Scrum Methodology is based on iterative and incremental project management, with daily meetings being a key to forming highly effective Scrum meetings. Scrum Methodology is mainly based around planning a series of encounters whose end goal is constant control over a project’s evolution. The purpose? To always have the necessary information to plan the latest iteration.
Therefore, how can we understand the types of meetings held by Scrum teams? What type of information is necessary for each type? Who must attend these meetings? How to Build an Effective Team? We will see how to implement one of the most important pillars of Scrum Methodology, Scrum team meetings, in our company.
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The 3 essential participants in a Scrum meeting
Scrum Master, Product Owner, and team are the three main figures at Scrum meetings. Between them, a negotiation can take place to handle time, resources, product traits, placements, and other product requirements. So long as the Scrum-based project roles are understood.
- The Scrum Master is the one in charge of providing the necessary tools to ensure the project is carried out under the established requirements. They guide the team to ensure Scrum Methodology is applied, often acting as a Project Manager. Due to this, they are the one in charge of ensuring that good practise Scrum iterative steps take place.
- The Product Owner focuses on maximizing the product’s value and on the development team’s work. They will keep an eye on the quality of results and will focus on making sure that the project management leads to the creation of value in the end product. Therefore they will in part dedicate their time to making sure that the project’s objectives are value-oriented.
- The development team will carry out the activities which are handed out to different collaborators. They must communicate equally to the Scrum Master and the Product Owner. This group will have those responsible for set tasks or functions, or even external interested parties. Depending on the phase or part of the project where we may be, the intervention of one or the other will move around meeting by meeting.
All about Scrum
- Scrum Roles and Responsabilities
- Scrum Sprint
- Scrum Team
- Scrum Online Tools
- Scrum Methodology
- Scrum Master Role
- Kanban vs. Scrum
- Scrum IT
- Daily Scrum
- Scrum Stand-up
- Scrum Values
- Agile Scrum Kanban
- Scrum Planning Tool
- Scrum Planning
- Scrum Project Plan
- Scrum Dashboard
- Scrum Retrospective
When to hold a Scrum meeting?
Scrum Methodology is based around a series of development iterations or cycles, which always begin with a team meeting. This way, we can always control the continual changes that projects experience throughout their evolution. Therefore, when we begin a new iteration or phase in project execution, we must arrange a meeting.
Depending on the type of project or product, there are teams who would rather begin their day with a Scrum meeting. This way they ensure that the plans are completely adapted to changes and they feel prepared to adequately handle the continual project risks. On the other hand, depending on the nature of the project, these meetings or sprints may last a week.
Whether they are daily or weekly meetings, the important part is to properly apply Scrum Methodology to project management, and this is done by understanding the four basic meeting types.
The kick-off meeting agenda usually charts the direction of the meeting and will assist in guarding against unnecessary distractions.
The 4 types of Scrum meeting
Scrum teams have internalized an agile work pace which includes these four meeting types.
Planning. In this meeting the next sprint will be planned, handling topics such as the duration of each activity, the resources necessary to carry it out, the viability of each task, as well as other topics concerning the project’s future. It is usually the Scrum Master who will facilitate this meeting and therefore, the Scrum Master will be necessary to document the project and the steps taking to ensure future success.
Both the Product Owner and the Scrum Master, aka Scrum Manager, will divide the project into stages and tasks, assigning work to each team member. From apps like Sinnaps, assigning tasks and forming teams is as simple as inviting each collaborator to the project from the activity panel or from the activity’s own page. Automatically, the team member will receive an invitation via email. How to invite others to your project with Sinnaps?
From the activity panel you can invite people and dole out work in a single click:
Or you can do the same via the team management dashboard:
Often, as recommended on this free online project management course, when the meeting is over, it is important to tactically negotiate each task requirement one by one. The more realistic the plans are, the less the risk, and for this we need to communicate in detail with every head of every task. Also, you can find out info about how to prepare a Kick-off meeting.
Daily sprint. The main purpose of this type of meeting is to endure there are no obstacles to the tasks which are underway. The development team will need to be synchronized, staying up to date on every change to the project which may affect their work.
As this is usually a daily meeting, it will not take more than 15 minutes at the start of the work day. The Project Owner is usually passive at a daily sprint meeting, and does not need to be present at each one. During these, the team members will briefly explain what they achieved the day before and what challenges they found, with the goal of finding a solution as soon as possible.
To apply Scrum techniques to project management it is essential to have a tool which gives us the freedom to do all this efficiently, and above all to keep continual updates regarding possible hurdles which may put the project at risk.
Sprint Demo. A closing meeting where the final results of the project are presented to the entire team. The Project Owner will be in charge of validating these results, whilst the Scrum Master will make note of any possible changes which may be required.
Retrospective. Scrum Methodology recommends holding this sort of private meeting between the Scrum Master and the development team in order to revise the way in which a recently finished project has been managed. It usually takes place after the sprint demo meeting.
An agile task based around Scrum Methodology is always a challenge to any team, as with any newly applies work habit, be it a tool or a series of meetings to determine daily tasks. Therefore, it is key to choose the right online management tool.
This software needs to be complete, but intuitive and easy for all those involved in the project to use. Not only to reduce the learning curve, but because every little achievement will increase the engagement or commitment between all parties and the new work approach. This is something which the Project Owner must notice and value in the end results. An example of an easy application, available on all devices, is Sinnaps.