TableofContentsForewordbyMikeCohnForewordbyEstherDerby

RespectedSurvivingTheCorporateCultureHoldingToAccount

EnablingTheBulls**tBuzzerTheProblemWithProxiesAssessyourWayToMaturity

TactfulATaleOfTwoScrumsHowLongIsaPieceOfString?ThePowerofSilence

ResourcefulInvokingCreativitySexUpYourScrumBeADAPTIVEinRetrospectivesTheRepetitiveRetrospective

AlternativeT-ShapedPeopleGettingstuff“done”ReviewTheSprintReview

InspiringSprintGoalsBurnTheBurndown?

NurturingTheProblemTeamGrowingIndividualsOrTeams?

EmpathicTwoEars,OneMouthYes,butthatwillneverwork

DisruptiveForgiveness&PermissionEliminatingDistractionsKeepingThePeace?

HaveBELIEFAppendices

WhatIsScrum?ScrumMasterIsaFullTimeRole

References

SCRUM

MASTERY

FromGoodtoGreatServantLeadership

GeoffWatts

Copyright,Inspect&AdaptLtd2013

Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedinorintroducedintoaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyform,orbyanymeans(electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recordingorotherwise)withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofthepublisher.Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorisedactin relation to this publicationmay be liable for criminal prosecution and civilclaimsfordamages.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, bywayof tradeorotherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without thepublisher’s prior consent in any form or binding or cover other than that inwhich it is published andwithout a similar condition including this conditionbeingimposedonthesubsequentpurchaser.

PublishedJune2013

EditedbyRebeccaTraegerDesignbyOleH.Størksen

FirsteditionPublished2013byInspect&AdaptLtd96RedgroveParkCheltenhamGlosGL516QZ

ISBN978-0-9575874-0-3

Dedicatedto

MywifeAlison,mydaughterFreyaandmysonCody

HopefullythisbookwillexplainalittlebetterthanIhavepreviouslymanagedtodomyselfwhatmyjobhasbeenforthelastten

yearsorso.

Youaremyinspiration

Iloveyouguys

ForewordbyMikeCohnI first met Geoff Watts at the 2004 Scrum Gathering in Boulder. Back thenScrumGatheringswere invitation-onlyevents for the foremostpractitionersofwhatwasstartingtobecometheleadingagileapproach.ShortlyafterthatScrumGathering,GeoffbecamethefirstcertifiedScrumtrainer in theUK,andtodayheisoneofthemostrespectedintheworld.

I was honored when Geoff asked me to write a foreword for this book as itcoversatopicveryimportanttome:LotsofScrumteamsandScrumMastersaregood,butveryfewbecomegreat.ScrumMastery:FromGoodtoGreatServantLeadershipwillchangethat.

Geoffbrings to thisbookawealthof experience—hewasaScrumMaster andagilecoachwithBT(Britishtelecom)duringtheirtransitiontoagile,oneoftheworld’s first large-scale Scrum adoptions. Since then, as a consultant, he hasworkedwith largeandsmallorganisations invarious stagesof transitioning toScrum.Geoff’swealthof experience shows through in theadviceheoffersushere.

In this book, Geoff speaks to good ScrumMasters who wish to be great. Hesummarizes key points by saying “a good ScrumMaster does this; a greatScrumMasterdoesthat.”Ilovedthis.Notonlydoesitkeephiswritingdirectandon point, I found it reminiscent of the agile manifesto and its statements ofvaluing“thisoverthat.”

Agoodbookreinforceswhatweknow;agreatbookteachesussomethingnew.

I’ve been involved with Scrum projects since 1995. And, although there’salwaysmore to learn,most books rehashwell-trod territory and I don’t finishthemanywiser.ScrumMastery:FromGoodtoGreatServant-Leadershipgaveme several new ideas. For example, inwriting about the sprint review,Geoffoffersasetofquestionsthatcanbeaskedateverysprintreview.Thesequestions—Haveprioritieschanged?Haveanyestimateschanged?—areallones I’veaskedbefore.ButIdon’tthinkI’veeveraskedalloftheminthesamereview,and I’ve never thought of having a key set of questions to go over in eachreview.I’mnowexcitedtotrythiswithsomeoftheteamsIwork.

Agoodbookisworthreading;agreatbookisworthcomingbackto.

