Role of theScrumMaster
Notice: Much of this content is courtesy of and copyright of Pete Behrens, Agile Organization & Process Coachwww.trailridgeconsulting.com
© Trailridge Consulting, LLC and Leffingwell, LLC 2007
© 2009 Trailridge Consulting LLC & Leffingwell, LLC
Class Objectives
Review WHAT Scrum is Focus on the HOW and WHY it works Role play many situations and scenarios to deepen
our understanding of Scrum Provide an agile leadership model to make it effective Share and discuss your experiences, questions, and
concerns in applying it
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Agenda
Background of Scrum Meetings In Scrum Roles in Scrum Agile Leadership Team Dysfunction Adopting Scrum
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Exercise: Scrum Redux
Form groups of three
Describe Scrum in 50 words or less
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Problem
We are skilled problem solvers, experts at devising long-lasting solutions.
The problem in our profession is not process or technology … it is people and dysfunctional interactions. It can only be solved person by person.
Scrum provides the mechanism for making the people problems apparent so they can be solved
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Scrum Origins
The New, New Product Development
Game*Lean
Iterative, Incremental
Development, Time-boxes
Smalltalk Engineering Tools
Scrum
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Scrum Origins
“The… ‘relay race’ approach to product development…may conflict with the goals of
maximum speed and flexibility. Instead a holistic or ‘rugby’ approach—where a team
tries to go the distance as a unit, passing the ball back and forth—may better serve today’s
competitive requirements.”
“The… ‘relay race’ approach to product development…may conflict with the goals of
maximum speed and flexibility. Instead a holistic or ‘rugby’ approach—where a team
tries to go the distance as a unit, passing the ball back and forth—may better serve today’s
competitive requirements.”Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka,“The New New Product Development
Game” Harvard Business Review, January 1986.
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Scrum Origins
Jeff Sutherland Initial scrums at Easel Corp in 1993 IDX and 500+ people doing Scrum
Ken Schwaber ADM Scrum presented at OOPSLA 96 with
Sutherland Author of three books on Scrum
Mike Beedle Scrum patterns in PLOPD4
Ken Schwaber and Mike Cohn Co-founded Scrum Alliance in 2002
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Scrum Core
Scrum is an agile process that focuses on delivering the highest business value in the shortest time
Scrum provides rapid and repeated inspection of actual working software (two weeks to one month)
The business sets the priorities and teams self-organize to determine the best way to deliver the highest priority features
Every two weeks to a month anyone can see real working software and decide to release it as is or continue to enhance it
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Scrum Characteristics
Self-organizing teams Product progresses in a series of month-long
“sprints” Requirements are captured as items in a list
of “product backlog” No specific engineering practices prescribed
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Caution Before Proceeding
1. People in our profession are skilled and take pride in creating meta-solutions to problems and implementing them
2. The problem we face has nothing to do with process and technology, but with people
3. Scrum and Agile are based on the hypothesis that there is no meta-solution for software development - just a framework within which we will be empirical to inspect and adapt.
4. This is very frustrating to those looking for procedures and final answers
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Scrum Framework
Roles•Product Owner•Scrum Master•Scrum Team
Roles•Product Owner•Scrum Master•Scrum Team
Ceremonies•Release Planning
•Sprint Planning•Daily Scrum
•Sprint Review•Sprint Retrospective
Ceremonies•Release Planning
•Sprint Planning•Daily Scrum
•Sprint Review•Sprint Retrospective
Artifacts•Product Backlog
•Sprint Backlog/Taskboard•Burndown Charts
Artifacts•Product Backlog
•Sprint Backlog/Taskboard•Burndown Charts
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The State of Meetings
1. They are boring, tedious, unengaging, and dry
2. They are ineffective and don’t contribute to organization’s success
Meetings are perceived as a waste of time People want to leave to get “real work” done We try to fix them with agendas, minutes and rules
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Why are Meetings boring and ineffective?
