Scrum is an Agile methodology.
Scrum metrics (story points) are cost metrics, not value metrics1, i.e. they track how much it costs (in engineering time and therefore salary) to deliver something, but not how valuable that something is.
Stand ups
A common format for stand ups is:
- What did you work on yesterday?
- What are you working on today?
- Are you blocked by anything?
The point has been made that questions one and two are likely pointless for the broader team2. These questions monitor the work being done, but are unlikely to unblock other team members. Assuming you are using a scrum board tool (JIRA, Github), you can see what work is being done and so you do not need these questions.
Alternative question formats:
- What does the team need to know about your work (that the JIRA board canât say)?
- What are you blocked by? Alternatively, what is prevent the cards you are responsible for from moving into the next phase/completion?
1. Danger, J. Executive Engineering: Practical Engineering Theory for Software Leaders. (The Technical Executive, 2024).
2. Johns, A. Why âStandupsâ are Useless and How to Run Great Product Team Meetings. https://web.archive.org/web/20191127113830/https://medium.com/unusual-ventures/why-standups-are-useless-and-how-to-run-great-product-team-meetings-278f000ea64f (2019).