Two questions Management and Scrum Teams always ask: How long should be the Daily Scrum be? And How many people on a Scrum Team? I would say the two influence to answer to each other.
Daily Scrum Time: 15 minutes, 5 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 15 +15 minutes?
Scrum Team Size: 3, 4, 5 to 9, 10, 11 all the way up to 15 or even twenty?
The easy calculation is the number of people on the team and giving 1 minute for each person on the team. However, ideally it is determined by the team. They will say what is enough time and it can adjust over time. Don’t be surprised if the Daily Scrum time box changes slightly.
The Scrum Master’s job is to ensure everyone gets to say the answers to the three questions:
- What you did since the last Daily Scrum?
- What are you planning to do before the next Daily Scrum?
- What are any Blockers to meeting your Plan?
As long as everyone can get through those three questions, that is the length of the Daily Scrum. From experience, the time for each person varies, so if you assume one minute for each person that will be tight.
Team Members might want to mention any time off they might be taking that day or in the next day or two. This should be established as a ground rule on what counts as a blocker. Why? Technically they are blockers and the other team members might have to readjust their plans for the day. So if a teammate is taking off tomorrow and you wanted them to test your code. You might have to start that first thing and work something out with that teammate.
Also you should add time for the Scrum Master, PO or stakeholder to inform the team of any possible impediments coming up during the day. They include All Hands meetings, luncheons, Free Food, team building, customer events or product launches. I know people say the daily scrum is for the team only, but these types of things can be great distractions, though important distractions.
So in summary if the team size gets too big the Daily Scrums will get longer and longer. If they get too long then, the team will not want to do them. In addition to, the lost communications in such a big chain. That is why the sweet spot in team size is 5 to 7 people and the Daily Scrum is usually 15 minutes. If I step into an organization with teams of 10 to 15 and they say their Daily Scrums are 15 minutes, then I instantly know people are not communicating. If the 10 to 15 people scrum teams are lasting 30 minutes, I know people are off doing other things during Scrum. Both outcomes need correction as soon as possible.
Happy Scrumming.