They lack drama Rather than mining for conflict, most managers
will avoid tension and end on time
They lack context Most organizations have only one kind of meeting
– often called a staff meeting No clarity around what topics are appropriate
(strategic, tactical, administrative, culture, etc.) Everyone comes with a different objective
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The Importance of Meetings
Meetings are where the “real work” is done and critical decisions are made
Meetings drive the culture of the organization Bad meetings lead to bad decisions
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Source: Death by Meeting, Patrick Lencioni
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Running Successful Meetings
1. Set them up right Get people hooked
2. Mine for conflict Get people in the game
3. Set the context Get people focused
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The Hook
“Alright people, we are 12% over budget, and from what I can tell, we’re spending way too much money on travel. Going forward, we need to have better controls and monitoring so we can meet
the corporate guidelines laid out in the budget.”OR
“Okay, everyone, we’re here to talk about cutting expenses, which doesn’t sound like much fun. But consider that there are plenty of people out there who have a vested interest in the way we spend out money. Our competitors are hoping we throw our
money around carelessly. And they’re certainly looking for ways to reduce their own expenses. Our customers don’t want to
have to pay higher prices for our products to cover our lack of discipline. Our families would rather see more money in our
paychecks than in our travel and entertainment budget. So let’s dive into this issue with a sense of urgency and focus, because I certainly want to make sure that we’re using the resources in a
way our investors and shareholders intended…”
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Avoiding Shared Conflict
Avoiding issues that merit debate and disagreement makes meetings boring and guarantees that issues won’t be resolved
Ironically, this drives frustration that later manifests itself in unproductive personal conflict or politics
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Mining for Conflict
A leader must make it a priority to seek out and uncover any important issues in which there is disagreement
Make it clear that conflict is expected Create an environment where disagreement
is encouraged and supported
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Meeting ContextMeeting Type Time Required Purpose & Format Keys to Success
DailyCheck-in
5 minutes Share daily schedules and activities
Don’t sit down
Keep it administrative
Don’t cancel even when some people can’t be there
WeeklyTactical
45 – 90 minutes Review weekly activities and metrics, and resolve tactical obstacles and issues
Don’t set agenda until after initial reporting
Postpone strategic discussions
Monthly Strategic
2 – 4 hours Discuss, analyze, brainstorm, and decide upon critical issues affecting long-term success
Limit to one or two topics
Prepare and do research
Engage in good conflict
QuarterlyOff-site Review
1 – 2 days Review strategy, industry trends, competitive landscape, key personnel, team development
Get out of the office
Focus on work; limit social activities
Don’t overstructure or overburden the schedule
Source: Death by Meeting, Patrick Lencioni24
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Scrum Meetings
Release Planning Sprint Planning, Review, and Retrospective
Daily Scrum
Quarterly Strategic
1 - 2 days
Bi-weekly Tactical
2 – 4 hours (total)
Daily Coordination
15 minutes
Review tangible vision
Review product backlog items
Discuss and estimate next release items
Plan release
Whole team shares understanding and commits to goals
Detailed planning for next sprint focus
Discuss and estimate tasks for the sprint
Review past sprint accomplishments and process effectiveness
What I did yesterday
What will be committed today
What is blocking me
Team coordination alleviates multiple unproductive follow-ups later in the day
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Exercise: Scrum Meeting templates
Create a daily agenda for Daily standup Scrum of Scrums Sprint Planning Sprint Review
Define any rules that you think will keep your meeting interesting and productive
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Scrum Meetings
Are effective because they… set the appropriate context engage the entire team in the discussion open the door to communication and visibility drive commitment and accountability
However, they still require leadership to… set up the appropriate context create an environment which supports collaboration mine for conflict direct conflict appropriate toward ideas, not people
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Roles in Scrum
The single customer voice who sets vision, prioritizes work and defines acceptance
The process facilitator who empowers the team and removes impediments
The people who deliver the customer value through architecture, design, code, test, doc
Those with a stake in the project but without direct impact on the solution - executives
ProductOwner
DevelopmentTeam
ScrumMaster
Stakeholders
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Role Collaboration
CustomerTeam
DevelopmentTeam
StoryCreation
StoryPriority
StoryAcceptance
ProductOwner
ScrumMaster
Scrum Role Relationships
ProductVision
Story Conversation
Stakeholders
Stakeholders
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Roles: Product Owner
Owns and prioritizes Roadmap and Product Backlog
Provides a single voice for the customer and stakeholder team
Leverages team to break down and estimate Product Backlog
Evolves product backlog detail as required by the team
Negotiates details with the team
Fully engaged with team
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Exercise: Product Owner
A Product Owner and other stakeholders inspect the increment at the end of the Sprint. They are dissatisfied.
