The Scrum Master notices that one Developer has repeatedly failed to deliver on what they said they'd finish by the Daily Scrum, several Sprints in a row, without ever raising a blocker. What is the most appropriate way for the Scrum Master to address this?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
A repeated pattern like this deserves a real, private conversation, not a public callout or a wait-and-see. Starting from curiosity — what's actually getting in the way? — usually surfaces the real impediment far faster than assuming the Developer just isn't trying hard enough.
Full Explanation
A direct, private conversation focused on understanding obstacles reflects the Scrum Master's coaching role: uncovering whatever impediment — technical, personal, or organizational — is behind a repeated pattern, rather than assuming the Developer simply lacks effort. Raising the pattern publicly in the Daily Scrum turns a private performance conversation into a group event, which is likely to embarrass the Developer and make them less forthcoming about the real blocker going forward. Staying silent and hoping peers handle it abdicates the Scrum Master's own accountability for helping remove impediments and coaching individuals, leaving a Sprint-after-Sprint pattern unaddressed. Handing the issue to the Product Owner to manage individually misassigns accountability — the Product Owner manages the Product Backlog and value, not the Developers' individual performance, and Developers are meant to be self-managing as a group rather than individually supervised. A concrete check afterward: see whether the underlying blocker the conversation uncovers actually gets removed, and whether the delivery pattern improves over the next couple of Sprints as a result.