The design corner
Many of the most interesting and valuable design
discussions take place spontaneously in front of the taskboard
There is no better way to get an overview of the system than to stand in the design corner and glance at both wall
“Together” means:
People are reluctant to move.
They don’t want to have to pick up all their stuff, unplug the computer, move all their junk to a new desk, and plug everything in again.
When building effective Scrum teams, however, there is no alternative. Just get the team together.
Even if you have to place the team in the basement.
Once you have the team together the payoff will be immediat
Visibility
Audibility
Anybody in the team can talk to anybody else
without shouting or leaving his desk.
Everybody in the team can see everybody else.
Everyone can see the taskboard
Isolation
If your whole team were to suddenly stand up and engage in a spontaneous and lively design discussion, there is nobody outside the team close enough to be disturbed
Keep the product owner at bay
Then glance at the computer and try the latest build of the system
The product owner should be near enough so that the team can wander
over and ask him something, and so that he can wander over to the taskboard. But he should not be seated with the team.
Keep the managers and coaches at bay
Which means by entering a team it would automatically become less self-managing.
Daily scrums
Nothing can beat that.
The meetings standing up, since that reduces the risk of surpassing 15 minutes.
Update the taskboard
Normally update the taskboard during the daily scrum.
Sometimes the Scrum master does the post-it stuff while people talk.
If the sprint backlog is well-designed it should be just as easy for each team member to update it himself.
Dealing with latecomers
No questions asked. If you call before the meeting and say you’ll be late you still have to pay up.
This works well. But it is only necessary for teams where people often come late. Some teams don’t need this type of scheme.
Sprint demos
The sprint demo (or sprint review as some people call it) is an important
part of Scrum that people tend to underestimate.
A well executed sprint demo, although it may seem undramatic, has a profound effect.
The team will stutter and stumble while doing the demo and the applause afterwards will be half-hearted. People will feel a bit sorry for the team, some may be irritated that they wasted time going to a lousy demo.
Checklist
Keep a high pace
Don’t spend too much time preparing the demo
Don’ t demonstrate a bunch of minor bug fixes and trivial features.
Keep the demo on a business-oriented level
Let the audience try the product for themselves.
Make sure you clearly present the sprint goal.