AlthoughI’veonlyjustputitdown,IampositiveIwillbereferringbacktothisbookformanyyears.LikeScrumitself,manyofthecoreideasherearesimple—ensure teamshaveaccess to theirproductowners, let teamsmakedecisions,knowthepowerofsilence.ButtherearenuancestothesesimplicitiesandI’llbereturningtothebooktore-readGeoff’sexplanationsandtips.

Agoodbookiseasytoread;agreatbookmakesyouforgetyou’rereadingatallandcomesaliveinourheads.

We visualize what’s happening. That’s a particularly challenging goal in atechnicalbook.ThroughthenumerousstoriesthroughoutScrummastery,Geoffpulls us in, introducing us to the ScrumMasters and team members he hasencounteredinhiscareer.JustasGeofflearnedfromthem,welearnfromGeofftellingtheirstories.

Agoodbookmakesyouthink;agreatbookgivesyounewthingstothinkabout.

You will, of course, find the usual Scrum topics here—retrospectives,collaboration, sprint reviews, and the like. Along the way you’ll also bechallengedwith newways to think about these topics, such as how aweatherforecastmaybebetterthanaburndownchartandwhyastorypintmaybebetterthanastorypoint.AndGeoff’sBritishsenseofhumormakeslearningaboutitallthemoreentertaining.

Agoodauthorisworthreading;agreatauthorisworthreadingevenwhenyoudisagreewithhim.

DoIagreewitheverything inhere?Ofcoursenot.ToomuchofbeingagreatScrumMasterdependsonone’spersonalstyle.ButevenwhenIdisagreedwithasuggestion,Geoff’swritingandargumentswerestrongenoughtomakemestopandreconsidermyownviews.

As ScrumMasters, we should all value being great over being good. Scrummastery:FromGoodtoGreatServantLeadershipoffersusplentyofadviceforachievingit.

MikeCohnAuthorofSucceedingWithAgileBoulder,Colorado

ForewordbyEstherDerbyAsGeoffpointsoutintheintroductiontoScrummastery:FromGoodtoGreatServant-Leadership, there is no unequivocal definition of the role ofScrumMaster. In fact, there’s little more than the directive, “do everythingpossible to help the team be productive.” How to do this is left up to eachindividual.

Thisambiguityisbothablessingandacurse.Itisablessingwhenitallowsforcreativesolutionsandlocaladaptationsthatareappropriatetothecircumstances.It’sacursewhenthelackofspecificityallowsoldmentalmodelsandpatternsofbehaviortopersistunderanewname.Ifyouimaginetheonlywaytoincreaseproductivityiscarrotsandsticks,thosearethetoolsyou’lluse,nomatterwhatyourtitleis.

Everyteamisalikeinsomewaysanddifferentinothers.agileteamsarealikeinthattheystrivetoworkcross-functionallytodeliverworkingsoftware.Manyofthemworkiniterations.Butfromthere,differencesabound.Someteamsneedtolearnsolidengineeringpractices.Othersneedhelpwithaspecificskillsuchasautomatedunittesting.Stillothersneedcoachingtobecomeafunctioningteam.Manyneedhelpmakingthementalshifttoworkinginfeature-slicesthatfitintoshortiterations.AScrumMastermayneedcompletelydifferentskillsdependingontheteamandtheorganization.

ButwhataScrumMasteralwaysneedsarethequalities thatGeoffdescribesinthisbook:

ResourcefulinremovingimpedimentstoproductivityEnabling,helpingothersbeeffectiveTactful,diplomacypersonifiedRespected, known for integrity both within the team and in the widerorganizationAlternative,preparedtopromoteacounter-cultureInspiring,generatingenthusiasmandenergyinothersNurturingofbothindividualsandteamsEmpathic,sensitivetothosearoundthemDisruptive,abletoshifttheoldstatusquoandhelpcreateanewwayofworking

These are the qualities that guide a ScrumMaster towards servant-leadershipratherthancommandandcontrol.

I have had the privilege of watching Geoff in action. He truly has a gift forconnecting,andcoachingwithoutjudgementorimpatience.HisinsightsandfinetouchwithpeopleandteamsshinethroughinthestoriesyouwillreadinScrumMastery.