What are some of the potential reasons for their dissatisfaction? List them. Identify one and discuss what the Product Owner can do to remedy it during the next Sprint.
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Who is the Product Owner?
Software Development Product Manager Customer
Information Technology Business Analyst Solutions Architect Business Expert Customer
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Exercise: Options
Purpose: to explore the impact of transparency in a retail setting
You are working at FatBurger and are the only person on duty. A customer approaches and orders a Double Fatburger Deluxe, with onions, cheese, and bacon.
You ring up the order. The price is $5.65. The customer informs you that he only has $1.20 What do you do and what do you tell the customer?
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Roles: ScrumMaster
Ensures Scrum Team lives by the principles and practices of Scrum
Communicates to outside groups
Facilitates the process and meetings
Removes obstacles and barriers between team and others
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Roles: ScrumMaster
Protects team from external influences
Fosters team communication
Keeps progress information up-to-date and visible to all
Watches for stress points
A coach, a sheepdog
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Day in the life of a ScrumMaster
Assess and ensure that everyone is aware of the project/releases project, overall and within the Sprint (work your projects)
Assess and ensure that organizational impediment are being worked in priority order to change the organization to get the most values from its software development investment (work the organization with other ScrumMasters)
Use all of your senses, including common sense, and remember that you have no authority
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Who is the ScrumMaster?
Project Manager Balanced across team May tend to control or
micromanage Functional Manager
Shared role May tend to direct May be biased toward
their function Developer/Tester
Often conflicting priorities and focus
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Pair Dialog: Multiple Roles
Pair with someone you don’t know. Turn to each other and share answers to the following:
1. What are some of the challenges a ScrumMaster would have if he/she was also a member of the team?
2. What would help you overcome these challenges?
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ScrumMaster Skills & Competencies
Scrum Wizard Understands Scrum and why it works
Agile Leadership Creates shared-responsibility teams Listens and asks discovery questions
Facilitative Creates highly productive work environments Fosters team engagement and self-organization
Coach Guides learning through application and failure Pushes team beyond their current status quo
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Exercise in Listening
Find a partner One is the team member, one is the ScrumMaster Team member chooses a project issue they are facing
ScrumMaster can only respond in one of two ways: Reflective Listening: “I hear you saying…” Questioning:
Why might that be true? What do you recommend? What distraction can I remove? How can I help? …
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ScrumMaster
Most projects deliver software every 6 to 18 months Scrum reduces this to many 1 month deliveries to
increase control via inspect/adapt This puts stress on the team and organization, exposing
underlying problems and limitations
The ScrumMaster’s job is to prioritize these problems and help the organization overcome them to get better at
software development, managing software investments, and becoming a community to work in
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Exercise: Deadlines
You and the team have planned the project. It will be done three months after the customer needs it.
1. What are some options available to you?
2. What do you think is the best option?
3. Who is best positioned to choose the best option?
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Teamwork
"It is amazing what can be accomplished
when nobody cares about who gets the
credit." - Robert Yates (NASCAR)
DeveloperDeveloperAnalystAnalyst TesterTester TechnicalWriter
TechnicalWriter
DeveloperDeveloper
TechnicalWriter
TechnicalWriter
TesterTester
ArchitectArchitect
AnalystAnalyst
ArchitectArchitect
Agile Team
Functional Team
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Exercise: Self-organization
You are the ScrumMaster. Everyone on the team except John meets with you. They tell you that John is not doing his work, is offensive, is difficult to work with, and they want you to fix the problem.
What do you do?
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Roles: Scrum Team Cross-functional team Has tasks on the Sprint
Backlog Self organizing, self correcting,
and decide best way to deliver Makes their own commitment
with the resources available, decides how best to distribute tasks to team members
Members are dedicated (as much as possible)
Create their own ground rules
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Exercise: Scrum Team
You are the ScrumMaster and are heading for the team room. The functional analyst runs past you crying and the lead engineer runs past you enraged, both on the way to their functional managers’ offices.
