How do you facilitate a daily scrum meeting?
Scrum Masters are expected to know how to facilitate all major Scrum ceremonies. The daily scrum is one of these key ceremonies, and your interviewers want to be sure the candidate understands the purpose, scope, and outcome of the meeting.
Some teams have added items such as a completed feature review to the end of their daily scrum meeting for the sake of convenience and efficiency. While these types of team behaviors are strategic, they are not official daily scrum meeting activities and should not be included in your response.
The daily scrum meeting is a quick check-in meeting in which team members provide a status update on their progress from the day before and commit to a scope of work for the current day. I follow the standard format. We go around the room, or from person to person online, and answer basic questions, including:
- What did you complete yesterday?
- What do you plan to complete today?
- What are your roadblocks?
I noticed over time that a lot of incomplete task reports were due to others waiting on review or questions to be answered. To avoid this issue, I ask my teams to discuss what they need from other team members that day. This helps teammates become aware of collaboration needs early in the day and reduces time wasted waiting for feedback or information. This is not one of the standard questions, but it has turned into a must-have for virtual teams or teams that work globally.
I ensure that everyone moves quickly and sticks to the agenda. Some people tend to expand on their updates, so I kindly remind them of the ground rules when they stray from the objectives. After the meeting, I facilitate solutions for removing any roadblocks that can be addressed and make sure team members made specific plans for any collaboration meetings that need to occur.
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
A daily scrum meeting takes place every morning and the same time and place. These meetings focus on specific questions which are: what did you complete yesterday, what do you hope to complete today and what are the roadblocks? This meeting is time-boxed and lasts for 15 minutes.
The idea for this meeting is to encourage collaboration, determine roadblocks and reduce the time for feedback for questions asked from other team members.
After the meetings, I facilitate solution for the roadblocks and also make sure plans are made for the next need. I also ensure everybody sticks to the meeting agenda
Marcie's Feedback
Great! Your answer is thorough and detailed. Don't forget to highlight the skills and qualities you possess that enable you to successfully lead/facilitate these kinds of meetings. Are you collaborative and/or decisive? Are you a strong communicator and problem solver? Remind the interviewer of all you have to offer. Excellent job!
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