How Long Should Daily Scrum Last
I know the typical format for stand-up is 15 minutes. However, my team utilizes the "16th-minute" to expand on additional topics or impediments so our total stand-up is scheduled for 30 minutes. Our development team consists of only 2 resources so there usually aren't many updates/questions from them and most of our time is usually for 16th-minute items. However, we are expanding to add a few additional team members who focus on UAT. Should I increase our stand-up to 45 minutes or would that lead to it becoming "just another status meeting"?
Why would the Daily Scrum be used for giving updates or for asking these questions at all? It isn't a status or problem solving meeting.
A Daily Scrum is 15 minutes out of a busy day of collaborating with team members and others, for the Developers to stand aside and refocus on their plan for the next 24 hours for getting closer to the Sprint Goal. Why exceed the 15 minute timebox?
Developers include anyone, including those with UAT skills, whose work is necessary to create a Done increment and meet the Sprint Goal. Only Developers are required to attend the Daily Scrum, and hopefully they are suitably skilled professionals rather than "resources".
The objective of the Daily Scrum - inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal, adapt the Sprint Backlog, and plan the next day - should be achieved in 15 minutes.
However, back when I was in the office, I encouraged scheduling the meeting and booking the room for 30 minutes. There were a few reasons for this. First, it was an open floorplan office, so having the space gave the Developers (and the Product Owner) an extra 15 minutes to have discussions. It also made sure that the team had enough time to finish their Daily Scrum and leave the room before the next person or group to use the room.
However, having two people makes the Daily Scrum less valuable. A team starts to see the benefits of the structure of Scrum at about 5 people (a Scrum Master, a Product Owner, and 3 Developers) and at around 10 people (1 Scrum Master, 1 Product Owner, and about 8-10 Developers), the structures in Scrum tend to be stressed to their limits.
I'd also want to understand what these "few additional team members who focus on UAT" are. Understanding who they are, exactly what they do, and how they fit into the team would be more useful. I don't consider UAT as part of the process handled by the Scrum Team and UAT is a process that exists outside of the Scrum framework, so it could be worth spending some time to think about if these people should be on the Scrum Team or if they are a stakeholder to the Scrum Team's work.
Keep the standup to 15 mins. The Daily Scrum allow the team to know if the plan they forecasted is on track or if it's time to pivot.
The three questions can sometimes make this feel like a status meeting, but it's not. The goal is to review the plan. Think of it like the Sprint Planning and Refinement in one, but only for items in the Sprint Backlog.
Are the Sprint PBI's on track?
does the plan need changing?
Does anyone need help? Sending a flare
If follow-ups are required then this should create break-out rooms/meeting. Remember that the Daily Scrum is not the only time developers can talk. It should be an ongoing process. Raise your flare in the daily Scrum and wait for the lifeboat to come.
In short, keep it short :)
So it seems the developers combine the daily scrum with other topics. Just to clarify, Scrum is not against having problem-solving meetings but it prescribes having a daily scrum with a given purpose. If a team efficiently completes the daily scrum and starts a follow-up problem-solving meeting right afterwards, that is OK.
Our development team consists of only 2 resources
additional team members who focus on UAT
The Scrum Team is the
- Product Owner plus the
- Scrum Master plus the
- Development Team
If they turn PBI's into potentially releasable product (which meets the definition of done), they are part of the Development Team.
Embrace Scrum, or don't. Adding stand-ups to a waterfall project team doesn't equal Scrum.