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Daily Scrum Meetings occurrence

Last post 12:58 am April 21, 2021 by Daniel Wilhite
4 replies
03:28 pm April 20, 2021

Hello Community!

This is the first time I'm posting, I've been searching through the different topics but I was not able to find anything related to my question... So here I go:

I'm the Scrum Master for six different teams, which are part of a larger program that has a total of 16 Scrum Teams. There are two other Scrum Masters that work with me, that were assigned five teams each. I'm the Scrum Master of the Scrum of Scrums. We were asked by our implementation leads to register in some kind of way the occurrence/ not occurrence of the Daily Scrum Meetings for the different teams. This request was originated because some of the teams were frequently requesting to cancel their Daily Scrum Meetings due to unavailability to attend. I want to clarify that the meeting times were previously agreed with the Scrum Teams and couldn't be changed because of the schedule complexity.

When I received this request some questions came up to my mind: What is the value to do this? What exactly are we measuring and for what?

Since this request came from the implementation leads and they really want to have this info available, then, what would be the best way to do this without falling into the old excel spreadsheet? I'd like to use the tools that were intended for Scrum Teams, or teams applying agile methodology, where the metrics can be generated automatically in case someone requests this info. Any ideas?

Any input is appreciated, thank you!


07:34 pm April 20, 2021

WOW.  Six teams per SM.  That is a challenge all by itself. 

Are all teams working on the same product, or on different products?  If the former, then you might wish to look into implement one or two Nexus's. 

All three of you SMs should be considering the following issues that will arise if the frequency of the Daily Scrum is reduced: 

  • If you have remote teams, their feeling of being disconnected from the other teams will increase
  • The opportunities to update the sprint plan will be reduced, thus preventing the teams from organising work to achieve their sprint goals will be slowed
  • A inaccurate sprint plan reduces transparency
  • Opportunities to inspect and adapt the sprint backlog will be reduced, causing re-alignment to become more difficult

07:59 pm April 20, 2021

When I received this request some questions came up to my mind: What is the value to do this? What exactly are we measuring and for what?

The ability of the Developers on each team to agree a plan for the next working day which takes them closer to their Sprint Goal.

Are you able to help each team focus on its Sprint Goal, given you have so many?

Since this request came from the implementation leads and they really want to have this info available, then, what would be the best way to do this

What are "implementation leads", and what would they use this information for in regards to each team?


08:29 pm April 20, 2021

Thank you for the comments!

Scott, yes, they are going through the same "enablement process". I mean, the user stories are the same ones for all the teams, these are intended for them to understand the scrum framework, but each one have different products. At this point we are trying to avoid reducing the daily scrum meeting frequency for the reasons you described. But there were some particular occurrences which had to cancel because the team had been double booked. These particular cases are what the executives want to start measuring. The goal is to have zero cancellations if possible.

Ian, I do my best to keep each one of the teams focused on achieving their goal every Sprint.This organization has recently implemented Scrum (mid last year). I've joined as Scrum Master last January, so I work closely with these implementation leads. Their role is to provide the company's view on what is expected from the teams and clarify questions, especially to the product owners, since they have received some training on this role on the last few months. Everything is new to them, so it is a great challenge for the Scrum Masters.


12:58 am April 21, 2021

Forgive for being blunt but I saw a couple Scrum terms but nothing I read sounded like Scrum. You have passed the PSM I so I ask if this sounds remotely like you understand Scrum to be?  For example, what meetings are described in the Scrum Guide? I know of 5 events, but no meetings. Implementation Leads are not one of the 3 Scrum roles and the work you say they do doesn't sound like an environment that promotes self-organization. 



As a Scrum Master I would stop trying to find a way to make this information available and start educating people on how their interactions, and this case demands, are interfering with the teams' ability to self organize and produce valuable increments. I would also be helping the teams realize the importance and benefits of having the Daily Scrum event. You have responsibilities to the Scrum Team and the organization. With 6 teams you do not have the time to spend producing unnecessary reports. With 6 teams and an organization that is new to Scrum, but claims to want to use the framework, the 3 Scrum Masters need to concentrate on the responsibilities described for you in the Scrum Guide. 


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