Ofcourse,dearreader,youwill,andshould,findyourownpathandmakeuseofyour own unique talents and gifts.With Geoff’s experiences and stories as aguide,youwillseethataScrumMasterisnotmasteroftheteam,butamasteratencouraging,enabling,andenergizingpeople togelasa teamandrealize theirfullpotential.

EstherDerbyCo-authorofAgileRetrospectivesDuluth,Minnesota

Acknowledgements

Therearemanygreatpeoplewhohavecontributedto thisbook;someof themconsciouslyandsomequiteinadvertently.

The first people I would like tomention are all frommy time at Bt where IstartedusingScruminanger.ThefirstpersonIwouldliketomentionismyoldboss Denis Lee (with one n !!) who always believed inme and toleratedmycounter-culture ideas, trusting my instincts. I also don’t think I would havegottenveryfarwithScrumifitweren’tformyfirstproductowner,mikeLynch.andthentherewasSeanO’DonovanwhoevensupportedmewhenIknewitwastime to leave and go it alone. Without you guys, I wouldn’t have beguncollectingtheseexperiencesandstories.Thankyou.

I’mverygratefulforthosewhohaveheardandreadmystoriesovertheyears.Some, in particular have even helped me by analyzing and reviewing themformallyfor thisbookincludingmikeCohn,EstherDerby,RomanPichlerandJeanTabaka.I’mnotsuretheyrealisedwhattheywerelettingthemselvesinforwhenagreeing tohelpbutyouall stuckwithme.Yourcompassionatelybrutalfeedbackhashelpedmetofind,redefineandrefinemyway!Thankyou

PaulGoddardshouldbeinthelistabovebutIwanttoreservespecialthanksforhim.He’s alwaysbeen there to listen tomy latest crazy ideasor create anewgamewithmeandmuchofwhatiswrittenherehasgonethroughtheGoddardfilteratsomepointoranother.Thankyou.

Possibly themostobviouspeople to thankareall theScrumMastersandteamsthatI’veworkedwithwhohaveeffectivelygivenmethematerial.SomeofyoumaybeabletopickoutyourstoryandIthankyouallforyouropennessandtheopportunitiesyougavemetoworkwithyou.Thankyou.I should alsomentionmy twitter followerswho joined in the “good& great”discussions and also helped with my efforts to choose the book design. Thisbrings me on to Ole Størksen, a fantastic designer from Norway who had totolerateworkingwithmyseverelylimitedimaginationtoproducesomethingthatlooksevenbetterthanIcouldhaveeverimagined.Thankyou.

TheonepersonthatIknew,withoutquestion,hadtobeapartofthisprojectwasRebeccaTraeger.Sheisatremendouseditorwhoputinalotofworktoturnmyramblings andmusings into something that could actuallybeunderstood!Andnotjusttheonceeither!Asthebooktookvariousforms,shehelpedre-organiseand maintain consistency. I am so grateful that she agreed to be part of thisproject.Thankyou.

Andthen,ofcourse, thereismyfamily;mywife,mychildrenandmyin-lawswhohavehadtoputupwiththemanynightsofmebeingawayfromhome,theconfusionaboutwhatIactuallydoforaliving(“whatjobdoyoudoDaddythatinvolves spaghetti, plasticballs andLego?”), and the timeswhen Ihave takenmyselfawaytoconcentrateonmywriting.TheyhavealwayssupportedmeandthedecisionsthatIhavemade.KnowingthatIhavesuchagreatsupportingunitbehindmeandbelievinginmehasmadethissomucheasier.Thankyou.

Introduction-WhyThisBook?

“Theregothepeople.ImustfollowthemforIamtheirleader.”

AlexandreLedru-Rollin

For too many organisations, Scrum has been a big disappointment; a failedexperiment that hasn’t delivered anywhere near the positive impact thatmanagementwerehopingfor.Yet Ihavealsowitnessed thegreat rewardsandtransformative power that come when a company truly embraces Scrumconceptsandagileprinciples.What’sthedifferencebetweensuccessandfailurefororganisationsthatadoptaservant-leaderapproachlikeScrum?HoweffectivetheirScrumMastersareintherole.

