I’m Doing X. Then You Tell Me to Do X

Photo by Alessandro Ranica on Unsplash

Those stand-up meetings are all about solving problems. If you need a hand with a problem, you should raise it at the meeting and the team will swarm around and help you out.

What actually happens is usually a riff on the following:

“I’m blocked from my Task. I’ve asked for X from Y.”

The Scrum Master replies with:

“You need to ask Y for X.”

Well done Sherlock. You’ve also removed any autonomy from my work and taken any credit for the solution away from me. It’s echo culture at its worst.

Echo Culture

This bizarre phenomenon is one of the quirks of Scrum. It’s like a game of verbal ping pong where ideas are batted back and forth, seemingly for the sake of activity. Scrum is supposed to encourage transparency, alignment, and action. 

I’ve seen this reduced to the repetitive echoes of tasks already in motion where we waste time and cause frustration. Ultimately, I’ve started to feel that I’m stuck in a repeating workplace episode of Black Mirror.

I had a blocker waiting for an API design meeting with a couple of other developers. I said I was waiting for the meeting later in the day I’d made. The response? “You need to make a meeting with the other developers”. I mean, thanks for that but it doesn’t offer anything to us.

Why It’s Bad

It Undermines

When you narrate someone’s solution you take away their autonomy for solving the problem. You’re not helping, you are making it difficult for them to work.

Echo culture distracts from real collaboration, and at its worst is part of a toxic culture where people steal the credit for your work.

It’s a Time Sink

Instead of progressing tasks, we’re stuck in a loop of unnecessary clarification.

It Creates Frustration

Everyone is listening to people trying to take credit for other people’s work. That’s annoying.

Causes

Mismatched Listening

Often, people aren’t listening to understand — they’re listening to respond. When a team member hears “I’m doing X,” they feel compelled to validate or clarify without adding meaningful input. They’re dealing with their own inadequacies rather than working to actually solve the problem.

Misplaced Accountability

The “repeat after me” phenomenon sometimes stems from a fear of misunderstanding. By restating what you’ve said, people feel they’re proving they’ve grasped it or are preemptively covering their backs for later when things inevitably go pear-shaped.

Process Over Substance

Scrum ceremonies can become performative. Instead of focusing on what’s useful, teams can get bogged down in sticking to the script.

“What’s in progress? What’s blocked?”

Even if you’ve already solved the blockage, someone might feel compelled to echo it because it fits the meeting’s framework. It’s not helpful, and it’s potentially damaging to the whole team.

Break the Cycle

Ceremonies

First, let’s think about where this is happening.

Scrum works best when each ceremony serves its intended purpose. 

So, is the ceremony meeting its purpose, are your stand-ups just status updates, or are they actively unblocking work? Is your sprint planning surfacing real priorities?

Stop. For Love Just Stop.

Stop the problem at the source. Do not simply narrate your work, but explain why you’ve done it.

In my experience, this doesn’t always work (as the repeating still happened) but it’s a tool, and any tools are useful (right?)

Don’t

Narrate tasks

Do

“I’m doing X because it’ll solve Y.”

“Do you foresee any blockers for Z while I’m doing X?”

Validate Without Repeating

When someone else is presenting their work practice your active listening with techniques that don’t rely on parroting.

Don’t

 “Yes, you need to do X.”

Do

“That sounds like the right approach — can I help with Y while you focus on X?”

Empower Collaborative Problem-Solving

Use stand-ups and retros to brainstorm and iterate. If someone’s action plan is clear, shift the focus to dependencies or improvements:

Don’t

Narrate tasks

Do

“You’re doing X — should we check with the backend team to avoid conflicts?”

Conclusion

Scrum is meant to be about delivering value. It’s not about an endless loop of task restatement, and this needs to be stopped.

Next time someone says, “You need to do X” when you’re already doing X, pause for a second. Instead of rolling your eyes, realize what is going on. 

We are there to deliver value and act accordingly to ensure productive collaboration.