Hi Jeff,

I've faced similar issues and our team has managed to work
through most of them in the past year. It is hard, but there is
hope if you keep at it, and keep learning.

First off, even though you are doing double-duty as SM and team
member (developer?), you must at least step fully into the SM
role during the daily scrum. Other discussions on this list
have discussed the disadvantages of this situation, so I'm not
going to go into that, but I think you're seeing one of the big
challenges of it right here.

Some of the things you're missing are just some basic meeting
facilitation techniques. Some of us had the advantage of
learning these long before Scrum, but if this area is
uncomfortable for you, find a good facilitator in your
organization (or community) and watch how they work, or ask them
to help you. Here are some basic pointers:

1) Don't be late yourself (duh). As a ScrumMaster, this sets a
bad example and sends the message that you don't value the
team's time, or the daily Scrum. If they don't think you value
it, why should they?

2) The meeting needs to start on time. "I'm in the middle of
something, can we wait 5 more minutes" does not respect the
team's time. If you delay routinely for these, again you are
sending the message that this session is not important, when
really it should be one of the most important parts of the day.

3) If #1 and #2 really can't happen, experiment with different
meeting times. Changing the time though will not fix the
underlying attitude issues.

4) Cut off inappropriate discussions. As ScrumMaster you get to
be the facilitator of this session, even if you are just "team
member" the rest of the day. You are allowed to ask people to
take the discussion offline, or hold it until after the general
group is finished. This can be tough at times, but be firm.

5) If the updates are too vague, ask questions. Don't just tell
them "updates need to be at the task level" or that they're
"doing it wrong". If you've been talking with them throughout
the day, ask leading questions during the Scrum, "What happened
with...", "How did you decide to handle...", "Did you ever get
such-and-such from so-and-so". The team will figure out what is
the appropriate level of detail to give over time, partly based
on what questions people ask them, or the opposite problem at
times, when eyes start to glaze over.

6) Ask your team permission to keep trying it daily for say, one
more iteration while you try to fix these problems. Promise
them that if it's not any better after that, you'll switch to
twice a week, and do it. Go from there. If you're having
retrospectives, you can always decide to switch back.

Anyway, it sounds like you're asking the right questions and you
already know some of the answers. Stick with it, be firm but
not rigid, and ask for help.

Marcie Jones
Atlanta, GA

--- Jeff Martin <jmartin@...> wrote:

> I meant more of a script as in a role play example. Everyone
> on the
> team has read the questions several times, it's just some feel
> like
> "What have I done since yesterday?" means either a detailed
> description
> of how they arrived at a solution or a vague statement that
> they worked
> on feature X. The "What am I going to do today?" questions
> evokes that
> same vague "Keep working on feature X" or it sets off a design
> discussion about a feature or something that's so far down the
> road,
> it's not even on the radar. Even if the question was answered
> based on
> tasks, there's no accountability. I could go in everyday for
> a week and
> repeat the same tasks as my plan for the day and no one would
> call me on
> it.
>
> Here is a summary of the problems I've identified...
>
> 1. Our tasks and updates are too vague. Discussed above. I
> asked the
> team to be more specific and refer to tasks, not stories and
> also to
> hold each other accountable if we weren't completing tasks.
> 2. The time of the meeting. Currently it's held at 8 or
> 8:15ish every
> morning. We randomly pick someone's cube (we use
> ExtremePlanner for our
> "board"). I add the -ish above because it depends on when
> everyone gets
> there (I'm usually the late one) and then there's a round of
> instant
> messaging consisting of "Are y'all ready?" "Where are we
> meeting?"
> "Can we wait 5 minutes, I'm in the middle of something?".
> I've
> recommended moving the meeting to 11 (our earliest lunch eater
> usually
> goes to lunch around 11:30), setting the time in stone,
> setting the
> location in stone and starting even if everyone is not there.
> I think a
> mid-day scrum would also help completed work be fresher on the
> mind.
> 3. The meeting is not a status report. This one was all my
> fault. I'm
> both a team member and act as the scrummaster (I know, that's
> supposed
> to be against the "rules", but a dedicated scrummaster is not
> a feasible
> position at my company) and I was handling keeping
> ExtremePlanner up to
> date. So the scrum turned into me asking what tasks were done
> and how
> much time was left on incomplete ones. Now each dev is
> updating EP
> directly, eliminating this issue.
> 4. Side discussions. I mentioned this above.
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: scrumdevelopment@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:scrumdevelopment@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Fred
> Montaseri
> Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 3:20 PM
> To: scrumdevelopment@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: RE: [scrumdevelopment] Daily Scrum
>
>
>
>
>
> How do you conduct your daily Scrum meetings?
>
> And, what are your issues?
>
>
>
> For what its worth here is a script, if that helps.
>
>
>
> Daily Scrum meetings
>
> * During the Sprint, the team holds daily Scrum meetings.
> * The ScrumMaster ensures that Scrum meetings take place
> and facilities them.
> * The meetings are held in the same place at the same time
> every working day.
> * The meetings should last not more than 15 minutes.
> * During the daily meetings every team member reports to
> the team by answering the following three questions:
>
> 1. What have you done since the last Scrum meeting?
>
> 2. What has impeded your work?
>
> 3. What do you plan on doing between now and the next
> Scrum meeting?
>
> * Conversation is restricted to the team members answering
> the above questions.
> * Follow up meetings can be established for immediately
> after the scrum meeting.
> * The ScrumMaster is responsible to act immediately, if
> required to remove impediments to progress.
>
>
>
> Kind Regards,
>
> Fred Montaseri
> 47 Woodhaven Crescent
> Richmond Hill, Ontario
> L4E 3T2
> Tel: (905) 773-7155
> Cell: (416) 566-4295
> Email: fmontaseri@...
>
>
> ________________________________
>
>
> From: scrumdevelopment@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:scrumdevelopment@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Jeff
> Martin
> Sent: April-25-07 3:48 PM
> To: scrumdevelopment@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [scrumdevelopment] Daily Scrum
>
>
>
> I have searched and can't seem to find what I'm looking for.
> I'm sure I'm just not using the right terms. Does anyone have
> a script
> of an example daily scrum? We are having several issues with
> our scrum
> and some team members are wanting to do away with it or change
> it to a
> twice a week thing. I'm wanting to fix the problems and I
> think sharing
> an example of a proper scrum with them would help. I've made
> up
> examples for different things, but I think it would have more
> impact
> reading through from start to finish.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> Jeff Martin
> Senior Developer
> Smith Seckman Reid, Inc.
> Phone: (615) 460-0528
> Email: jmartin@... <mailto:jmartin@...>
> http://www.ssr-inc.com <http://www.ssr-inc.com/>
>
> Notice: This message is confidential, is intended only for
> the
> named recipient(s) and may contain information that is
> privileged or
> exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not
> the intended
> recipient(s), you are notified that the dissemination,
> distribution or
> copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you
> received this
> message and are not an intended recipient, please delete it
> from your
> computer system without copying or forwarding it, and notify
> the sender
> by either sending a return e-mail or calling the number above.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>