I fundamentally believe in both the power and also the humanising nature ofself-organising, empowered teams and I am equally sure that the key toachieving these benefits is the ScrumMaster. Put simply, if organisations cancreate and support great ScrumMasters then those ScrumMasters will fostergreat teams and create environments that enable these teams to create greatproducts. This book aims to give ScrumMasters the tools to go from good togreat,bringingyourteamandorganisationtohigherlevelsintheprocess.

I feel great sympathy for many of the people who find themselves in theScrumMaster role as it is verydifficult, oftenmisunderstoodand there is verylittle specific guidance on how to perform the role well. They are also oftenswimmingagainst the tideof traditionalmanagement techniquesfromthe20thcentury,whicharenotfitfortoday’sageofrapidchangeandcomplexity.

IlookbacktomyearlydaysasanewlymintedScrumMaster,absolutelylovingthe opportunity to help my team grow and my organisation become moreeffective,eventhoughtherewaspreciouslittlespecificadviceonhowtodomyjobwell.Tenyearslater,afterworkingwithmanyagileteamsasScrumMaster,internalcoach,externalcoachandconsultant,IhavebeenluckytoobserveandworkwithmanygreatScrumMasters andScrum teams andhave learned a lot

fromthem.IhaveidentifiedkeypracticesandpatternsthatgreatScrumMastersexhibit.IpresentthemthroughoutthisbookasphrasesthatdescribethefinelinebetweengoodScrumMastersandgreatones.

Noticethatthedifferenceisbetweengoodandgreat—notbadandgood—bothsetsofcharacteristicsinthestoriesthatfollowarepositive.Thisissimilartothewaythattheagilemanifestosetsoutitsvalues,e.g.“IndividualsandInteractionsoverProcessesand tools.” [1]Atnopoint is theagilemanifestoattempting tosuggest that processes and tools are bad; all it is trying to suggest is thatindividualsandinteractionsareconsideredmorevaluable.

The stories that fill this book are drawn from real experiences of realScrumMasters in real teams—only the names and details have been changed.ThesestoriesassumeyouhaveacertainamountofknowledgeaboutScrum.If,however, you are a complete newbie to Scrum or are intending to apply thelessonsofservant-leadershiptoanon-Scrumcontext,thereisabriefoverviewoftheprocessavailableintheappendix.

At its core, Scrum aims to harness the power of self-organising, autonomous,engagedteamswhotakeresponsibilityfordeliveryandcollaboratedirectlywiththeircustomers.Thesefantasticdeliveryteamsdonotjustmagicallyappearbutarecreated,nurturedandsupportedbyservant-leaderScrumMasters.Readontofind out how to raise the bar of Scrum in your organisation and your ownpersonalbarofScrummasteryaswell.

GetRE-TRAINEDforSuccess

AgoodScrumMastergraspstheresponsibilitiesoftherole.AgreatScrumMastergraspstheskillsandmindsetoftherole.

I don’t think I have ever come across a job role that has been so popular yetsimultaneouslyderided;sosimpleyetsomisunderstood;socommon-senseandyetsorevolutionaryastheScrumMaster.

The role’s introduction was intended to be somewhat controversial. TheScrumMasterroleoffersneitherauthoritynoranattractivetitle.asaresult,thosewhowantapowerfulposition,asopposedtoaleadershiprole,tendnottoapply.

AScrumMasterispartfacilitator,partcoachandpartcoordinator.Theyarealsopartparent,partorchestraconductorandpartsheepdog.Andmuch,muchmore.TheScrumMastershoulddowhatever isneeded tohelp the teambecomehighperforming and for the organisation to deliver excellent products quickly. Forthis reason, it is incredibly hard to nail down a definition of the role.What aScrumMasterneedstodoonesprintcouldbeincrediblydifferentfromwhattheyneedtodointhenextsprint.FromtheearliestdaysofScrum,theScrumMasterhasalwaysbeendescribedasaservant-leaderfortheteam.

AScrumMastershouldservetheproductowner,thedevelopmentteamandtheorganisation invariousways,mostnotably in facilitation, impediment removalandcoaching.Thisdefinitionofa servant-leaderhelpsadd somecertaintyandsoliditytotheambiguousstatementof“dowhateverisneeded.”

Whatisaservant-leader?

