Author: Liza Brooke

The Scrum meeting is an essential part of every project’s management, especially one following Agile methodology. It’s considered a valuable source of getting real-time updates, information, and feedback from the development team. It also serves to help keep the field team aligned with the company’s goals and deadlines. To take full advantage of the benefits of daily Scrum meetings, companies need to believe in empiricism and create an integral framework for implementation. If you, your team, or your Project Manager isn’t convinced yet, let me help! Listed below are many benefits of implementing daily Scrum meetings for successful teams, organizations, individuals, products, and services. 1. Increased Collaboration and Ownership When project responsibilities are assigned to several resources (not just one individual), they are likely to deliver excellent results. A daily Scrum meeting lets teams collaborate and take ownership of their project performance. Follow the below practices to contribute to your project’s success: Bring together the project development team with the product owner and Scrum master to conduct a daily session. Plan meetings and let the development team organize work as per informed priorities. Allow the development team organizes the agenda around categories of “done,” “future needs,” and “ongoing challenges.” Conduct reviews and let product owners highlight priorities and decisions (the goal here is to let the development team discuss updates and alterations directly with stakeholders). Encourage those present at the meeting(s) to conduct retrospectives and suggest better practice options. Inspire instant communication among groups and create a collocated work environment. Make mutual decisions by consensus. 2. More Relevant Metrics I would suggest that a team that meets regularly has data that is far more accurate and consistent than that of conventional projects. This includes all areas of project performance, time and cost, and project decisions. There are multiple reasons for this relevancy: On the spot, working teams are more likely to provide accurate estimates for project requirements. Budgets and timelines can be created and adjusted quickly, as per the team’s actual capabilities and performances. Customized assessments for individual development teams’ abilities, knowledge, and efforts can be utilized. A developer can burn down sheets providing daily updates of progress towards a Sprint goal in less than a minute. The product owner or stakeholder is able to compare the project’s actual cost with the opportunity of future cost. They can also look at costs against the returning values to adjust a timeline for a project. 3. Improved Progress Visibility and Exposure Clarity and transparency make Agile methodology with Scrum an ideal model to facilitate project management teams in identifying issues, suggesting solutions, and predicting how a project will progress accurately. Every member of a project is well informed about the updates and happenings at any given time. A high level of transparency is delivered for several reasons: An open-ended, high-value, and honest communication style is fostered among teams, clients, and investors. Daily Scrum sessions highlight a team’s insights on immediate roadblocks and progress. Information can be utilized right away from burn-down sheets, meeting minutes, task boards, and progress reports to enable project teams to track individual Sprints. Daily task boards facilitate developers in identifying priorities and self-organizing tasks. Retrospectives allow teams to determine what is working well (and what is not working) to arrive at an action plan that makes sense. All team members can participate in Sprint reviews, demonstrating their accomplishments. 4. Increased Project Control Scrum meetings provide unlimited opportunities to make corrections and control project performance, as needed if Project Managers follow the below practices: Embrace adaptability and change, so the team can handle outside factors, including supply chain and market demands. Address issues more quickly and collaborate with team members to get the work done within a given timeframe. Learn to use the daily progress update as an opportunity to make alterations on the spot. Eliminate any communication obstacles with face-to-face conversation. Don’t forget to ask investors and stakeholders for feedback—this provides surety of a project being on track. Make informed course adjustments to improve performance and product quality while refining project processes. 5. Reduced Risk Committing to a daily Scrum meeting mitigates the risk of project failure, since spending a considerable amount of money and time with zero return on investment (ROI) is not acceptable in any organization. Risk is reduced due to: Assuring a short time investment to validate if a product or an approach will work well. Having high-risk projects done first to get the idea of the longest runway available to work on early and inexpensive issues. Providing real-time and constant feedback on processes and product progress. Getting a work product increment at an initial Sprint. If a project is terminated, a high-value risk has already been developed, and can then be delivered, if required, to the client. Development requirements are looked at in every Sprint to allow project sponsors to complete a useful feature despite what may happen in the future to the project. 6. Better Quality Undoubtedly, projects are accomplished to fulfill a goal or a vision. Scrum meetings offer a continual framework of feedback and visible exposure to assure high-quality performance. Quality assurance is improved in the ways listed below: Defining requirements in a timely manner keeps product features as relevant as possible. Daily testing can be incorporated along with the product owner’s feedback into process development allowing teams to address issues immediately. Continuous and regular improvements of outcomes are available via reviews of investors and stakeholders. Conducting retrospectives enables organizations to improve tailored team factors including tools, processes, relationships, and environment. Completing a task or project that defines and addresses testing, development, documentation, and integration. 7. Decreased Time to Market The Scrum meeting is a proven process to deliver valuable outcomes faster than conventional methods. The time that the product gets to market is reduced due to the following factors: High-priority requirements are differentiated from low-priority requirements. The excessive early documentation process of Waterfall projects is eliminated due to a dedicated product owner serving on the team and demonstrating on-time requirements and real-time clarification. Functionality is swarmed to Sprint completion. Scrum teams produce service increments and working products at the end of every Sprint that is usable. 8. Increased Return on Investment Agile-based projects realize a high ROI, as the time to market is decreased. Revenue and other targeted benefits get in hand sooner, along with early accumulation. We see this for several reasons: Fewer cost surprises are present due to upfront testing and automation. Many quick deployments create less wasted work time. Direct Sprint reviews from stakeholders via regular feedback meetings easily enable course corrections. As with all projects utilizing Agile and the Scrum meeting methodology, if a project is ultimately going to end it failure, it will be predicted faster and earlier. 9. Higher Customer Satisfaction When teams meet regularly, they are committed to delivering consistent results to satisfy clients making project sponsors happier for multiple reasons: Customers are retained more often than not if they have been engaged throughout the project. A product owner quickly becomes an expert (aware of all the requirements and project needs). A backlog of tasks can be addressed by prioritizing quick responses and embracing changes. The funding of an incremental project is more desirable, too. Delivering with every release, instead of all at once, usually produces a better end product. 10. Higher Team Morale Lastly, but not to be forgotten, is the idea that people who enjoy their work can more successfully motivate their peers. The ecosystem of an organization becomes rewarding and more satisfactory when teams are meeting and sharing feedback with each other. Self-management puts decision making into the hand’s of the team rather than the disconnection that can occur with a top down approach. Coming together for meetings more often than not enhances team morale positively in in many ways: An opportunity to structure work based on personality styles and specific strengths results in a better quality product. Making people a part of a self-organizing and self-engaging team makes them more innovative, creative, and appreciated for their experience, knowledge, and expertise. Teams can make customized decisions to balance each member’s personal and professional lives. Sustainable work practices assure people don’t get tired or burn out from overwork load or stress. Cross-functional working among teams allows individuals to learn new skills and will enable them to improve. An encouraging leading approach can actively prevent command and control techniques. A supportive environment increases trust. One on one interaction reduces miscommunication and frustration. Take Away Message Agile methodology and the daily Scrum meeting brings to project management a new approach of collaborative and real-time work. So, plan for that daily Scrum meeting! It will take your team to a new height of success, results, and revenue.