The reasons why most of the projects face problems on a daily basis are that people are working hard but not realizing that someone is waiting for them to finish the task, encounter a blocker that you can help solve, or change some priorities for the day. These small issues can cause a significant delay for the whole Sprint.
A daily scrum is aimed to prevent it; it’s a short meeting to discuss the progress, impediments, and plans of the whole Scrum team. This meeting helps members to self-organize, avoid confusion and spend less time planning since the daily stand-up meeting reminds them of the Sprint Goal.
What is Daily Scrum?
A daily scrum is a 15-minute event, which is held every working day during the Sprint. It is also known as the Daily Scrum meeting. Daily Standup Meeting in Scrum, or Scrum Standup Meeting. It is a coordination meeting, during which the team discusses work progress, plans and coordinates activities, and controls the Sprint progress.
So, what is a daily scrum meeting? It gives the team an opportunity to inspect progress towards the Sprint goal and make the necessary adjustments if any impediments arise.
Therefore, a meeting is not used to report to the stakeholders or the Scrum Master but to quickly resolve issues and plan the following day’s work. It is a time-boxed event, with the expected duration of 15 minutes. It is held at the same place and time every working day. The daily Scrum is primarily for the developers to plan and track their work. The Scrum Master can also join to remind developers of the Scrum rules.
The Product Owner may participate in the Scrum meeting if he/she is actively working on some items. One of the crucial things to understand is that the daily scrum is not a status meeting for the manager, but a planning meeting for the developers. The reason is that this type of meeting helps to increase communication within the team and resolve problems as early as possible to prevent project delays.
Daily Scrum Is Not a Status Conference Coursework
One of the major myths about the daily scrum is that it is a meeting, during which the developers report their progress to the manager. Actually, the daily scrum is not a status conference. It is rather a planning meeting, during which the developers identify what has been done, what obstacles have been encountered, and what plans for the following day the team has in order to meet the sprint goals. Therefore, the daily scrum helps to avoid schedule waste and unnecessary discussions.
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For instance, if one developer encounters some difficulties, which prevent him from performing his task, the others will discuss what they could do to help him. Furthermore, when an impediment occurs and several team members cannot work, the developers will deliberate on the appropriate action to address the problem after the daily scrum.
This way, the daily stand-ups enable the team to do the right work and work in the right way, adapting to circumstances when necessary.
During the daily scrum, the developers talk about the progress being made, the obstacles encountered and the planning for the next day, instead of telling what they have done to stakeholders and project managers. Thus, daily stands are primarily for the team. Team should not use the daily scrum to report the work done to stakeholders and project managers, because this meeting serves to discuss the work progress and planning for the following day.
Daily Scrum vs. Daily Standup
If you have been working with Agile teams, there is a great chance that you have heard the terms daily scrum and daily standup. The two terms may sound different, but there is nothing to worry about. In fact, there is no difference between the two terms. The term daily standup is actually the informal name for the daily scrum. Nevertheless, the term daily scrum is the one that is used in the Scrum Guide.
Comparison Between Daily Scrum vs. Daily Standup
| Daily Scrum | Daily Standup |
| Official term used in the Scrum Guide | Informal name commonly used by Agile teams |
| A formal Scrum event during a Sprint | A common way of referring to the same meeting |
| Focuses on inspecting progress toward the Sprint Goal | Has the same purpose and objective |
| Used in Scrum terminology | Used in everyday workplace conversations |
Why Is It Called a Standup?
The term standup came from the fact that the developers used to stand during the meeting to keep it short and avoid wasting time. Nowadays, the term daily standup is used mainly due to the long-standing tradition. However, it is not necessary for the team to stand during the scrum.
Is There Any Difference in Purpose?
No, there is not any difference in purpose. The purpose of the daily scrum and the daily standup is the same. Both of them are used for the developers to hold a short coordination meeting every working day to control work progress and make adjustments if necessary.
The daily standup is normally scheduled at the same time every day to make it easier for the developers to track work progress and plan the following day’s activities. The event is normally 15 minutes long and is used to review the progress, discuss the work plan, current impediments, and address other relevant issues.
Daily scrum and standup meetings allow developers to make the necessary changes and plan the following day’s work within the 15-minute time-box instead of holding a prolonged meeting.
What is the Main Purpose of the Daily Scrum Meeting?
The main purpose of the daily scrum meeting is to help the team establish a short coordination meeting. It is aimed to review the progress, plan the following day’s work, and find ways to address the impediments that hinder the work. Therefore, the daily scrum helps developers make the necessary adjustments during the current Sprint without spending too much time on it since the event is time-boxed to 15 minutes.
The daily scrum gives the team an opportunity to make sure everyone knows the work progress and understand what they have to do in the following days to make the project move in the right direction. It can also be used to identify obstacles that should be resolved to prevent further delays.
