





25 November 2024
David Walter
Imagine multiple Scrum teams moving in perfect sync—no bottlenecks, no chaos, just a pure stream of collaboration and productivity! That's the kind of harmony made possible by the Scrum of Scrums. This agile technique is the ultimate fuel that keeps large projects humming by aligning goals, solving roadblocks, and driving progress.
If you are envisioning the same result for your project and workforce, look no further! Consider this blog your first step towards understanding the world of Scrum of Scrums. Read on, explore its benefits, hierarchy and best practices, and turn project chaos into fruitful synergy!
Table of Contents
1) What is Scrum of Scrums?
2) The purpose of Scrum of Scrums
3) What are the Goals of a Scrum of Scrum?
4) Benefits of a Scrum of Scrum
5) Who is Involved in a Scrum of Scrum?
6) Conclusion
Scrum of Scrums refers to a scaled agile technique for connecting multiple teams that need to work collaboratively to deliver complex solutions. It helps teams deliver complex products through transparency, inspection, and adaptation at scale. It’s especially successful when every high-performing scrum team member works towards a common goal, has trust and respect, and is completely aligned.
Compared to typical project-based teams or organizational hierarchies, the interlinking team structures of Scrum of Scrums reduce communication paths. The aim is to coordinate smaller, more independent teams, and teams that employ Scrum of Scrums coordinate delivery and ensure a fully integrated product at the end of every sprint.
Essentially, Scrum of Scrums acts as a release team that delivers value to customers. Organizations typically adopt this approach as a first step to scaling agile and organizing the delivery of larger and more complex products.
Imagine a Scrum of Scrums meeting as a gathering of organs in a human body. In this context, representatives from these systems (heart, brains, stomach) would gather to coordinate how to make the body's day-to-day running easier and more effective. This is a simple way of illustrating how a Scrum of Scrums meeting syncs vital efforts within an organization.
The goals of a Scrum of Scrum include:
1) Coordinating output from all the involved teams
2) Integrating multiple team’s productions into a single entity
3) Eliminating any bottlenecks
4) Supporting the agile teams to enhance team productivity
5) Keeping teams aligned and in the know with each other
6) Deal with dependencies among multiple teams
With these goals in mind, each team representative must answer these questions:
1) Since the last meeting, what has your team accomplished?
2) Did any problems arise that created a roadblock?
3) What tasks does your team plan to achieve before the next meeting?
4) Do you anticipate any output from your team’s future sprints interfering with the work of other teams? If so, what are those outputs?
5) Have you experienced any obstacles stemming from other teams?
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Scrum of Scrums has numerous benefits, including information sharing, collaboration, problem-solving and more. Some more benefits of Scrum of Scrums include the following:
1) It ensures cross-team collaboration.
2) It maximises the spread of information across Scrum teams through their representatives.
3) It encourages consensus, which in turn reduces the risk of conflict due to lack of information.
4) It puts unfocused teams back on track.
5) It creates a problem-solving platform, and issues that Agile teams can’t fix can be resolved through by gaining insight from other participants.
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These are the points to consider regarding the individuals involved in a Scrum of Scrum meeting:
1) A Scrum of Scrum team must feature between five and ten participants, and the representatives should be the Scrum Masters of each team.
2) If each team sends only their Scrum Master, there's the risk of bringing a limited perspective to the Scrum of Scrums.
3) For example, it’s rare for a tech person to be the Scrum Master, and it’s exactly that kind of input that larger meetings may require. The possible need for technical input suggests having two representatives from each team, maybe the Scrum Master and the tech person or perhaps a member of the development team.
4) Optionally, the scrum of scrums can also include the product owner. This person’s perspective can potentially come in handy. But the meeting shouldn’t be a forum for product owners to air grievances and attempt to make development decisions outside their wheelhouse.
5) While most meetings function perfectly well as a self-leading body, a larger group meeting may need someone to step into the Scrum Master role.
6) The bottom line is that any team responsible for a deliverable as part of the release plan should have a representative attending the scrum of scrums.
Now that the benefits and hierarchy of a Scrum of Scrums meeting have been covered let's explore the best practices that you must implement to improve it:
a) Everyone must understand the purpose of this meeting and come prepared.
b) There must be a time-box and an established frequency for every meeting.
c) When individual Agile teams select representatives, they must choose ambassadors who can effectively represent their team and communicate progress.
d) Representatives must relay information pertaining to a Scrum of Scrums meeting back to their Agile teams.
In conclusion, the Scrum of Scrums is the ultimate tool for streamlining Scrum teams. It keeps teams aligned, collaborative, and efficient by focusing on clear goals, a structured agenda, and clear communication aided by each team's representatives. Being well-versed in the benefits and best practices of Scrum of Scrums, as outlined in this blog, will help you galvanise your workforce.
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