A seasoned project manager, trusted for delivering essential software products with precision, will often turn to the Scrum framework within the Agile methodology.
By breaking down the project into smaller, manageable chunks called sprints, their team can collaborate efficiently instead of tackling the entire project in one go. This way, you’re not just building a product but refining it with every step to meet the customer’s needs.
However, if your project starts to feel like a nerve-wracking labyrinth, you might need to bring in multiple Scrum teams to tackle it.
This is where you take things up a notch and introduce the Scrum of Scrums. But how do you conduct regular scrum meetings without losing track of everything? Let’s find out.
How and When to Conduct a Scrum of Scrum
Summarize this article for me pleaseUnderstanding Scrum of Scrums
Scrum of Scrums is essential for effective project management. Understanding what it is and how it works enhances team coordination and improves transparency.
What is a Scrum of Scrums?
A Scrum of Scrums (SoS) is a meeting where representatives from different teams practicing Agile Scrum come together to sync up, share progress, and resolve issues across teams on larger projects that utilize Agile methodologies.
While this may seem simple, it requires careful planning.
Before beginning, organizations must balance Scrum team size and number while ensuring all the teams are on the same page, trust each other, and look forward to working toward a shared project goal.
When done right, SoS fosters transparency, regular check-ins, and the flexibility to adapt. Splitting large teams into smaller ones helps the organization connect multiple teams, strengthen connections, and maintain focus.
What is the purpose of Scrum of Scrums?
According to its creator, Jeff Sutherland, the Scrum of Scrums is:“…responsible for delivering the working software of all teams to the Definition of Done at the end of the Sprint, or for releases during the sprint.”
In simpler terms, Scrum of Scrums is a meeting where representatives from different teams align their work to prevent roadblocks. It’s essential for scaling Agile practices in complex, multi-team projects.
Reducing multiple communication paths ensures smooth collaboration and synchronized delivery of an integrated product at the end of each sprint.
In a nutshell, a Scrum of Scrums helps you:
- Keep everyone in the loop: Ensures clear communication of the progress and activities of individual teams to the larger group so no one is left in the dark
- Solve problems faster: Addresses urgent issues, enabling agile teams to resolve blockers and keep projects moving
- Improve agile team coordination: Oversees team collaboration, ensuring alignment, and preventing missteps
- Make important decisions: Facilitates collective decisions that impact all groups, maintaining coordination and progress
So, if you’re constantly juggling multiple Scrum teams, an SOS will put everything in order while keeping everyone in the loop. It’s an essential component of solid scrum project management.
But what does an SoS look like?
Key components of Scrum of Scrums
At first glance, the Scrum of Scrums might seem like a complicated flowchart with too many moving parts. But when you break it down, it’s just a few key components that mainly run the show.
1. Participants
A representative, typically the Scrum Master, attends the Scrum of Scrums. This could also be a team member, product owner, or technical lead—anyone who can discuss the team’s progress and challenges. A stakeholder or manager might occasionally join if their input is needed.
2. Frequency
Meetings typically occur 2-3 times a week but can be held daily if many inter-team dependencies exist. For projects with fewer inter-team issues, meetings may be held weekly, adjusting frequency based on project needs.
3. Duration
Scrum of Scrums meetings are time-boxed to 15-30 minutes for efficiency. They can be extended but should not exceed 45 minutes.
Summarize this article for me pleaseBenefits of Scrum of Scrums
Scrum of Scrums comes with a long list of benefits that are crucial for scaling Agile practices in larger projects. This includes:
Improved coordination and issue resolution
In complex projects, where various teams must work in tandem, Scrum of Scrums ensures alignment and addresses dependencies quickly, leading to more efficient operations and a seamless workflow.
