "management"-type meeting could provide such opportunities for others to speak, but the goal for the Scrum Master should be to keep the Daily Scrum focused specifically on Development Team alignment around the sprint and the sprint goal.


07:11 pm December 20, 2017

It just seems contradictory of the SM's responsibilities to participate in this manner. Per Scrum Guide: "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." 

If there is a piece of information that would impact the team and what they are working on, then by all means the SM should speak up. However, I don't see how my daily plans would have any impact on the team 99.99999% of the time and therefore, seems to be disruptive to share daily plans during this time.


07:45 pm December 20, 2017

The Daily Scrum is 15 minutes out of a busy day for the Development Team to refocus and replan. Collaboration with other Scrum Team members or stakeholders can and should happen throughout the day, but not in that 15 minutes. That part of the day is for the Development Team only.

The best thing a Scrum Master can do is to ensure that these and other Scrum rules are understood and valued by everyone concerned.


09:43 pm December 20, 2017

Hi All- 

So here's my problem with these thread topics...  It feels like someone asks a question, then 3 or 4 people just get on and regurgitate the Scrum manual, often with no further inquiry or discussion.  I thought this was a discussion forum, not a wiki for building an FAQ. 

With that being said: 

@Agnieszka  I find your wording of your second point interesting.  If you want the SM to talk about the impediments they are working on removing, how are the team members not mentioning the impediments during their turn at the Daily?  It seems that the standard interaction here would already solve this problem.  


12:42 am December 21, 2017

Timothy, Curtis, and Ian are correct in that the Scrum Guide makes it clear that the Daily Scrum is a 15 minute timebox exclusively for the Development Team to regroup around the Sprint Goals and plan the next day, raising impediments. The Scrum Master's involvement is limited to ensuring that the Daily Scrum is held, coaching the Development Team on effective ways to conduct the ceremony, and ensuring that others don't disrupt the event.

However, in practice, I've found that involving the Product Owner and the Scrum Master is useful.

For the Product Owner, if you are working toward a more continuous delivery of the product, they are likely to be inspecting and providing feedback on more regular cadence than every Sprint. The Development Team may need to know their schedule and availability and may have a direct impact on the day's plan. The Product Owner also has insights into the work being done that can drive the design and development. Although much of this should be fleshed out as the Product Backlog is refined and at Sprint Planning, it's not always necessary to ask all of the questions. Again, knowing the Product Owner's availability for the day can drive the plan for the day to focus work on the appropriate things given availability.

For the Scrum Master, their presence can make them aware of impediments without someone needing to communicate them out after the Daily Scrum. I also think that active observations of the team's work can help the Scrum Master to facilitate the events (perhaps not during the event itself, but at Sprint Retrospectives or other appropriate times). Seeing is much different than being told what is happening.

Now, neither the Product Owner nor the Scrum Master should interrupt the Development Team. The 15 minute timebox is for the Development Team to work. There's a key sentence in the Scrum Guide:

The Development Team or team members often meet immediately after the Daily Scrum for detailed discussions, or to adapt, or replan, the rest of the Sprint’s work.

To me, it seems silly to have the Development Team be forced to replan their work if they meet with other Scrum Team members after the Daily Scrum. My thoughts would be to the Product Owner and Scrum Master to raise any schedule concerns at the front of the Daily Scrum, attend the Daily Scrum as observers if possible and desired by the team, and then continue to support the Development Team as needed immediately following the Daily Scrum.

This ensures that the Development Team has all the information they need to plan their daily work, they have the complete 15 minute timebox to carry out the intention of the Daily Scrum, and then a window to do more in-depth coordination with each other or other members of the Scrum Team as necessary.


12:33 pm January 25, 2022

I agree wholehearted that the Daily is for the development team to understand the current project status. The scrum master and/or project manager will have the vision of what each team member is doing. My question is: how is the development team supposed to know what the scrum master and/or project manager agenda is ? The whole purpose of the agile and scrum is to improve collaboration. If the development team has no impediments, the scrum master should hop in and help guide the development team otherwise they would spend the day doing nothing. Collaboration goes both ways.


05:55 pm January 25, 2022

I agree wholehearted that the Daily is for the development team to understand the current project status. 

A myth in Scrum is that the Daily is a status meeting. Truth is, it is a planning meeting for the Developers.

The scrum master and/or project manager will have the vision of what each team member is doing. My question is: how is the development team supposed to know what the scrum master and/or project manager agenda is ? 

The Developers are self-managing, and make their plan transparent via the Sprint Backlog. The Developers use the Sprint Goal as their north star for guidance during the Spring. Each day the Developers inspect their progress towards the Sprint Goal, and replan their work for the next 24 hours.

The Daily Scrum is not the only time Scrum Team members collaborate during the day. The Sprint Goal allows for creativity, innovative solutions and negotiation between the Developers and product Owner.


07:07 pm January 25, 2022

I agree wholehearted that the Daily is for the development team to understand the current project status. 

If that is what you agree with, then you are not agreeing to the purpose of the Daily Scrum as described in the Scrum Guide.  This the opening statement from the Scrum Guide's section on the Daily Scrum

The purpose of the Daily Scrum is to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the Sprint Backlog as necessary, adjusting the upcoming planned work.

It goes on to say 

The Developers can select whatever structure and techniques they want, as long as their Daily Scrum focuses on progress toward the Sprint Goal and produces an actionable plan for the next day of work. This creates focus and improves self-management.

So given those statements, do you still feel that this is true?

the scrum master should hop in and help guide the development team otherwise they would spend the day doing nothing.

In case you don't have a link to the Scrum Guide, you can find it here for free.  https://scrumguides.org/index.html


08:46 pm January 25, 2022

I agree wholehearted that the Daily is for the development team to understand the current project status.

Whatever a "Daily" is, I suppose it might be for that purpose. However the purpose of a Daily Scrum is for the Developers to come up with a plan for the next 24 hours to get them closer to the Sprint Goal.

The scrum master and/or project manager will have the vision of what each team member is doing.

Why? These are different accountabilities, and one is appropriate for Scrum and the other isn't. A Scrum Master would encourage a team to self-monitor and self-organize what they are doing. They would project manage themselves.

My question is: how is the development team supposed to know what the scrum master and/or project manager agenda is ?

A Scrum Master's agenda is to manage people's understanding of Scrum, so they can implement the framework effectively for themselves -- no project manager needed.

The whole purpose of the agile and scrum is to improve collaboration.

I'd suggest that the whole purpose of Scrum is to produce a Done increment every Sprint which meets a Sprint Goal. That's how empiricism is established and maintained under complex conditions. Improved collaboration is a means to this end.

If the development team has no impediments, the scrum master should hop in and help guide the development team otherwise they would spend the day doing nothing. Collaboration goes both ways.

If the Developers had no impediments they wouldn't need guiding. A Scrum Master manages people's understanding of Scrum and will proactively find and challenge any constraints which impede that.


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