help the scrum master is the impediment

HELP!!!THE SCRUM MASTER ISTHE IMPEDIMENT!

@ryanripley

#AgileIndy2015

What is a scrum master?

“The Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring Scrum is understood and enacted.”

--The Scrum Guide

What is an impediment?

“Anything that prevents the scrum team from being productive.”

Every scrum master can avoid becoming an impediment to their team by frequently inspecting and adapting their behaviors.

“A dead scrum master

is a useless scrum master.”--Ken Schwaber

“Regardless of what we discover, we understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand.”

--Norm Kerth, Project Retrospectives: A Handbook for Team Reviews

AGILE DICTATOR

“I don’t care if you want to use software to track user stories, we’re going to start

with 3x5 cards and masking tape!”

O’RLY ???

INSPECT: •Arguments – “What has to be true…?”

•Emotional outbursts

•Am I talking to the team or at the team?

•Your feelings – “Am I enjoying my role?”

ADAPT:•Take time to reflect on difficult exchanges•What is motivating you? •Anxiety, fear, or frustration

•Address the “friction” in the retrospective

•Ask the team for feedback and support

PROJECT MANAGER

“A project manager could maybe become a tester...maybe.”

--Ken Schwaber

“Alright, this story is pretty simple… Bob can knock it out in a few days... This next

one…”

“500 YARDS OF FOUL-SMELLING MUCK”

--Red “The Shawshank Redemption”

The PMP® to CSM® pipeline…

INSPECT:•How the team manages their work

•Focus of Daily Scrum meeting

•Unsolicited advice

• Interrupting progress to pontificate

ADAPT:•Questions over statements (2:1 ratio)

•Make failure an option – and then fail

•The team owns tasks and solutions

•Ask for permission to help

“DAD! Stop helping me!”--My son, tired of me inflicting help

TECHNICAL LEAD

“I don’t think that design will work. You should code the story like this…”

INSPECT:•Is design/architecture emergent?

•Are the developers disengaged?

•How does the team decide the best way to do their work?• Is pair programming, #mobprogramming, or swarming happening?

ADAPT:•Leave the developers alone

•Step down as scrum master and resume a coding role

•Focus on guiding rather than directing

•Ask for permission to help

SUPER HERO

“That’s not how it’s done! Here, let me show you the “right way” to be agile…at

2am.”

INSPECT:•Team seeks your approval before acting

•Team asks about the “right way” to do Agile

•Are you insisting on “correct” solutions?

ADAPT:•Resist the urge to solve the teams problems

•Get comfortable with awkward silence

•Focus on relationships

Learn to be introspective

The Scrum Values:•Commitment

•Respect

•Focus

•Openness

•Courage

LINK: http://agileanswerman.com/scrum-values-can-make-or-break-your-agile-project/

Take time to reflect on your day

Own your mistakes, apologize, learn, and grow.

http://agileanswerman.com

ryan@agileanswerman.com

@ryanripley