You go into the team room. You can cut the tension with a knife it is so thick.
Apparently, the analyst has been writing specs and giving them to the engineers, who then change them as they see fit. Anger over this has been building for three weeks.
What do you do?
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As a ScrumMaster, you will have to contend with…
The tyranny of the waterfall
The illusion of command and control
The belief in magic
The era of opacity
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Exercise: Cross-functional team
You are the ScrumMaster at the first Daily Scrum. There are two programmers, a tech writer, and two quality assurance people.
The programmers report that they were in a design meeting and will continue today. The tech writer says that they are working on the table of contents. The quality assurance people report that they are setting up the test bed.
You ask the tech writer and QA people why they aren’t in the design meeting. They say they weren’t invited. You ask the programmers why they weren’t invited. They ask you what possible benefit these people would add to design?
What do you do?48
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Agile Leadership
In most organizations,
more management
problems exist in the middle
than in the top or at the bottom
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Good Leader Myths
1. The good leader knows at all times what is going on in the department
2. The good leader should have more technical expertise than any direct report
3. The good leader should be able to solve any problem that comes up (or at least solve it before the direct report does)
4. The good leader should be the primary (if not only) person responsible for how the department is working
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Traditional heroic leadership styles
Technician The expert or master craftsman Technically focused on the job at hand Problem solver, the one people go to for answers Promoted because they were the best at their work
Conductor The central decision maker, nerve center, and
coordinator of activities Orchestrates all individual parts of the organization
into a harmonious whole Subtle and indirect manipulation to their solution
Source: Managing for Excellence, David Bradford and Allan Cohen51
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Manager as Technician
Effective when… Manager has greater knowledge than direct reports Direct reports work is relatively autonomous and coordination is
minimal Emergency problems within manager’s area of expertise
Problems Often technology has moved beyond their learning Limits learning and growth of direct reports Focus on technical problems to the detriment of human factors
Behaviors “Work” is when people leave them alone They love their field of work
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Manager as Conductor
Effective when… Situations are more complex There are many direct reports with interdependent work Coordination is a prerequisite for maximum performance Organization is very political and requires maneuvering
Problems Narrows the focus of direct reports to their own areas Conflict tends to push upward looking for the boss to fix Limits overall performance of the organization Emphasis on control is self fulfilling, continually requiring more
Behaviors Use systems and procedures to control organizational work Work harder and harder, without realizing full team potential
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Heroic Leader Cycle Negative
reinforcing cycle Fails to make full
use of the knowledge and competencies of direct reports
Produces narrow and self-interest direct reports
Leader feels overresponsible
for coordination for answers for overall unit goals
direct reports feel overcontrolled
direct reports feel blocked, underused
direct reports feel committed only to
own subgoals
Direct reports feel lower commitment and sense of
responsibility
Source: Managing for Excellence, David Bradford and Allan Cohen
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Move beyond Heroic Leadership
Post-heroic leadership style Change in orientation
Direct report-centric, rather than manager-centric Manager as Developer
Create a team jointly responsible for success Asks “How can each problem be solved in a way that further
develops my direct reports’ commitment and capabilities?”
Allows manager to spend more time managing laterally and upward
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Profound Shift
While no part of this leadership model is unfamiliar, moving from a manager-centric view to a direct report-centric view is similar to Copernicus presenting a sun-centric world
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Danger of language
Isn’t this just empowerment and participatory management?
It’s not the language - what really matters is how decisions are made and how responsibility is shared
“95% of American managers say the right thing. 5% actually do it.” – James O’Toole
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Contrasting Language
Delegation Assigns responsibility to an individual rather than
allowing the team to sign up for and own it themselves
Control Is often exerted one-to-many, shared
responsibility creates a many-to-many control with more weight
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Benefits of Post-Heroic Leadership
Increased direct report responsibility “Softer” and more ambiguous problems drive increased
ownership and responsibility Increased direct report motivation
Challenging jobs with responsibility are highly satisfying Opportunities for learning and sharing success drive
increased participation Increased quality solutions
Cross-functional collaboration bring better solutions to the forefront
A sense of responsibility and motivation for the whole
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Leadership CharacteristicsLevel View of Leadership Agility in
ConversationAgility in Leading Teams
Agility in Leading Change
Technician- Expert
Tactical, problem-solving orientation. Believes leaders are respected because of their expertise.