It achieves this through several key practices:
- Cross-team synchronization: Aligns team priorities and progress, manages inter-team dependencies, and reduces bottlenecks
- Faster problem-solving: Tackles issues affecting multiple teams and encourages collective solutions for quicker outcomes
- Risk mitigation: Enables teams to resolve issues before they escalate, preventing potential roadblocks
- Resource optimization: Enhances coordination and identifies potential resource conflicts or shortages before they become critical
Enhanced communication, transparency, and collaboration
Scrum of Scrums helps teams to interact openly with each other while working toward common goals. It increases the likelihood of a successful project delivery.
The key elements that contribute to this include:
- Improved information flow: Breaks down silos by sharing updates regularly, providing a holistic view of the project
- Increased visibility: Paints a clearer picture of project progress and highlights issues or patterns that may not be visible at the team level
- Increased collaboration: Promotes teamwork and discussion of ideas across different teams
- Alignment with organizational goals: Aligns teams with main objectives and communicates strategic priorities across teams
Understanding the benefits of Scrum of Scrums helps you assess its relevance and impact on processes. This knowledge enables informed decisions about whether it will enhance the team’s work, coordination, problem-solving, and project efficiency.
Summarize this article for me pleaseHow to Conduct a Scrum of Scrums
You’ve made up your mind: you’re going to conduct a Scrum of Scrums. So, where do you start?
Let’s start with the structure, breaking it down into two main parts: ‘What is it about (agenda)?’ and ‘Who’s going to do what (roles)?’
Part 1: Agenda
Every Scrum of Scrums meeting follows a clear, structured agenda similar to a daily scrum, but it focuses on issues that affect multiple teams.
It’s typically centered around questions like:
- “What has my team done since the last meeting?”
Each team representative shares key accomplishments, especially those that impact other teams or the broader project - “What will my team do before the next meeting?”
Teams outline their upcoming work, highlighting tasks that might affect others and flagging any support they might need - “Are there any blockers or dependencies?”
Teams discuss any obstacles that slow progress and call out dependencies on other teams. Risks or potential concerns that could impact several teams are raised
The Scrum of Scrums agenda may also include changes, metrics, and progress for an overall idea of the current project status.
Part 2: Roles
Different people participate in a Scrum of Scrums, and each of them plays specific scrum roles to keep the meeting effective. These roles are:
- Team representatives: Each team sends a representative, usually called the Scrum master, to share updates on progress and challenges. They actively listen and help solve issues raised by other teams
- Coordinator: One Scrum master may also act as the coordinator, ensuring the meeting stays on track, follows the agenda, and wraps up on time. They’ll also handle follow-ups on any action items
- Product owner: This person provides product vision and helps resolve conflicts between team priorities. Their role is crucial when alignment on the product’s direction is needed
- Technical lead or architect: Sometimes included to address technical challenges, dependencies, or integration issues, the technical architect ensures coordinated technical decisions are made across teams
- Stakeholders or management (optional): Stakeholders may join as observers to gain insights. They should only contribute if specifically invited
How to conduct a Scrum of Scrums meeting using ClickUp
Unsurprisingly, there’s a lot to do and manage if you want to run a successful Scrum of Scrums meeting. The solution? An all-in-one Scrum platform like ClickUp.
ClickUp is the ultimate project management solution to help you handle the constant slew of Agile meetings for your biggest projects.
From Scrum boards to sprint planning templates, the ClickUp Agile Project Management platform has everything you need to conduct Scrum of Scrums with ease. Plus, there are built-in collaboration tools that can help teams conduct agile meetings, even virtual ones.
This platform helps you set up a customizable workspace structure comprising Spaces, Folders, Lists, and Tasks, a hierarchy that can be tailored to fit Agile methodologies. It has an array of Agile features, such as sprint management tools and burnup and burndown charts.
Now, let’s see how to conduct a Scrum of Scrums using this platform.
