The daily scrum meeting is part of the Agile development methodology. A google search will reveal a lot of web resources on the topic. To summarize, a scrum meeting is a short (15 minutes), daily team or project meeting with some particular characteristics. The most significant of which are that only team members can talk. Management can be present and observe, but not speak. All discussion should be taken off-line after the meeting. The meeting is conducted standing up. Team members answer three question:
What have you done since last meeting?
What are you going to do before next meeting?
Is anything impeding your progress?
I have come up with ten reasons to have daily Scrum meetings. They are:
10. It’s good to stand up and stretch for a few minutes.
9. The meetings don’t take long, freeing time for more important things.
8. The project manager does not get to talk.
7. Team members get equal opportunity to talk.
6. The name comes from rugby. If you have never watched a rugby match you should.
5. The regularity of the meetings promotes team cohesion and consistency.
4. It is obvious if someone on the team isn’t doing their share of the work.
3. The meetings help facilitate team communications.
2. Scrum meetings help people set and achieve short term goals.
…and the number one reason to have a Scrum meeting is:
1. ‘Scrum’ is a cool name for a meeting.