Strongly assert opinions or hold back. Tend to avoid giving or requesting feedback
More supervisor than manager. Creates a groups rather than teams. Works one-on-on. Caught up in the details of their work.
Incremental improvements inside unit boundaries with little attention to stakeholders.
Conductor- Achiever
Strategic outcome orientation. Believes leaders motivate others my making it challenging and satisfying to contribute.
Primarily assertive or accommodative with some ability to switch. Will accept and initiate feedback if helpful in achieving goals
Operates like a full-fledged manager. Meetings to discuss important issues are often orchestrated to try to gain buy-in to own views.
Analysis of industry environment. Strategies to gain stakeholder buy-in using one-way communication and soliciting input.
Developer- Catalyst
Visionary, facilitative orientation. Believes leaders articulate an inspiring vision and bring together the right people to make it a reality. Empowers others and facilitate their development.
Adept at balancing assertive and accommodating styles. Likely to articulate and question underlying assumptions. Interested in learning from diverse viewpoints. Seek and apply feedback.
Intent on creating a highly participative team. Acts as team leader and facilitator. Provides and seeks open exchange of view on difficult issues. Empowers and develops the team.
Development of culture that promotes teamwork, participation, and empowerment. Engagement with diverse stakeholders
He
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Source: Power Up, David Bradford and Allan Cohen
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The making of an agile leader
High-performing teams are the vehicle for moving to post-heroic leadership
Building high-performing teams requires…1. Building a shared-responsibility team2. Creating commitment to a tangible vision3. Enhancing power through mutual influence
Remember our saying… High listening High learning
High relatedness High performing Otherwise you just have a group of individuals
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Sharing responsibility means sharing decisions
Autonomous Decision is made by the leader
Delegated Decision, within specified parameters, is made by an individual
or group Consultation
Decision is made by the leader after advice from team member(s). Decision is leader’s first choice.
Joint Decision is made by members and leader together through true
consensus. Decision is not always first choice, but everyone can actively support it.
The difference between leader having the last say and joint decision making is profound.
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Team Development
Forming
Membership to the group - what is my role? Subgrouping with allies – veil conflict Universal jokes about meetings wasting time Discussions are like wading through molasses
Storming
This stage is the great divide – few teams make it Conflict and debate – differences inevitable and desirable to
avoid group think Must learn to deal with individual differences
Norming
Individual differentiation – no longer need to hide behind subgroups
Meetings are no longer time wasters People feel responsible for an area, respect others
Performing
Fully collaborate and share responsibility across team Share management of the group Members influence each other and hold each other
accountable to the goals of the team
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Tangible Vision
What is it? Purposeful paradox – elusive yet tangible Direction to follow, but no final destination Required at every level of the organization
How to create one? Engage the entire team Connect it to the team’s tasks Seek compatibility with the wider organization’s vision
Why? Used to inspire, coordinate, and align people Decisions made every day by the team require a boundary to
assure proper alignment
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Enhance power through mutual influence
Tell everyone what you expect Encourage disagreements with your ideas Encourage feedback on your performance Acknowledge that you are being influenced
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Leader actions to support mutual influence
Leader Action Sample Statement
Tell members to challenge you when they believe you are wrong, not seeing important data, etc.
“I can’t know everything, so I’m depending on you to speak up when you see something we’re doing wrong.”
Clarify mixed messages “When I disagree with your idea, I don’t want you to immediately back down. Get more data and develop your arguments.”
Invite people to disagree with you “You’ve heard my views. Tell me what doesn’t make sense to you.”
Pick up on tonal and non-verbal cues “You’re looking hesitant. Do you have concerns?”
Check your understanding “I’m having trouble following your argument. Can you explain it another way?”
Ask about your own behavior “How am I doing as a leader? Am I inhibiting disagreements?
Encourage members to influence each other
“Are you satisfied with your colleague’s position? Don’t back off if you aren’t.”
