Many people believe that the Scrum Master must facilitate all Scrum Events in order to be effective. In reality, while the Scrum Master should ensure that the Daily Scrum takes place, they are not required to facilitate the meeting.
Here’s why. The Daily Scrum is a synchronization meeting for Developers, and no one else is required to attend. Scrum Masters might decide to facilitate the event if the Developers are struggling to maintain the timebox or need additional coaching. Especially for new Scrum Teams, the Scrum Master often facilitates all of the Scrum events.
But as Scrum Teams begin to become more self-managing, the Scrum Master may be able to step back from the Daily Scrum and allow Developers to self-manage. In fact, when I've fulfilled the Scrum Master accountability, I sometimes skip the Daily Scrum on purpose to encourage the team to run it themselves. This approach has consistently boosted their ownership of the event and enhanced their collaboration. When I come back, sometimes they have come up with a better way to run the event, which I appreciate.
Conclusion
The Daily Scrum should be useful for all parties. It is not a box to check and doesn’t need any particular facilitator. The goal is to make sure we are making progress towards the Sprint Goal and to remove any impediments. There is no rule in the Scrum Framework for facilitating the meeting, but it must be useful. If you find that the Daily Scrum is getting stale, ask a different question at the Daily Scrum.
In Illustrated Scrum Myths, we throw peanuts at unnecessary rules. Don’t stay stuck in the chains of the way you’ve always done it. Remove blockers to Scrum delivery with Illustrated Scrum Myths.
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