Step 1. Set up ClickUp for Scrum of Scrums
Use ClickUp Sprints to empower Scrum and Agile teams to efficiently collaborate toward shared goals. Here’s how you can set it up:
- For starters, you can ensure your Scrum of Scrum activities stay aligned with individual team progress
- Start by creating a new Space in ClickUp for “Scrum of Scrums” to keep SoS activities separate from individual Scrum teams, making them easier to manage
- Within this Space, set up Folders to organize different aspects of your Scrum of Scrums meeting. For example, use Cross-Team Issues to track blockers, dependencies, and challenges involving individual teams and Action Items for follow-ups to ensure nothing is missed
- Each meeting can be considered a task and can be automated using the Recurring Tasks option. For specific agenda items, add subtasks like team updates, blockers, and integration points and assign them to the relevant team representatives
ClickUp Scrum Meeting Template
Additionally, use the ClickUp Scrum Meeting Template to get a headstart on your individual Scrum meetings and those between each development team.
This template is designed to help you organize and customize your Scrum meetings for maximum efficiency. Here’s how:
- Plan and visualize sprints: Use this template to plan sprints, tasks, and goals in a single view for team alignment
- Monitor progress and blockers: Track project status by noting progress and blockers and following up accordingly
- Consolidate sprint essentials: Centralize materials for successful sprints, like meeting notes and demos, in one collaborative workspace
- Improve meeting efficiency: Structure meetings with clear agendas and actionable items for focused discussions
Step 2. Create a meeting template
One of the ideal ways to get started with Scrum of Scrums is by using templates. ClickUp gives you an entire library from which to choose. Let’s take the ClickUp SCRUM Sprint Planning template, for example.
ClickUp SCRUM Sprint Planning Template
This template comes with an easy-to-use interface for setting clear sprint goals and planning your sprints effectively. Use this template to:
- Define goals: Clearly outline sprint objectives during Scrum of Scrums meetings to ensure all teams have a shared focus on achieving specific outcomes
- Monitor progress: Track each team’s progress toward its goals and identify potential risks to proactively address challenges and manage dependencies
- Enhance collaboration: Encourage open communication among Agile Scrum teams to share insights and resolve cross-team issues, fostering a supportive and collaborative environment
- Document sprints: Maintain records of discussions and decisions from Scrum of Scrums meetings for future reference, aiding in continuous improvement and strategy refinement
Whether you need to manage products, track tasks, handle bugs, or generate reports, you can customize every aspect and mold it to your preference.
You can also use checklists, subtasks, and custom fields to outline your meetings. If the meeting agenda is to talk about team updates for a single project, you can make a checklist with the questions that we talked about above.
Based on this checklist, you can also create subtasks for every Scrum team involved in the meeting. And you can track all of these with custom fields, like:
- Blocker Severity (High, Medium, Low)
- Dependency Type (Technical, Resource, Information)
- Impacted Teams (Labels)
- Resolution Date (Date)
- Action Owner (People)
This setup helps you make sure every Scrum of Scrums meeting runs smoothly and keeps all the important details at your fingertips.
ClickUp Agile Scrum Management Template
If you want something a bit more advanced, try ClickUp’s Agile Scrum Management Template. It is specially designed for software development teams, making it an invaluable resource for IT-centric projects.
This template includes tools for carrying out Scrum events like backlog grooming and sprint retrospectives. With 30 different statuses and 6 different views, this template is optimized for Agile project management. It offers:
- Flexible task tracking, managing, and reporting
- Actionable visuals that help optimize sprints and roadmap plans
- Collaborative tools to keep workflow consistent
All in all, this template offers a comprehensive solution for scrum management that is well-suited to handle the intricacies of handling a Scrum of Scrums.
Step 3. Schedule and conduct meetings
Once you have all your tasks and templates in your Scrum of Scrums space, switch to the ClickUp Calendar view to organize your meeting schedule.
Just click on “Views,” select Calendar, and name it “SoS Meeting Schedule.” Now, you have a clear visual of all your upcoming Scrum of Scrums for all teams.
To schedule regular meetings, click on a date in the Calendar, create a Recurring Task, and apply it to your Scrum of Scrums meeting template. For added efficiency, use Time Blocking in the Calendar to set specific meeting times. Just drag the meeting task to the desired time slot and adjust the duration.