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Agile Leadership
High Performing Teams High-performing teams require quick adaptability Quick adaptability requires team self-organization Self-organization requires team decision making Team decision making requires boundaries Setting boundaries and a supportive environment requires
agile leadership Agile Leadership requires…
Engaging the team on decisions to critical issues relating to the organization
Letting go of control to gain more control through mutual influence
Requires exposing conflict to drive participation, ownership, accountability and responsibility
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Understanding your Role in Scrum
1. Write each responsibility you did as a manager prior to Scrum on a separate note card (including things you wish you could do but don’t have time)
2. Separate into two piles “Stop doing with Scrum” and “Keep (or Start) Doing with Scrum”
3. Identify each pile by a single word that describes those responsibilities
4. What do you think about the two piles?
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Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Source: Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni
Absence of
Trust
Fear of
Conflict
Lack of
Commitment
Avoidance of
Accountability
Inattention to
Results
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Identifying Trust
Teams with an absence of Trust
Conceal weaknesses and mistakes from one another
Hesitate to ask for help or offer help outside their area of responsibility
Jump to conclusions about the intentions and aptitudes of others without attempting to clarify them
Waste time and energy on managing behaviors for effect
Dread meetings and find reasons to avoid spending time together
Trusting Teams
Admit weaknesses and mistakes
Ask for help and accept questions and input about their area of responsibility
Give one another the benefit of the doubt before arriving at a negative conclusion
Focus time and energy on important issues, not politics
Look forward to working as a group
Take risks on offering feedback
Source: Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni
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Building Trust
Human Resources approach Personal history exercise Team effectiveness exercise Personality profiles 360-Degree feedback Experiential team exercises
OR, commit to short focused goals where you focus on results and build trust through work Also, as a leader, support and show vulnerability
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Identifying Conflict
Teams that fear conflict…
Have boring meetings
Create environments where back-channel politics and personal attacks thrive
Ignore controversial topics that are critical to team success
Fail to tap into all the opinions and perspectives of team members
Waste time and energy with posturing and interpersonal risk management
Teams that engage in conflict…
Have lively, interesting meetings
Minimize politics
Put critical topics on the table for discussion
Extract and exploit the ideas of all team members
Solve real problems quickly
Source: Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni 73
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Fear of Conflict
Separate ideological from personal conflict Focus on concepts and ideas, not people and personalities
Purpose is to create the best possible solution in the shortest period of time
Acknowledge that conflict is productive Rather than allow issue to continually resurface
Leader must mine for conflict and draw it out Leader must create environment that supports
healthy disagreements
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Identifying Commitment
A Team that fails to commit…
Creates ambiguity among the team about the direction and priorities
Watches windows of opportunity close due to excessive analysis and unnecessary delay
Breeds lack of confidence and fear of failure
Revisits discussions and decisions again and again
Encourages second-guessing among team members
A Team that commits…
Creates clarity around direction and priorities
Takes advantage of opportunities before competitors do
Aligns the entire team around common objectives
Develops an ability to learn from mistakes
Moves forward or changes direction without hesitation or guilt
Source: Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni
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Causes for Lack of Commitment
Attempting Consensus Dangerous to seek consensus Ensure everyone’s ideas are heard Rally around (buy-in) final decision
Lack of Clarity Dysfunctional teams hedge their bets and delay important
decisions Better to make a decision boldly and be wrong than to waffle Conflict underlies willingness to commit without perfect
information
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Gaining Commitment
Review key decisions made in meetings Use deadlines Contingency planning
What is the result of a missed commitment?
Allow for, and review failure Practice!
