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The Developers conduct the Daily Scrum and choose its format. The Scrum Master supports the Scrum Team and helps keep Scrum events productive and timeboxed, but the current Scrum Guide does not require the Scrum Master to chair or facilitate this event.

Who conducts the Daily Scrum?

The Daily Scrum is a 15-minute event for the Developers on the Scrum Team. They use it to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the Sprint Backlog as needed. The event should result in an actionable plan for the next day of work.

The Developers choose its structure and techniques, provided the event serves that purpose and produces that plan. The Guide does not require a status round-robin or a Scrum Master-led meeting. See the 2020 Scrum Guide.

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What does the Scrum Master do?

The Scrum Master is accountable for establishing Scrum and for the Scrum Team’s effectiveness. The Scrum Master serves the team by helping Scrum events remain positive, productive, and within their timeboxes. That support does not make the Scrum Master the required facilitator of the Daily Scrum.

If the Scrum Master or Product Owner is actively working on items in the Sprint Backlog, that person participates in the Daily Scrum as a Developer.

Why do people remember the Scrum Master arranging it?

The 2017 Scrum Guide drew an explicit distinction: “The Scrum Master ensures that the Development Team has the meeting, but the Development Team is responsible for conducting the Daily Scrum.” The 2017 Guide therefore assigned the Scrum Master a role in ensuring the event happened, while the Development Team conducted it.

The 2020 Guide puts more emphasis on Developers choosing the event’s structure and techniques. The Scrum Guide revisions page explains that the 2020 edition sought a minimally sufficient framework and removed some prescriptive language, including the Daily Scrum’s prescribed questions. Remembering older wording can explain the confusion, but it does not change the current rule.

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How to answer this in an interview

A precise answer separates ownership from support: the Developers conduct the Daily Scrum and choose a format that helps them inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and plan the next day. The Scrum Master may support the team and protect the event’s productivity and timebox, but is not its mandatory chair.

This answers who conducts the event without implying that every team must use one meeting script. The Guide’s current terminology is “Developers”; “Development Team” was the 2017 wording. The official Scrum Guide download page identifies the available Guide editions.

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