If your team uses external calendars like Google or Outlook, ClickUp’s Calendar Sync feature also ensures Scrum of Scrums meetings appear on everyone’s calendars.
For proactive communication, use ClickUp’s Comments Section within each Scrum of Scrums task for more structured discussions. You can @mention team members to flag important points or use threaded replies to keep conversations organized.
But if you need quick, real-time updates, try ClickUp’s Chat View. Create a dedicated chat channel for Scrum of Scrums to facilitate informal discussions and quick clarifications during the meeting.
This keeps conversations flowing without unnecessary formalities.
Step 4. Manage documents and notes
Luckily, you can create dedicated ClickUp Docs for each meeting and keep all your notes and info in one place. You can organize these docs with headers for different themes and use tables to summarize key points.
ClickUp’s formatting options ensure documents are easy to read. Once ready, share them with your team using the Share button and set permissions for viewing, commenting, or editing. ClickUp’s version history also lets you track changes and revert if needed.
If you prefer not to take notes manually, use ClickUp Brain to summarize discussions and generate action items quickly using the AI Assist tool. You can also integrate AI transcription for recorded meetings to save time. Going one step further, you can automatically turn voice into text and use AI to answer questions from your meetings.
Bonus: Embed tasks directly into your meeting notes by clicking the “+” in your doc and selecting the Task List widget to add tasks related to the Scrum of Scrums meeting.
Step 5: Track progress and follow up
With subtasks and custom fields in place, tracking Scrum of Scrums meetings is effortless. Use tags like #ActionItem, #Decision, #Blocker, and #QuickWin to filter and prioritize tasks easily. For a laundry list of action items, create a checklist within the task for easier management.
To visualize and keep track of task statuses, set up a Board View with columns like To Do, In Progress, Blocked, and Done. You can easily drag and drop tasks between columns to update their progress.
ClickUp Dependencies is another handy feature that allows you to link related tasks. Set up “Waiting on” and “Blocking” relationships to see how delays impact other tasks. This helps manage dependencies effectively.
Summarize this article for me pleaseBest Practices for Scrum of Scrums
To make sure your Scrum of Scrums meeting is a success, we’ve listed out some best practices that’ll help you. Following these practices will lead to more predictable and reliable project outcomes.
💡Tip 1: Keep it short and to the point
SoS meetings should be concise, lasting around 15-30 minutes. Focus on the main points during this status meeting: team progress, blockers, and cross-team dependencies. Keep the details to a minimum and use a timer to stay on track.
💡Tip 2: Have a clear agenda
Consistency is key. This is why you need a clear structure for each meeting that includes topics like team progress, upcoming work, blockers, and any inter-team dependencies. Try sharing the agenda in advance so that participants can be prepared and stay focused on it.
💡Tip 3: Encourage participation
Make sure each team representative has a chance to speak. It’s important to create a space where people feel comfortable raising issues or concerns. If someone is quiet, follow up to ensure nothing important gets missed.
💡Tip 4: Use inclusive communication
Everyone must understand what’s being discussed. Steer clear of confusing jargon or acronyms, or take a moment to clarify them. Encourage active listening and make sure any remote participants are fully engaged and able to contribute equally.
💡Tip 5: Focus on continuous improvement
Regularly seek feedback on Scrum of Scrums meetings to identify what works and what can be improved. Be flexible—adjust the format, frequency, or structure as needed, and ensure the right participants attend to maintain relevance and effectiveness.
Amp up Your Scrum Meeting with ClickUp
In addition to dedicated workspaces, ready-made templates, and task checklists, ClickUp offers a full range of features to support agile teams and their meetings.
With over 15 customizable views, flexible dashboards, automation, and plenty of tools for managing sprints, ClickUp helps you plan and handle even the biggest projects with ease.
Ready to run your Scrum of Scrums and enjoy the full benefits of this Agile approach as your team grows?
Sign up for ClickUp and explore its features to kickstart your SoS journey!
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