Bamboo Blog

Scrum Check is one of the tools that Laurie and I presented at XPDay on Monday. It's a short checklist that helps multitasking scrum masters to prevent any of the Scrum basics from slipping. For best results, take once daily, preferably by turning in a slow circle from your desk.

In fact, for best results, write your own. But as a starting point, here are the questions that I'm currently using:

Each day

• Can you see the taskboard?
• Does it have a full set of stories/tasks?
• Does the client know what’s been committed to on the board?
• Has it been updated since yesterday?
• Are there 'you are here' arrows?
• Are there stories awaiting done-done checking?
• Can you see the burndown?
• Has it been updated since yesterday?
• Is it under the glideslope?
• Can you see the release plan?
• Do you know what’s likely to be in the next iteration?
• Are most of next iteration’s stories now unblocked?
• Has there been a daily stand-up?
• Can you see the demo date? Is everyone who’s needed attending?
• Can you see the product owner's name and contact details?
• Does the team believe in what they're building, and why?

Each sprint

• Are there cutoff lines (with risk multipliers) on the release plan?
• Have all the clients seen the RP? Is there a stealth client?
• Do all the clients know the current velocity? Do you?
• Have we been paid for this iteration?
• Is there one email per completed iteration, showing stories completed, velocity, risks and projected scope?

I also like to have a blank 'actions' row at the bottom, which becomes my agenda for the morning.