Thetermservant-leadershiporiginatedfromanessaybyRobertK.Greenleafin1970,“TheServantasLeader [2],”whereheessentiallycalls fora reversaloftraditionalleadership(theaccumulationandexerciseofpowerbyonepersonatthe topof thepyramid). Instead,Greenleafcalls fora leaderwhosefocus is toensure thatotherpeople’shighestpriorityneedsarebeingserved.Theguidingprincipleofservantleadershipstatesthat“thehighestpriorityofaservant-leaderistoencourage,supportandenablesubordinatestounfoldtheirfullpotentialandabilities.”[3]

Servant-leaders serve first and thencome to lead.Theirbest test, asGreenleafdescribesit,is“dothoseservedgrowaspersons?Dothey,whilebeingserved,become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves tobecome servants?”WhileGreenleafwasmore focussed on a change inwidersociety than specifically in project teams, bundling servant-leadership into theScrumframeworkhasledtoaveryinterestingshiftinmanyworkpracticesandorganisationalstructures.

WhatdoImeanbygreat?Inhisbook,Good togreat:WhySomeCompaniesMake theLeapandOthersDon’t,JimCollins[4]describesLevel5Leaders:

“Level5leaderslookoutthewindowtoapportioncredittofactorsoutsidethemselveswhenthingsgowell.atthesametime,theylookinthemirrortoapportionresponsibility,neverblamingbadluckwhenthingsgopoorly.”

These leaders are highly ambitious but not for themselves; instead, theywanttheirorganisations toexcel.Theybuildsuccessorsrather than try tosetpeopleup to fail to make themselves look good. Great ScrumMasters share thecharacteristicsofLevel5leaders.

Beingagreatservant-leadercallsforacertainsetofcharacteristics:

ResourcefulTheyarecreativeinremovingimpedimentstoproductivityEnablingTheyarepassionateabouthelpingothersbeeffectiveTactfulTheyarediplomacypersonifiedRespectedThey have a reputation for integrity both within the team and in the widerorganisationAlternativeTheyarepreparedtopromoteacounter-cultureInspiringTheygenerateenthusiasmandenergyinothersNurturing

TheyenjoyhelpingbothindividualsandteamsdevelopandgrowEmpathicTheyaresensitivetothosearoundthemDisruptiveTheybreaktheoldstatusquoandhelpcreateanewwayofworking

You can think of these characteristics in the context of the acronym RE-TRAINED. Over the course of this book, we will look at how greatScrumMastershaveexemplifiedandcandevelopthesecharacteristics.

Respected

“Itisfarbettertobetrustedandrespectedthantobeliked.”

JeanDickinson(myGrandmother)

Oneof the first things to learn about theScrumMaster role is that it holds noauthority.ScrumMasters are expected to embodyScrumvalues andprinciples,facilitate the adoptionof the process, guide the growthof the teamand act aschangeagentsfortheorganisation—allwithnorealformalpower.Therefore,inorder tobe effective as aScrumMaster it is imperative to earn the respect notonly of the team but also of influential people within the organisation. GreatScrumMastershavegoodrelationshipswiththeteamandcanbuildrapportwithothersquicklyand strongly.Thisallows them to facilitateeffectively in tryingcircumstancesandaskthetoughquestionsthatwillencouragecriticalreflectionwithintheteam.

InoneworkshopIwasrunningforanewprojectteam,IwasaskedhowtofindthebestScrumMasters.Asismywont,Iflippedthequestionbackonthemand,afterwehadclarifiedtheresponsibilitiesof therole,IaskedthegrouptoelecttheirScrumMaster.Igaveeveryoneintheroom(about25people)anumberofblank index cards and asked them to write the names of anyone who theythoughtwouldmakeagreatScrumMasteronanindexcard(onenamepercard).ThecardswereplacedinaboxsothatIcouldcountthevotes.Ofthe25people,23hadpickedthesameperson.Itseemedthatthisgroupknewinstinctivelywhowouldmake agreatScrumMaster.Every time I have run this exercise, I havehadsimilarresults.

Teamsaresurprisinglyconsistentinchoosingwhowillbegoodatenablingthemtobeeffective;theyknowwhowillgetthebestoutofthem.Itisalsooftenverydifferent from the person thatmanagement tends to select for the role!Giventhat the team is not accountable to the ScrumMaster and, if anything theScrumMasterisaccountabletotheteam,itmakesacertainamountofsenseforthe ScrumMaster to be chosen by the team. You might even go so far as tosuggestthatiftheScrumMasterisn’tdoingagoodjobasaservant-leader,thentheteamshouldfindthemselvesanewScrumMaster.

