Scrum of Scrums

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Scrum of Scrums (SoS) is one of the straightforward techniques to scale Scrum. Teams coordinate their work through the SoS meeting, which consists of representatives from each Scrum Team. These representatives discuss their team’s progress, dependencies, and impediments. SoS acts like a Scrum Team where the product could be the result of synchronized projects of constituent teams.

Scaling Scrum: Scrum of Scrums Guide

The Scrum of Scrums (SoS) is a scaling mechanism used in Scrum methodology which helps to coordinate several Scrum teams towards achieving a common goal.

Importance: SoS is important as it aids in managing larger projects with numerous Scrum teams. It facilitates communication, integration, and coordination, and helps in resolving issues that are beyond a single team's scope.

Working: In SoS, Scrum Masters or representatives from each team meet daily (or as needed) to discuss their progress, plans, and issues. The meeting is similar to the Daily Scrum but at a larger scale. Issues identified are taken up by the concerned teams for resolution.

Exam Tips: When answering questions on Scrum of Scrums in an exam, remember:
1. Understand its purpose: To coordinate between multiple Scrum teams.
2. Highlight its role in communication and integration between teams.
3. Define it as a meeting of Scrum Masters or team representatives
4. Do not confuse it with regular Scrum meetings, it's at a larger inter-team level.
5. Always link its use to larger projects, where multiple Scrum teams are involved.
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PSM I - Scrum of Scrums Example Questions

Test your knowledge of Scrum of Scrums

Question 1

You are a Scrum Master leading a Scrum of Scrums. Two of the teams in your group have a lot of tension due to conflicting priorities. What should you do to alleviate this situation?

Correct Answer: Facilitate a discussion between the two teams to help them understand each other’s priorities and find a mutual solution.

The role of a Scrum Master is to facilitate and ensure clear communication between the teams in conflict. Facilitating a discussion between the two teams to help them understand each other’s priorities and find a mutual solution stands out as the best answer. The Scrum Master should help the teams find a way to resolve the situation themselves. The Scrum Master has no authority to assign priorities based on seniority, hence, this option is incorrect. Allowing the teams to figure out their issues themselves without any guidance or facilitation could lead to further conflicts and is not the Scrum Master's role. Lastly, escalating the issue to higher management isn't ideal either, the Scrum Master should first try to solve the issues with the teams involved before involving higher management.

Question 2

Your Scrum of Scrums is struggling with communication issues. The coordination across teams is not happening effectively. What strategy would you suggest to tackle this issue?

Correct Answer: Introduce a well-defined communication channel and a system for tracking dependencies, and encourage regular cross-team interactions

The best way to deal with communication issues during a Scrum of Scrums is to introduce a well-defined communication channel and a system for tracking dependencies, coupled with regular interactions across teams. This answer is the best because it directly addresses the problem by creating a specific channel for communication, and establishes a method for keeping track of dependencies. Regular interactions among teams can aid in improving understanding and coordination. As for the other options, hiring a project manager isn't the ideal scrum approach as it undermines the team's autonomy and the principle of self-organization. Communication through only email and documentations can lead to miscommunication and is not as effective as face-to-face communication especially when solving complex problems. Conducting daily Scrum of Scrums meetings could lead to meeting fatigue and may not necessarily improve the quality of communication.

Question 3

In your Scrum of Scrums meeting, you identify an issue that impacts multiple teams, but the teams affected can't agree on who should be responsible for resolving it. How should you handle this?

Correct Answer: Guide the teams toward identifying which team has the most immediate stake in the resolution based on the impact and their current capacity.

The correct approach is to guide the teams toward identifying which one has the most immediate stake in the resolution, considering the impact of the issue and the team's capacity to address it. This fosters collaboration and leverages the self-organizing principle of Scrum. The wrong answers either suggest fixed solutions that undermine self-organization, involve only Scrum Masters in a way that doesn't empower the teams, or propose an overly complicated process that can create unnecessary bureaucracy and delay resolution.

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