What Does the Daily Scrum Help the Team Achieve?
The daily scrum helps the team to achieve the following goals:
- Ensure that the developers are focusing only on the Sprint Goal.
- Review the progress and find out tasks that still need to be completed.
- Make sure the team does not encounter any impediments that hinder the work progress.
- Plan and coordinate the day’s activities and make the necessary adjustments.
- Help the team to work collaboratively and eliminate communication and planning barriers.
Therefore, this type of meeting helps the team to maintain the progress and quickly address various issues that arise during the project implementation.
Why Is the Daily Scrum So Important?
Without a daily scrum, it becomes impossible to make changes because the team does not have a forum to discuss their accomplishments and obstacles and what will be achieved the next day.
This way, the daily scrum helps developers to respond to any emerging issues promptly and adjust the course of the project.
For example, if a developer faces a particular challenge and reports it to another team member, but this task interferes with the work on other assignments, it will take too much time to resolve this issue. Instead, such problems should be discussed during the daily scrum, and the team should make necessary adjustments to the project course.
The Real Purpose Goes Beyond Just Updates
Many people assume the daily scrum is about sharing updates. In reality, its purpose is much bigger.
| The Daily Scrum is for… | The Daily Scrum is not for… |
| Planning the next 24 hours | Reporting work to a manager |
| Coordinating work across the team | Explaining every completed task |
| Identifying blockers early | Solving technical issues in detail |
| Inspecting progress toward the Sprint Goal | Holding long project discussions |
Who Should Attend the Daily Scrum Meeting? Who Should Not Attend?
The daily scrum is a meeting of the developers to discuss progress on items in the Sprint backlog. Consequently, it should be attended by those developers actively working on the items in the Sprint backlog. The Daily Scrum is their planning meeting, during which they should decide what to do and how to do it right.
The Scrum Master should also attend the daily scrum to remind developers of basic Scrum rules. At the same time, it is essential that they do not rob developers of their self-management, making the scrum less effective by interfering with the team’s work.
As for the Product Owner, they may attend the daily scrum if they are working on the items in the Sprint backlog. In this case, the Product Owner is not required to report on the project’s progress but manage tasks related to the Sprint backlog items.
Finally, a stakeholder or a manager may be invited to the daily scrum; however, they should not impede the developers’ work since it is the manager’s responsibility to facilitate the team’s progress. In other words, the manager may monitor the situation but should not act as a reporter for the developers.
The Scrum Master’s Role in the Daily Scrum
One of the most common myths about the daily scrum is that the Scrum Master is supposed to facilitate progress. The daily scrum is actually the developers’ meeting, during which they should plan and evaluate their work and determine what actions to take to deal with impediments.
The facilitator’s role is incompatible with participating in the daily scrum since the Scrum Master should not interfere with the developers’ self-management.
What Does the Scrum Master Do During the Daily Scrum?
The Scrum Master ensures that the daily scrum is productive and valuable for the team, which can be achieved by
- making sure that the meeting is held every working day,
- keeping the scrum within the 15-minute time-frame,
- reminding developers of the Sprint Goal,
- preventing the scrum from transforming into a status update meeting,
- facilitating open discussion and communication,
- coaching the team on Scrum, and
- helping the team deal with impediments outside the team’s control.
What Doesn’t the Scrum Master Do?
Many teams misunderstand the Scrum Master’s responsibilities. Here’s a quick comparison:
| Does | Doesn’t |
| Ensures the Daily Scrum is effective | Lead the meeting every day |
| Coaches the team on Scrum practices | Ask each developer for status updates |
| Keeps the meeting within the time-box | Assign tasks to team members |
| Helps remove blockers after the meeting | Decide who should work on what |
| Encourages collaboration | Act as the team’s manager |
How the Scrum Master’s Role Changes Over Time
The Scrum Master’s involvement depends on the maturity of the team.
| New Scrum Team | Experienced Scrum Team |
| Guides the Daily Scrum more actively | Steps back and lets developers facilitate the meeting |
| Coaches the team on Scrum practices | Intervenes only when necessary |
| Helps build meeting discipline | Focuses on removing organizational blockers |
| Reminds the team about the purpose of the meeting | Supports continuous improvement |
As the team becomes more self-managing, the Scrum Master speaks less during the meeting. Instead of directing conversations, they observe, coach when necessary, and remove obstacles that affect the team’s ability to deliver.
Why Are the Three Daily Scrum Questions Important?
The three questions have been implemented for a very long time, and they help the teams to make the daily scrum productive. Each of the team members should give a short progress report answering the following three questions:
- What did I do since our last daily scrum?
- What am I planning to do today?
- Are there any impediments or blockers?
The three questions above enable the Scrum team to get an insight about ongoing work, recognize possible problems or dependencies, and make the necessary adjustments. However, it should be noted that according to the 2020 Scrum Guide, the three questions are not obligatory since the team can come up with their own set of questions.
