10 Daily Scrum Ideas – Different Questions to Ask

The traditional three questions in a daily standup (“What did I do yesterday?”, “What will I do today?”, “What blockers do I have?”) are useful, but can become routine. Here are 10 alternative questions to keep your daily scrums fresh and focused.

10 Alternative Daily Scrum Questions

1. What’s the most important thing I’m working on today?

Focuses on priority and impact rather than just listing activities.

2. What’s blocking progress toward our sprint goal?

Keeps focus on the team’s collective goal, not individual tasks.

3. Who needs help? Who can give help?

Shifts mindset from individual work to team collaboration.

4. What surprised me yesterday?

Uncovers unexpected learnings, risks, or opportunities.

5. What assumption should we test today?

Encourages experimental thinking and continuous learning.

6. How confident am I that we’ll meet our sprint goal?

Provides early warning signals about sprint health.

7. What customer feedback should we act on?

Keeps customer voice in daily conversations.

8. What could we stop doing to move faster?

Encourages elimination of waste and inefficiency.

9. What learning should we celebrate?

Recognizes growth and encourages knowledge sharing.

10. What will I do differently today?

Promotes continuous improvement and experimentation.

Tips for Using These Questions

• Rotate through questions to keep scrums interesting
• Adapt questions to your team’s context and goals
• Combine with traditional questions for comprehensive coverage
• Keep it short - still aim for 15 minutes or less
• Focus on the team’s goal, not individual task completion

The Right Questions for Your Team

The best daily scrum questions are the ones that:

• Focus on team progress toward the sprint goal
• Enable collaboration and support
• Surface risks and blockers early
• Keep customer value in mind
• Promote continuous learning

Experiment with these questions and find the right mix for your team!