Respected ScrumMasters all seem to have a humility about them; a certainselflessnessandlackofegothatincreasestheirintegrityandtherespecttheyaregiven.HumbleScrumMasterstakeregulartimeoutstoreflectonwhohashelpedthemimprovetheirtalentsorbesuccessful.Theyacknowledgethemistakestheyhavemadeandidentifywhereothershavebeensuccessfulwithouttheirhelpor,better still, in spite of their contributions. To mindfully practice humility, tryaskingforhelpandadmittingwhereyouhavegapsinyourknowledge.

Respected ScrumMasters have a much greater rate of success in removingimpedimentsandenablingchangewithin thewiderorganisationas theirviewshave greater weight with the influence-holders. Being chosen by the teamindicates a level of respect that immediately puts new ScrumMasters on apositive footing in their attempts to serve, coach and mould their teams intohigh-performing units. Perhaps it won’t be long before we see someScrumMasterelectioncampaignsintheofficesofagileorganisations!

TIP:During the next retrospective, ask for feedback from the team on howyou could become a better ScrumMaster. Not only will you get some greatideasforhowtoimprovebutalsomerelytheactofaskingforfeedbacktendstoincreaserespect.Shareyourvalueswiththeteamandaskthemtohelpyoukeepfromcompromisingthem.

A huge element of respect comes from having integrity. Integrity involveshonesty, consistency, reliability anda strongmoral code. Ifyouhave integritythenpeopleknowwhattheycanexpectfromyouand(usually)appreciatebothwhoyouareandthecertaintythatgivesthem.

Whyisthisusefultoascrumteam?

Scientificstudieshaveproventhatpeoplearehard-wiredagainstuncertainty.AstudybyDavidRock [5]using functionalMRI scanshas indicated that,whenfacedwithuncertaintyorambiguity,thesamepartsofthebrainlightupthatarestimulated by physical pain. Scrum introduces (or makes explicit) a lot ofuncertainty—around requirements, process, hierarchy, and job descriptionsamongstother things—sohavingsomeoneyoucan relyon ishighlydesirable.TheScrumMastercanbetherockinthestormfortheteam.

WhenpeopleknowwheretheystandwiththeScrumMaster,itfosterstrustandrespect.teammembersaremorelikelytocometoarespectedScrumMasterwiththeirissues,concernsandimpediments.ThisinturnincreasesthestrengthoftheScrumMaster’shandwhenfacilitating-remembertheyhavelittleauthority.

TIP: Don’t over-promise but, instead, make many small commitments andkeep them. Admit and apologise, without making excuses, when you fail tokeepyourcommitment.

AboveAll,EmpowertheTeam

AgoodScrumMasterwillbeindispensabletoateam.AgreatScrumMasterwillbecomebothdispensableandwanted.

One of the most effective ways for ScrumMasters to gain respect is todeliberately not take control. For someone starting out in the role ofScrumMaster, I offer twobasic pieces of advice. you could consider them thetwocommandmentsofaScrumMaster.

1.Firstasktheteam

Whateverthequestionisandnomatterhowdifficulttheproblemis,yourdefaultresponse should always be, “I’m going to ask the team what they think weshould do.” This is more easily said than done because most people’s(unconscious)responseis,“OK,what’stheanswer?HowdoIsolvethis?”

In addition to asking direct questions to solve problems, I also encourage theScrumMaster toask the teamto reflectonsituations,both realandabstract, todiscover important learningpoints.Possiblyoneof thebestpeopleat this,soIhave read, was Phil Jackson, the former coach of the Chicago Bulls and LosAngelesLakers.Aswellasbeingan incredibly successfulcoach, Jacksonwasknown for deliberately encouraging this typeof reflection through some fairlyabstract coaching techniques. For example, he was not averse to showing theplayersvideoclips[6]orgivingthemabooktoreadandaskingthemtofindamessagethatwouldbeofusetotheteam’sdevelopmentorperformance.