Usually, the teams tend to do one thing, which is to track their progress. In such a case, the team can review the Sprint Backlog or the task board as an option because the Daily Stand-up is intended to inspect the progress towards the Sprint Goal and adjust the plan if needed.
Therefore, I believe that the key idea is to have an effective, inspecting, and adjusting meeting.
Important Tips to Make Your Daily Scrum Successful
There are multiple suggestions for improving the daily scrum and making it as effective as possible. However, there are some points that should be taken care of and should not be missed.
First, the daily stand-up should be held every day at the same time in order to get the team into the habit of it. In addition, the teams will be able to control their work better as they will know when they are going to meet.
Furthermore, it is vital to keep the daily scrum within the 15-minute time frame. This way, the Scrum team ensures that there will be no long and unproductive meetings. In the case when the team members experience some issues that should not be solved immediately, they should discuss this matter after the daily scrum.
Finally, it is better for team members to talk to the team rather than the Scrum Master during the daily scrum. It is noteworthy that the developers should be responsible for their productivity. Therefore, they should make sure that the daily scrum is efficient. They need to address any issues that may impede their work.
Fourth, the team must raise and discuss blockers or various impediments that affect the project. It will help them to ensure that the daily scrum serves its primary purpose and maximizes value for the team.
Fifth, use the Sprint backlog to discuss the work and task progress. This way, the team can follow the project progress and understand what to do to maximize value.
Sixth, make sure everyone is engaged and participates in the daily scrum. In this case, everyone will benefit from this type of coordination meeting rather than spend 15 minutes discussing the work progress. A short and effective daily scrum is better than the one that wastes too much time.
Seventh, avoid making the daily scrum a status meeting. In fact, the team must use this type of scrum to plan the following day’s work and discuss the current project progress to make adjustments and achieve the Sprint Goal. The daily scrum should not be used to explain what has been done yesterday, what the developers are going to do today, and what obstacles affected the project progress.
When these simple tips are implemented on a regular basis, the daily scrum will maximize its value and benefit the team.
Daily Scrum FAQs
1.What are the 3 questions of the daily scrum?
There are three specific questions that can be asked to make sure that the daily scrum is productive and beneficial. These are:
- What did I complete since the last scrum?
- What am I planning to do today?
- What obstacles or impediments did I encounter?
These questions were initially included when Scrum was first introduced. The reason is that they helped the team to inspect the work, adapt the plan, and make sure that the project met the initial requirements and goals.
However, these three questions are no longer mandatory since, according to the latest scrum guide, they can be modified or removed. They were only a convenient way to ask the developers to provide the project update.
2.How long is the daily scrum?
The session is strictly time-boxed to 15 minutes. This brevity ensures the discussion remains focused, allowing developers to return to their work quickly. If a particular issue requires more depth, those involved should coordinate a separate follow-up after the official meeting ends.
3.Is the daily scrum a status meeting?
No, it is not. One of the most common misconceptions about the daily scrum is that it is used to report the project status. In fact, it is a coordination meeting for the developers to plan and adjust the work without reporting to the stakeholders, Scrum Master, or the project manager.
4.What is the difference between daily scrum and standup?
The daily scrum and the stand-up meeting are the same, but the term “stand up” refers to the fact that the developers traditionally stood during the meeting to keep it short and effective. The word “scrum” was derived from the term ‘a scrum’ in rugby, which refers to when two teams get together in a packed group to contest for possession of the ball. This name implies that the team members must stand during the meeting.
5.Can the daily scrum be done remotely
Yes, it can. In fact, the daily scrum can be organized in various ways depending on the team’s needs. For example, if the team is distributed, they can hold the scrum via video conference. In some cases, async scrum or standup can be utilized when the team is in different time zones.
6.What tools are used for the daily scrum?
Jira, Slack, Google Meet, and many other tools can be used to manage the daily scrum. Many companies are also using the latest AI technologies to make sure that the standup or scrum meeting is productive.
7.What are common daily scrum mistakes?
The daily scrum can be made ineffective if the following common mistakes are not avoided.
- Turning the scrum into a status meeting
- Using more than 15 minutes for the meeting
- Making it too detailed and spending too much time discussing specific tasks.
However, these issues can be resolved if the team follows the best practices, including talking to the team, not the Scrum Master, keeping it short and simple, and avoiding making it a status update session.
PhD, Computer Science · CTO & Co-Founder, GrabAgile Inc.
Dr. Vamsi has spent 20+ years building technology companies from the ground up — through bankruptcy, through rebuilding, and into a global training company that has certified 26,000+ professionals. He knows what it means to adapt when everything around you shifts.
His core belief: “Discipline builds generational strength.” This session isn’t just a class — it’s the career inflection point he wishes he’d had earlier.
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