Six rules for communication in Boldare’s Scrum teams
As a product owner, you are bound to work with Scrum teams that communicate with each other in their own “language” and their own subject matter. Have you ever wondered how Scrum masters keep their team members transparent, informed, and up-to-date with everything that is happening? In this article, we’re going to talk about communication in Scrum. You will learn about six proven and tested communication rules that Boldare’s Scrum teams follow.
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Who is responsible for effective communication in a Scrum team?
We enjoy working on our products using the Scrum framework. This approach has consistently proven effective on many occasions in our company’s history. Thanks to Scrum, we can deliver better products that fulfill our clients’ expectations. However, there are a few questions to consider if you want to apply this framework to your everyday work.
Chief among them is the Scrum model of communication, which is the responsibility of both a Scrum master (who is accountable for the Scrum team’s effectiveness) and a product owner (who is responsible for maximizing the product’s value). Last, but not least there are developers who need to communicate clearly the progress of work and any blockers or risks.
Why does communication in Scrum teams matter?
Scrum is based on three pillars – transparency, inspection, and adaptation. This framework is very flexible and empirical – it focuses on observable reality and experiments with the product’s initial vision to develop something tailored to the market and users’ needs. Communication is paramount in such a dynamic environment, as everything is always in flux.
Both product backlogs and sprint backlogs evolve during the process, and the work is divided into periods of a few weeks known as sprints. Each new sprint starts only after the conclusion of the previous sprint. Efficient communication between Scrum team members is a sine qua non condition for developing products using this framework.
How does poor communication affect the progress of work on a sprint?
Without a well-thought-out Scrum communication model, things quickly get complicated, as the team does not work as effectively as possible. This can result in the following:
- A lack of understanding and even conflicts between team members.
- Discouragement.
- Difficulties with getting things done.
- The necessity for additional processes and approvals.
- Reduced product quality
Because of that, it is crucial to maintain ongoing, transparent communication within the Scrum team.
How can you know if your team is not communicating correctly?
There are five common signs indicating that your Scrum team is not communicating on a sufficient level:
- Monologs over dialogs: Observe how team members communicate during Scrum meetings (Daily Scrums). If there are more monologs than dialogs, that’s the first sign that something is wrong.
- Vague communication: This point is especially concerning the progress of work. If team members talk about vague or subjective matters and there are not enough specifics, you, as a product owner, need to work on communication.
- Blaming others: Does your team share ownership of the outcome? If not, and the team members continually blame each other, you need to work on that immediately.
- Lack of a “common language”: Does everyone on your Scrum team know what they are responsible for, what is the Definition of Done in a given case, and what the next sprint is about? If you’re experiencing problems with this point, you can solve them with Sprint Retrospectives. During these events, Scrum team inspects how the last Sprint went concerning all the involved members, interactions, processes, and tools. They can really help you push things forward!
- No new ideas: Scrum is all about verifying and improving work. That requires new ideas and concepts that can help you enhance the final product. If there are no ideas coming from your team, it can be because of some deeper problems with communication.
What are the communication rules to keep in mind when managing a Scrum team?
We want to show you six rules of the Scrum communication plan that helps our teams maintain high-quality communication and transparency. We believe they will help with your work as well.
1. Keep your Scrum team small.
Small teams communicate better and are more productive. If you, as a product owner, discern that your team has become too large, consider dividing it into multiple smaller groups. The Scrum Guide (source) advises that one Scrum team should consist of a maximum of ten members. The goal is to find the middle ground between keeping the team small enough to be nimble and productive and large enough to complete enough work within a sprint.
2. Benefit from Daily Scrums
In most cases, product owners do not attend Daily Scrum meetings. They are for the developers when they plan their work for the upcoming day based on what they did yesterday, and what kind of blockers / risks they have. Daily Scrum meetings help to improve communication between team members and quickly pinpoint potential obstacles in communication. Every Daily Scrum meeting has two major goals:
- Inspecting the progress toward the sprint goal.
- Adapting the sprint backlog to current circumstances.
3. Effective product backlog management
The product backlog is an ordered list of what needs to be done in order to improve and finish the final product. In other words, it’s the source of work for the entire Scrum team. Managing the product backlog is your responsibility as a product owner. Your job is to:
- Develop and clearly communicate the product goal, the Definition of Done, and product backlog items.
- Allocate product backlog items to specific team members.
- Ensure the product backlog is fully transparent and accessible to everyone on the team.
4. Streamline interactions and ensure good working atmosphere
Regular interactions are a prerequisite for good communication within the Scrum team. Organize one-on-one meetings, talk to each team member, and help them understand their role and value for the product’s success. This way, you will get everyone on board more easily, and if any matters need to be resolved, you can get to them quickly.
It’s the same story with Agile communication methods (Scrum is an Agile methodology). According to the Agile Manifesto (source), you should always put “individuals and interactions over processes and tools”.
Of course, an atmosphere of trust, openness, and understanding is essential. Without it, in a toxic or even too-strict work environment, there can be no effective communication nor, in fact, work.
5. Provide full clarity and educate your team
All members of your Scrum team should have full clarity when it comes to their:
- Roles.
- Responsibilities.
- Current sprint’s capacity and goal.
- The scope of the product and the problem the team is working on.
Obviously, they also ought to understand the basic rules of Scrum.
6. Opt for visual communication
The majority of people are visual learners. Use visual tools such as whiteboards, flip charts, and sketch notes to help your team members understand what needs to be done. This way, they will more easily concentrate on work and communicate with each other better because each team member is on the same page with the work.
Summary: Never stop working on communication in Scrum
Good communication requires constant effort. You cannot achieve it once and maintain it forever without any further work. Although you can follow many different rules when creating and executing your Scrum communication plan, remember that at the end of the day, you always work with real people and not processes and procedures.
Keep that in mind and ensure every team member feels valued and understood and knows their roles and responsibilities. That’s the foundation you cannot neglect. Otherwise, you will always have problems with work and communication in your team.
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