2.Makeyourselfredundant

My second piece of advice is to go into the role of ScrumMaster with theintentionofmaking theroleofScrumMaster for this teamunnecessary.Createsuchahigh-performing,self-organisingteam,withsuchagoodrelationshipwiththeproductowner,withsuchakeenunderstandingoftheScrumframework(andthe principles behind the framework) that they don’t need any facilitation (ofeither process or people) and have no impediments left to remove. In otherwords, be sogreat that theydon’t needyouanymore. I’mnot saying thiswill

definitelyhappen,butthemoreyouaimforit,themorequicklyyourteamwilldevelopandthebetteryourteamwillperform.togobacktoGreenleaf’sessay,hesays:

“Thebesttest,andmostdifficulttoadminister,is:Dothoseservedgrowaspersons?Dothey,whilebeingserved,becomehealthier,wiser,freer,more

autonomous,morelikelythemselvestobecomeservants?”

Take the following story about Chris as an example of one such excellentservant-leader.

ChriswastheScrumMasterforteamHurricane,whowereapproachingtheendof their20th sprint.Asshe lookedover theburndownchartsand retrospectiveoutputsfortheprevioussprints,shefeltawarmglow.Shewassoproudofhowthisgroupofpeoplehad reallygrown intoa team,probably thebest teamshehadbeenpartofinher15-yearcareer.

Lookingback,Chriscouldrememberhowtoughthefirstcoupleofsprintswere.TherewasthattimewhenshewonderedifBennyandCarlwouldbeabletostayin the same building let alone the same team.And then there was that sprintreview when she had been so sure the project would get pulled because thevelocitywassolow.TherewasevenonepointwhenshethoughttheteamweregoingtogiveupcompletelyonScrumandgobacktowaterfall.

Thoseearlyweeksandmonthshadrequiredsomuchenergy,determinationandcreativity!Shehad feltat times thatshehadalmostneeded tobeg the teamtoattendthemeetings,updatetheburndownchart,andsayanythingmorethanthebareminimuminthesprintretrospectives.

Chrissmiledathowdifferentthingswerenow.Tomorrowshewouldbeoffonmaternity leave, but the team had not yet decided whether they would evenbothertofindsomeonetofillinforher.Theywereplanningtoaddressitattheirretrospective session next Thursday. Even though she would be leaving mid-sprint,Chrisfeltconfidentthattheteamwouldbefinewithouther.

Thefact that theyhadalreadylinedupwhat theyweregoingtoaddress in theretrospective was an indication that the teamwere in control of things. That,coupledwith the fact thatSaffron, theproductowner,wasoverwith the teamrightnowlooking throughandsigningoffon the latest featuresmeant that the

sprintreviewwasprobablygoingtobeassmoothasnormalaswell.

Infact,ifitwasn’tforthehugepartytheteamwerethrowingforher,shecouldprobablyhaveslippedoutoftheofficeunnoticedandtheteamwouldhavebeenjust fine. Chris had accomplished what she’d never thought possible—she’ddonesuchagoodjobinherrolethatshewasnolongerreallyneeded,atleastnotfull-time.Whataspectacularproblemtohave!

Shu-Ha-RiorTheHairyShoeShu Ha Ri (or as many people affectionately call it The Hairy Shoe) is bestdescribedbyreferencetotheoriginalTheKarateKidmovie,whichIwas(ratherbelatedly) introduced to by my great friend Paul Goddard. In the film, Mr.Miyagiteacheshisstudent,Daniel,karateinaveryunconventionalway.Ratherthan teach Daniel karatemoves,Mr.Miyagi instead begins by asking him tocleancars,repeatingthemotionofwaxon,waxoff.WhenDaniel,whoisintheShu state of learning, questions the rationale behind this process,Mr.Miyagitellshim,“Isay,youdo...noquestions.”

Thepointof this repetition is tocreateanewmusclememoryso that,withoutthinking, itcanbeappliedwhenneeded,suchas[spoileralert]whenDaniel isattacked.At thismoment,Daniel has an epiphany and responds automaticallywiththewaxon,waxoffmotionhehaslearned,enablinghimtodefendhimself.Asaresultof this,herealises therationalebehindallof therepetition.HehasnowenteredtheHastateoflearning(whichliterallymeansdigressortobreakfrom tradition), where he will begin to question the mechanics and find newways to embody the principles. In the Ha state, the teacher will begin toencouragetheirstudenttosafelybreaktherules.Ideally,thestudenteventuallytranscends,leavesorseparatesfromtheteacherandhasnoneedfortherules(ortheteacher).ThisistheRistate,whereoneiseffectivelynolongerthestudent.

