What is the Daily Scrum
The Daily Scrum is a 15-minute event for the Developers. It happens at the same time and place every working day of the Sprint. The purpose is to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the plan.
The Daily Scrum is for the Developers. The Product Owner and Scrum Master may attend if they are working on Sprint Backlog items.
Why It Matters
The Daily Scrum creates a tight feedback loop on the most important question in Scrum: are we on track to meet the Sprint Goal?
When the event works, the team sees risk early and adapts the plan daily. Surprises at Sprint Review become rare.
How It Works in Scrum
The Developers choose the format. The Scrum Guide does not prescribe one. Common formats include the three questions (yesterday, today, blockers), walking the board, or starting with the riskiest item.
What matters is the outcome:
- A clear read on whether the Sprint Goal is at risk
- An updated plan for the next day
- Visibility into impediments the Scrum Master needs to remove
Deeper conversations happen after the Daily Scrum, not inside the 15 minutes.
Common Mistakes
- Reporting status to a manager. The event is for the Developers, not for anyone else.
- Running long. The 15-minute time-box is a forcing function. Solve problems after the event, not during.
- Skipping it when "nothing has changed." The point is inspection. A fast confirmation that nothing changed is fine.
- Perfunctory round-robin. Reading three answers each with no real conversation is not a Daily Scrum.
- Scrum Master running it. The Scrum Master ensures the event happens. The Developers run it.
Key Takeaways
- 15 minutes, every working day, for the Developers.
- Inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the plan.
- Format is flexible. Focus and time-box are not.
- A status meeting is not a Daily Scrum.