Being Agile, Doing Scrum: Adding Accountability To Your Scrum Team In Three Steps

This is another in a series of posts aimed at helping Scrum Masters coach “team members in self-management and cross-functionality []including [l]eading, training, and coaching the organization in its Scrum adoption.”

With a simple cut and paste, Scrum Masters can share this post weekly or once per sprint, concurrently adding some frivolity with several fun facts and content.

Note: Some posts come with an intro to provide background and additional information/tips, followed by the ‘cut/paste’ content that can be shared with the team.

Note: There are lots of fun facts and content. Feel free to pick and choose what to include/omit.

Check back next week for another post, and more content to share!

[For an index of all Being Agile, Doing Scrum posts click here.]

Background:

We have discussed the optimal way to run the Daily Scrum, and now we talk about the specifics of how to make that meeting more efficient and effective, specifically adding accountability.

As a review, Walking the Board focuses on the work to be done, not providing a way for the team to show how busy they are. As a result, we should hear a brief status of each User Story that includes:

(i) The percentage complete.

(ii) The anticipated completion date.

(iii) If there are any blockers.

For well coached teams (we will discuss how to coach teams that lack brevity in a later post) this sounds something like this:

Scrum Master: “User Story 123. Where does this stand?”

Scrum Team Member John: “That’s mine. I’m 50% done, it should be complete by end of day today. No blockers.”

Scrum Master: “Anything else?”

Scrum Team: No

Scrum Master: “Great, next User Story, 456. Where does this stand?”

And repeat.

So where is the accountability?

Step One: Record all updates provided by the Scrum Team.

If you want to keep things flowing it’s best to have someone other than the Scrum Master record the team’s comments. Having the Scrum Master do this can be a little challenging, and adds avoidable pauses as they type things out. I have seen teams use a temporary Word document, a draft email, and a draft slack post. Take your pick, whatever you find easiest.

The record might look something like this:

US123 John. 50% done. Est. complete EOD today. NB.
US456 Jane. 25% done. Est. complete EOD tomorrow. Need to discuss with Tech Lead.
US789 Anne. Starting today. 1 point US so Est. complete EOD today. NB.

Bonus Tip: Obviously shorthand will vary from team to team. Using the example above it might show:

‘NB’ = ‘no blockers’
‘EOD’ = ‘end of day’
‘Est.’ = ‘estimated’

You can explain the shorthand used in the Scrum Team record at your next Retrospective, or add them to Team Agreements.

Bonus Tip: Rotate the person who records the updates. This helps create better cross-team understanding, and ensures there is role cover for PTO/holidays/sick/vacation time.

Step Two: Share the record of the updates.

This should take place immediately after the Daily Scrum has finished. The person recording the status for each User Story reviews and corrects any typos. They then share the details using Slack, email, or their preferred communication channel. It’s important that this gets shared publicly, and quickly. Doing so:

• Ensures everyone sees everything (they might have missed a comment in the meeting or have been absent).
• Provides a way for the Scrum Team to correct any incorrect status.
• Demonstrates the team is being listened to.
• Creates a historical record for each User Story.

Bonus Tip: Add each User Story update to its ticket in Jira (or whatever platform you use to track your Sprints). This is an extra step but it creates another place to see the entire history of a User Story.

Step Three: Use the record of the updates in the next Daily Scrum.

The final step takes place at the next Daily Scrum. The Scrum Master refers to the notes from the previous day’s Daily Scrum. It should sound something like this:

Scrum Master: “User Story 123. John. Yesterday you said it was 50% done and would be completed by EOD. Where does it stand today?”

Scrum Team Member: “I did complete it, and I moved the User Story to the ‘Ready for QA Review’ column this morning.”

Scrum Master: “Great. Anything else?”

Scrum Team: No.

Scrum Master: “OK. Next User Story, 456. Jane. Where does this stand?”

And repeat.

The accountability starts to manifest immediately, but it becomes demonstrably evident as soon as someone repeats an update, or meaningfully changes their previous update. Imagine this conversation:

Scrum Master: “User Story 456. Jane, Where does this stand?”

