Agile QuickTip: Try an Audio Signal to Start or End your Daily Scrum

Try an Audio Signal to Start or End your Daily Scrum

Using an audio signal at the beginning or the end of your daily Scrum could help define precisely when it starts and finishes, and make the Scrum a lot more focused.

One thing that a lot of scrum or agile teams complain about is that their daily Scrum takes much longer than they expect. Instead of 10 or 15 minutes, they are finding that it can take 30 or even 40, cutting into their working day and taking them away from other more important things they might have to do.

One problem which I’ve seen many times, is that sometimes the Scrum actually ended a while ago, but nobody noticed because the conversation from the Scrum actually transitioned straight into the follow up. An audio signal can solve this.

Agile QuickTip

By having an actual audible sound that you can trigger to let people know that the Scrum is over, you can keep that Scrum much more focused, and allow team members to leave if the follow up doesn’t concern them.

Play a sound effect from your phone like a chime or a buzzer, or call out something like “Scrum Off” or “Scrum Over!” This will act as a signal to people that the mandatory Scrum is over, and they can leave and get on with whatever else they need to do.

You can use a similar technique to kick off your Scrum, playing a sound, or calling out “Scrum On” or “Scrum Started” to silence any chatter and let team members know that the Scrum has started in a focused way. With this trick, your Scrum can be limited to the 10 or 15 minutes you’ve set aside for it, and should end up being a lot valuable.

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