Tips for Remote Agile Scrum Ceremonies: How to Optimize for Success

As the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us, it is possible for government work to effectively continue in remote environments. In addition, teleworking in government will most likely remain in the future, and will also have an impact on overall Agile development in the long-term.

In the Agile development world, this new reality challenges many of the core tenets of this practice, which traditionally focused on face-to-face interactions and collaborations, and the ability for ad-hoc teams to quickly come together.

In particular, Scrum sprint ceremonies – the Daily Standup, Sprint Planning, Sprint Demo, and Sprint Retrospective – are the primary way that Scrum teams plan, share, and improve their work and the value they are delivering. They aren’t just meetings – they are critical working sessions necessary for the overall success of the team, where active participation by an entire team is vital.

As such, how can Scrum Masters and other leaders effectively promote open participation and transparent communications during virtual sprint ceremonies? While there are many techniques that could be employed, we offer some very fundamental, yet critical, best practices that will set up your virtual team for success.

Actively Use and Uphold Your Team Agreements:  

• Ensure that everyone on the team is aware of your team agreements and where they can access them.

• Recommend that they print them out and keep them visible in their workspace as a visual reminder.

• Create agreements specific to each sprint ceremony and briefly review (and augment them if necessary) at the beginning of each meeting.

• Develop protocols for how to be on camera, how questions and comments will be handled, how to leverage chat functions, etc.

• For example, is everyone expected to be on camera?

Come to Ceremonies Fully Prepared and Capture All Critical Content:

• Ensure that all participants are properly prepared and set up for optimal participation.

• Create a purpose, outcomes, and agenda statement for every meeting – include it on invites and review it at the beginning of the working session so everyone is clear about the focus and scope of the scheduled time.

• Ensure that all needed materials are easily accessible, show people know how to access them (especially if some people will be on phone and unable to view video) and provide them prior to the meeting.

• Clearly communicate expectations for any preparations participants are required to make prior to the meeting.

• Have team members update the Team Scrum Board prior to the Daily Standup.

• Use interactive tools during a meeting whenever possible so that team members can actively participate.

• Designate someone (usually not the lead) to capture any decisions or action items, intentionally review them at the end of the meeting, and communicate where they will be stored for later access by the team.

Change It Up to Maintain Team Interest and Participation:

• Use different types of icebreakers to start meetings and get people engaged with one another.

• Assign team members specific roles during meetings and switch them around from meeting to meeting.

• Have a different team member lead the Daily Standup every day.

• Try different types of techniques for approaching Sprint Retrospectives.

• Use fun, interactive technology that can emulate in-person activities (e.g., virtual whiteboard; virtual estimation cards).

The Bottom Line

It takes thoughtful planning, effort, and agility to keep everyone openly and transparently participating in team ceremonies from sprint to sprint. When used consistently, these three basic practices will take your team a long way towards collaborative excellence.

As a parting thought, the best way a Scrum Master can encourage others to be open and transparent is to model that behavior.  Follow the team agreements, come fully prepared to participate in meetings, do something unexpected from time-to-time, and have fun along the way.

Utilizing Agile methods like Scrum, Kanban, and Lean development, Makpar’s Agile practice minimizes communication gaps between Development and Operations teams by expanding DevOps-based automation to the entire development lifecycle. 

Please contact us here for more information about how our Agile capabilities can help your agency get on the path to streamlined software development.