Scrum Team Member: “It’s 25% done. it should be complete by end of day tomorrow.”

Scrum Master: “You said it was 25% done yesterday, and that you would meet with the Tech Lead. Did you meet? Is there anything I can help you with to push this along?”

As soon as you start referring to someone’s previous comments and commitments the team starts behaving differently. They immediately realize their status updates mean something, are being recorded and shared, and that they are accountable. This has a few benefits:

• You identify blockers immediately, allowing the team to provide help quickly.
• Once you get the team in the groove you can expect to see shorter meetings. My personal record for a Daily Scrum is seven minutes, and it was a pretty busy board with a couple of dozen User Stories. Trust me, most teams love less time in meetings.
• [Not to be shared with the Scrum Team] You identify team members that aren’t working too hard. It’s sad to say, but many of us have worked with individuals who work with no sense of urgency, or understanding that the ‘commitment’ in ‘sprint commitment’ actually means something.

Good luck, and let me know if you have questions, comments or feedback!

Cut/Paste:

The Daily Scrum — Next Level Communication

Last week we discussed the benefits of Walking the Board, which included the Scrum Guide’s comments about the Daily Scrum event:

“The purpose of the Daily Scrum is to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal.”

The Sprint Goal “is a commitment by []Developer[s]” which “creates coherence and focus.”

Collectively this means all conversation should center on the work the team has to do to achieve that commitment.

This week we discuss communication in the Daily Scrum, making the meeting more efficient and effective.

If we consider a User Story we expect to hear:

(i) The percentage complete.

(ii) The anticipated completion date.

(iii) If there are any blockers.

How should this actually sound conversationally? For well coached teams it normally goes something like this:

Scrum Master: “User Story 123. Where does this stand?”

Scrum Team Member John: “That’s mine. I’m 50% done, it should be complete by end of day today. No blockers.”

Scrum Master: “Anything else?”

Scrum Team: No

Scrum Master: “Great, next User Story, 456. Where does this stand?”

And repeat. That’s well under thirty seconds a User Story!

If each update is recorded and shared there are tangible benefits:

• We can expect to see shorter meetings (do we need any more benefits?)
• We increase transparency ensuring everyone sees everything.
• We provide a way for the Scrum Team to correct any incorrect status updates.
• We identify blockers immediately, allowing the team to provide help quickly.
• We create a historical record for each User Story.

The Daily Scrum record might include shorthand, we will discuss this at our next Retrospective.

One last thought: ideally we rotate the person who records updates. This helps create better cross-team understanding, and ensures there is role cover for PTO/holidays/sick/vacation time. If you are able to help please let me know!

Inspirational Quote:

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” — George Bernard Shaw

Fascinating Fact:

Coffee beans aren’t actually beans. They are seeds found inside coffee cherries, a reddish fruit harvested from coffee trees.

Word of the Day:

Fardel — A bundle.

Example: “I got a fardel of emails today!”

National Day Calendar: May 26th

National Paper Airplane Day
National Road Trip Day
National Cooler Day
National Blueberry Cheesecake Day
National Don’t Fry Day

It is also:

National Miniature Garden Month
Better Speech and Language Month
ALS Awareness Month
National Wildfire Awareness Month
National Foster Care Month

Born On This Day:

John Wayne (1907) American actor and filmmaker.
Miles Davis (1926) American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.
Stevie Nicks (1948) American singer-songwriter, and lead vocalist of Fleetwood Mac.
Hank Williams Jr. (1949) American country music singer-songwriter and musician.
Lenny Kravitz (1964) American musician, singer-songwriter, and actor.
Helena Bonham Carter (1966) British actor known for her roles in films “The King’s Speech” and “Harry Potter.”
Matt Stone (1971) American animator and co-creator of the animated TV series “South Park.”

On This Day In History:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, a stock market index, is first published. (1896)
Ford Motor Company produces the last Model T Ford. (1927)
Baseball Hall of Fame Ty Cobb is first to collect 1,000 extra-base hits. (1925)
EMI releases The Beatles’ album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” in London. (1967)