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Identifying Accountability
A Team that avoids accountability…
Creates resentment among team members who have different standards of performance
Encourages mediocrity Misses deadlines and key
deliverables Places an undue burden on
the team leader as the sole source of discipline
A Team that is accountable to each other…
Ensures that poor performers feel pressure to improve
Identifies potential problems quickly by questioning one another’s approaches without hesitation
Establishes respect among team members who are help to the same high standards
Avoids excessive bureaucracy around performance management and corrective action
Source: Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni 78
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Gaining Accountability
Most effect way to gain accountability is through peer pressure
Create peer pressure through… Publication of goals and standards Simple and regular process reviews Team rewards
Management controlled accountability is a negative re-enforcing loop
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Identifying Results
A Team not focused on results…
Stagnates and fails to grow
Rarely defeats competitors
Loses achievement-oriented employees
Encourages team members to focus on their own careers and individual goals
Is easily distracted
A Team focused on results…
Enjoys success and suffers failure acutely
Retains achievement-oriented employees
Minimizes individualistic behavior
Benefits from individuals who subjugate their own goals/interest for the good of the team
Avoids distractions
Source: Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni
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Achieving Results
Leader must set the tone with the focus on results Publicly declare results Create rewards for results
Avoid team or individual status Focus on status will distract the team away from their primary
goal Only evaluate status as information in meeting the goal
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Scrum and the Five Dysfunctions
Source: Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni
Absence of
Trust
Fear of
Conflict
Lack of
Commitment
Avoidance of
Accountability
Inattention to
Results
Sprint Review focuses on results regularly
The focus on results drives team accountability to achieve them
Accountability drives team commitment for each sprint goal
Individual commitment drives conflict when their objectives are
not aligned
Regular team commitment and results review builds
trust over time
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Exercise: The Five Dysfunctions and Your TeamInstructions: Use the scale below to indicate how each statement applies to
your team. It is important to evaluate the statements honestly and without over-thinking your answers. 3 = Usually, 2 = Sometimes, 1 = Rarely
_ 1. Team members are passionate and unguarded in their discussions of issues.
_ 2. Team members call out one another’s deficiencies or unproductive behaviors.
_ 3. Team members know what their peers are working on and how they contribute to the collective good of the Team.
_ 4. Team members quickly and genuinely apologize to one another when they say or do something inappropriate or possibly damaging to the Team.
_ 5. Team members willingly make sacrifices in their areas of expertise for the good of the Team.
83Source: Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni
© 2009 Trailridge Consulting LLC & Leffingwell, LLC
Exercise (cont)
_ 6. Team members openly admit their weaknesses and mistakes._ 7. Team meetings are compelling, and not boring._ 8. Team members leave meetings confident that their peers are
completely committed to the decisions that were agreed on, even if there was initial disagreement.
_ 9. Morale is significantly affected by the failure to achieve Team goals.
_ 10. During Team meetings, the most important – and difficult – issues are put on the table to be resolved.
84Source: Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni
© 2009 Trailridge Consulting LLC & Leffingwell, LLC
Exercise (cont)
_ 11. Team members are deeply concerned about the prospect of letting down their peers.
_ 12. Team members know about one another’s personal lives and are comfortable discussing them.
_ 13. Team members end discussions with clear and specific resolutions and calls to action.
_ 14. Team members challenge one another about their plans and approaches.
_ 15. Team members are slow to seek credit for their own contributions, but quick to point out those of others.
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Source: Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni
© 2009 Trailridge Consulting LLC & Leffingwell, LLC
Exercise - Scoring
Use the following table to score your results and determine which areas your team needs to focus on.
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A score of 8 or 9 is a probable indication that the dysfunction is not a problem for your Team.A score of 6 or 7 indicates that the dysfunction could be a problem.A score of 3 to 5 is probably an indication that the dysfunction needs to be addressed.
Absence of trust Fear of Conflict Lack of Commitment
Avoidance of Accountability
Inattention to results
Statement 4 ___ Statement 1___ Statement 3 ___ Statement 2 ___ Statement 5 ___
Statement 6 ___ Statement 7 ___ Statement 8 ___ Statement 11 ___ Statement 9 ___
Statement 12 ___ Statement 10 ___ Statement 13 ___ Statement 14 ___ Statement 15___
Total ___ Total ___ Total ___ Total ___ Total ___
Source: Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni
© 2009 Trailridge Consulting LLC & Leffingwell, LLC
Five Dysfunctions Exercise (final)
Did your team score 6 or below on any dysfunction?
