The Scrum Master should coach the Developers on why a daily rhythm matters for adapting the plan toward the Sprint Goal, and help them see that meeting less will increase their disconnect. A weekly Daily Scrum is not a Daily Scrum.
Exam Question
A Scrum Team consists of Developers working from globally distributed locations. Organizing the Scrum events requires conferencing tools that are not easily available within the organization. The Developers propose doing a Daily Scrum only on Tuesdays. Which are the most appropriate responses for their Scrum Master? (choose the best two answers)
- A. Coach the Developers on why a daily frequency is important as an opportunity to update the Sprint Plan and how it helps the team organize work toward achieving the Sprint Goal.
- B. Have the Developers vote to make sure there is consensus within the team.
- C. Help the Developers understand that lowering the frequency of communication will only increase the feeling of disconnect between the team members.
- D. Acknowledge and support this self-managing team’s decision.
Correct Answer
A and C.
Why This Is the Correct Answer
The Scrum Guide calls the Daily Scrum “a 15-minute event for the Developers of the Scrum Team” held “every working day of the Sprint.” Its purpose is to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the plan. Meeting once a week would leave the plan stale for days, and a distributed team is already at greater risk of drifting apart. The tooling gap is an impediment to solve, not a reason to drop the event. Coaching the Developers on the purpose of daily inspection, and on the cost of less communication, helps them reach a better choice themselves while the Scrum Master works on the tooling problem.
Why the Other Options Are Wrong
B. Have the Developers vote to reach consensus. A vote does not address the misunderstanding about the event’s purpose. Consensus on a bad idea is still a bad idea.
D. Support the self-managing team’s decision. Self-management works within Scrum’s framework. Dropping a required event is not a decision the Scrum Master should simply accept.
Exam Tip
Self-management does not extend to removing or reshaping Scrum events. When a team proposes that, the Scrum Master coaches on purpose and tackles the underlying impediment.
Key Takeaways
- The Daily Scrum happens every working day.
- Tooling gaps are impediments to remove, not reasons to skip events.
- Distributed teams need frequent alignment even more.
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More PSM II exam questions
- You are the Scrum Master of a Scrum Team that is new to Scrum. The Product Owner comes to you halfway through the Sprint and says, “I don’t feel like the Developers will be able to meet their commitment to deliver the Product Backlog items selected during Sprint Planning.” What should you do in this situation?
- Which four of the following risks to product development are addressed by Scrum?
- Several Sprints into a project, the Product Owner tells the Scrum Master that a key stakeholder just started using the product. The stakeholder is unhappy with the slow performance, a complaint that the Product Owner agrees on. How will you move this forward?
- During a Sprint Review, the Product Owner determines that she is going to release the current Increment to production. The stakeholders ask to stop the Sprint to react more quickly to the user feedback that is expected after this release. The Product Owner prefers to continue the Sprint to make progress with the next release. You facilitate a discussion on how to proceed. What are two acceptable results of this discussion?
- Towards the end of the Sprint Planning meeting, the Product Owner and the Developers have not been able to reach a clear, mutual understanding about the highest order Product Backlog items. Because of this, the Developers could not figure out how many Product Backlog items they could forecast for the upcoming Sprint. The Product Owner did make clear what business objective he is hoping to achieve with this Sprint. Which of the following two actions would you support?