So I am just joining a new team. This team is using "Daily Scrum" as a task because according to them it is a "task".
Obviously I want to help them understand that it is not a task, just like logging in to your computer isn't a task. The only question I anticipate is, "then how do we note the time spent in these activities". As of now, I have only one suggestion. "Consider these activities as part of the actual task itself". For example, a bug fix requires planning, testing etc. Those should be included in the estimate, not considered as separate activities.
Now, two questions. First, is my approach to this possible question correct? Can I help the team understand this better?
Second, can I just stop the team from counting hours spent in these activities? I can just track them myself, on my side, to see if we are improving. Obviously, then I will have to reduce the efforts per day to account for the change in estimation. E.g. going from 8 hours per day to 6 hours per day, plus 2 hours for other essential activity. Will this be a better approach than just increasing estimates for actual tasks?
There are a lot of other bureaucratic processes here in place. It is not Scrum but rather Scrumbut. :( I am planning to take up the task to fix this. That's why the question. And yes, they have a bloody task called "Communication strategy" where they log hours for internal team discussion. I have been told it is because current PM wanted to track that. I don't care if they spend 3 hours discussing a solution instead of spending 6 hours in analysis. That's why I want to find the best way to get the team to start focusing on actual deliverable piece of work, and not on this.