The Design Scrum of Scrums can be a bi-weekly event that brings together the architects of all IT teams. It is meant to keep everybody informed, to offer peer help and to keep the architecture of all parts of the system aligned.

General

• Due: every two weeks.
  
• Duration: a time box of 90 minutes. 
  

The participants are all team architects, responsible for design in their own team. If any invitee can’t make it to the meeting, they should send somebody else from the team to represent them. The chief architect will host the meeting. Pigs are required, chickens are allowed.

Goals
Quite simply, architecture design decisions will be made in this scrum.

Sub-goals are:

1. To communicate, finalize and document design proposals
   
2. To mention previously encountered problems
   
3. To identify potential new problems
   

For a given problem, we will:

• Identify stakeholders
  
• Assign a problem owner
  

The problem owner will chase the appropriate people for a solution. Automatically, the problem will be on the agenda for the next meeting. Note: the problem owner might need to consult business stakeholders as well.

After a problem has been assigned, the next issue will be discussed.

Format
The format of the meeting is simple.

1. Retrospective
   
2. The 4 questions
   
3. Discussion
   

Retrospective
Quickly, issues regarding the way we deal with design can be discussed, like the format of the meeting. This might lead to some process changes.

The 4 questions
Each architect should prepare to answer the following questions.

1. Which design solutions has your team proposed since the last meeting?
   
2. Which design solutions will your team have to come up with before the next meeting?
   
3. Did your team experience a design problem since the last meeting?
   
4. Will your team create a design problem for another team any time soon? 
   

Discussion
In the discussion, you have a chance to raise all issues that you forgot previously. It’s also possible to react on stuff other people said. The host keeps the discussion really short.