Brainstorm some ideas as to what you think you might be able to do about it
Be prepared to share your answers to the group
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Scaling Recommendations
1. Correlate team organization to subsystems or modules with minimal dependencies
2. Implement development infrastructure to support concurrent multi-team integration and testing
3. Develop coordination & communication mechanisms for multiple teams
4. Develop shared standards, guidelines, training courses, templates, and frameworks to minimize inconsistency
5. Ensure each team has sufficient resources and carefully consider shared resources
6. Implement ways to develop a common culture across teams
7. Create Transition/Adoption team…
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Dispersed Team Recommendations
Co-locate team as often as possible, especially at inception and key milestones, and rotate members around
Invest in (and plan for) tools that provide a shared environment and plan to experiment
Establish a single global instance of project assets, easily accessible by all
Try virtual team building (team wiki w/bios & photos) Establish known hours, with as much overlap as possible Apply high cohesion and low coupling to allocation of work to sites Develop a shared team vocabulary Don’t let anyone go dark Apply Scrum-of-Scrums concept when mass remote meetings
unproductive
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What Can Cause Adoption to Fail?
Slipping time boxes Not responding or inability to respond to
feedback in the retrospective Failure to attend to infrastructure required Non-disciplined ScrumMasters Unavailability of the Product Owner Too many Product Owners A culture that does not support learning Embracing denial instead of the hard truth Team dysfunctions
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Transition Required
Change is situational - Transition is psychological Acknowledge losses Recognize opportunities and frustrations Experiment, reconceive, innovate
© 2003 Managing Transitions, William Bridges92
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Transition as a Project
Establish an Agile Transition Team Cross-functional involvement Cross-level involvement
Create a transition backlog Run monthly iterations
Commit to a sprint goal Meet weekly Review with executive stakeholders
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Scrum Transition/Adoption Team
Transition/Adoption requires organizational buy-in Create a cross-functional transition/adoption team Focus on the highest priority items and deliver results Create one month sprints with weekly Scrums
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Scrum Adoption Team
Application Teams AdoptionBacklog
AdoptionSprintGoals
AdoptionMeeting
AdoptionDeliverables
© 2009 Trailridge Consulting LLC & Leffingwell, LLC
Transition/Adoption Backlog
Communication, surveys and feedback Project assignment and assessment Role support Initial portfolio and cross-project/team support Address organizational impediments Coordinate learning
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Agile Transition…
Is not a one-time event, it is aprocess of ongoing improvement
Where change is not the exception,it is the norm
And creates an environment of insecurityin our organizations constantly
Which Requires Agile Leadership
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Adapting from Scrum?
How do you know when you have adapted away from Scrum? Use the values: commitment, openness, focus, respect and
courage Is the team engaged in daily communication? Is the team committed to its sprint goals? Is the team working together to accomplish them? Are the goals and progress towards them visible? Is the team delivering finished product frequently? Is the team reviewing its product deliveries with external
customers and stakeholders? Is the team reviewing its process/approach and learning from
mistakes and accomplishments?
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Further Reading
Agile Software Development with Scrumby Ken Schwaber and Mike Beedle
Scaling Software Agility: Best Practices for Large Enterprisesby Dean Leffingwell
Lean Software Developmentby Mary & Tom Poppendieck
Managing for Excellence & Power Upby David Bradford and Allan Cohen
Leadership Agilityby Bill Joiner and Stephen Josephs
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team & Death by Meetingby Patrick Lencioni
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Other Resources
Scrum Alliance (http://scrumalliance.org) Control Chaos (http://controlchaos.com) Mike Cohn (http://mountaingoatsoftware.com) Jeff Sutherland (http://jeffsutherland.com) Agile Manifesto (http://agilemanifesto.org) Agile Alliance (http://agilealliance.org) Scrum Gatherings twice yearly Agile Conferences yearly Scrum Yahoo! Group – scrumdevelopment
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Scrum Alliance Certification
ScrumMaster (CSM) Education-based program focused on the process and core
leadership skills and competencies required Scrum Practicing (CSP)
Experienced-based program focused on applying Scrum in an organizational project context
Scrum Coach (CSC) Skills and competency-based program for those helping
organizations adopt, transition or implement Scrum Trainer (CST)
Skills and competency-based program for those teaching others about Scrum and how to apply it
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Welcome to the Scrum Community!
Now what do I do? Engage, educate and prepare your team Practice Scrum Inspect and Adapt Don’t expect it to work out of the box Don’t expect to have all of the answers Present your team the problems to be worked out Learn from and contribute to the Scrum Community Expect resistance from traditional mindsets Submit your practicing application after you have
gained experience with Scrum101