One of the most memorable times growing up was my involvement with the Girl Scouts association. I established connections that inspired me to pursue a career in engineering and developed a passion for working with teams to build solutions. I especially embraced their Motto "Be Prepared". In the 1947 Girl Scout Handbook, the Motto was explained int his way: "A Girl Scout is ready to help out wherever she is needed. Willingness to serve is not enough; you must know how to do the job well, even in an emergency".
This concept holds especially true amidst the COVID-19 outbreak. Scrum masters need to enable their teams to work virtually, seamlessly, and effectively. This blog focuses on 5 tips that Scrum teams can apply to make their daily planning and execution more effective.
1. The scrum master should set up the daily stand-up with video conferencing and prepare to share the team's Jira Scrum or Kanban board. Team members should be on video and be prepared to talk to the progress they are making towards the sprint goal.
2. Team members should ensure that their work is updated to the current status ahead of time. Tasks should be used to break up the work and be assigned to the correct assignee. When facilitating the stand-up, use quick filters on the Jira Board to quickly show what work each team member is doing as they share progress.
3. Team members should flag items that are impeded. This will act as a visual reminder to discuss and follow up after the stand-up. It can also be used to inform the retrospective and drive improvements in future Sprints. In the flag comments, you can use the @mention in the comments section to notify individuals of specific actions.
4. Look at Sprint burndown regularly and briefly discuss if you are on track or need to pivot to meet the goal. Ensure the team members are collectively working from the highest to lowest prioritized items.
5. Respect the time-box. Focus on the 3 questions and table extended discussions for the “After Meeting”. Record meeting notes and actions in Confluence about the after meeting and share out to them with the rest of the team for transparency and accountability
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