Joakim Karlsson

The most widely used format for the daily scrum, or daily stand-up, is having everyone answer three questions:

1. What did you do yesterday?
2. What will you do today?
3. What is blocking progress?

For a description of the rationale behind using these questions, see this article by Jeff Sutherland.

In addition to these questions, I like to add the following:

1. What is the goal we as a team have for today?
2. How did we as a team do on our goal for yesterday?
3. What, if anything, hindered us as a team from reaching that goal?

First, these questions look at what we as a team wants to accomplish. This helps us focus the individual tasks towards a common goal for that day.

Second, these questions sets up goals as opposed to just focusing on what tasks to work on. This gives the tasks we work on a more meaningful context. When we strive for goals, and reach those goals together, we share a sense of accomplishment. That helps in building a team.

Third, as we look at impediments that hinders us collectively, every team member gets a better understanding of what our major impediments are, and how it affects our progress.