This metaphor is very applicable to Scrum teams and the role of theScrumMaster. Great ScrumMasters painstakingly guide their teams throughthesestagesofdevelopmentwiththehopeofonedaycreatingateamthathasnoneedforaScrumMaster.

Tofurtherexpandonthisconcept,let’slookatanotherfilm,NannyMcPhee[7]aboutMr.Brown(amanwhohasjustlosthiswife)andhissevenbadlybehaved

children.Mr.Brownandhischildren suffermanyunsuccessfulnanniesbeforeeventuallystumblinguponNannyMcPhee,amagicalnannywho[spoileralert#2]manages to teach thechildrenanumberof lessons thatencourage them tocompletely alter their behaviour. When Nanny McPhee arrives, she tells thechildren

“ThereissomethingyoushouldunderstandaboutthewayIwork.Whenyouneedmebutdonotwantme,thenImuststay.Whenyouwantmebutnolonger

needme,thenIhavetogo.It’srathersad,really,butthereitis.”

She then proceeds to change the children’s rules and process, restricting theirfreedomandchallengingtheirauthority(forpreviouslytheyruledtheroost),somuchinfactthatthechildrenhatethenewnanny:

“Wewillneverwantyou,”thechildrentellher

“ThenIshallneverleave,”repliesNannyMcPhee

Eventually,however,thechildrenlearntoappreciatethenewbehavioursthatthenanny’srulesandprocesshavehelpedthemadoptandenjoytheirnewlivessomuchthattheydon’twanthertoleave.Butshehasdoneherjobandsoshemustleave.Ah,theirony.

Like Nanny McPhee, as you develop as a ScrumMaster and help your teamdevelopthroughtheShu-Ha-Riphasesandachievegreatness,youtooshouldbereadytoleave.“ButwhywouldIwanttomakemyselfredundant?”youmightask.Whywouldn’tyou?Imagineputtingthisonyourresume:

I enabled a team and an organisation to become so agile and high-performingthatIwasnolongerneeded.Iwouldarguethatifyoumanagedtomakeyourselfredundantyouwouldbeinsuchhighdemandthatthiswouldbetheleastofyourworries!

SurvivingTheCorporateCulture

AgoodScrumMasterhelpsaScrumteamsurviveinanorganisation’sculture.AgreatScrumMasterhelpschangetheculturesoScrum

teamscanthrive.

Therearemanywaysthatanorganisation’sculturemayneedtochangeinorderfor Scrum teams to thrive. Perhaps your organisation has a culture of micro-management,oraperformancemanagement system thatencourages individualdevelopmentandthegrowthofheroes.Perhapsyourorganisationisstructuredina matrix-style, applying an individualistic approach to resourcing projects, orperhapsthereisahistoricdesiretofixbothtimeandscopeonprojects.

There are many more examples of corporate cultures that can conflict withScrumteams.GreatScrumMastersrealisethatchangesincorporateDNAarenotgoingtohappenovernight;theywillmutateovertimegiventherightconditionsandstimuli.Sometimessimplymakingvisiblethedysfunctionorbottleneckwillbesufficient(suchashighlightingthecauses,consequencesandcostoftechnicaldebt), sometimes change will require influence, persuasion or lobbying, andothertimesitwillrequireevidenceofavalidalternativepathbeforeanyonewilllisten.

Whatever thestrategy,greatScrumMasters takeaviralapproach:slowenoughto not get destroyed by the host organisation but quick enough to gathermomentum and instigate structural change within the corporate DNA. Thefollowing story is unfortunately all too common and a situation that manyScrumMasterswillhavetoovercome.

TheBlockheadsteamwasfairlynewtoeachotherandtoScrum.Assuch,theyhad little idea of their true velocity. Their new project was fairly complex aswell.AfterfourhoursofreleaseplanningandsomeintensefacilitationbytheirScrumMasterXander, theBlockheads cameupwith an estimate of six sprints(sixmonths)tocompletetheirfirstrelease.

Heleena, Xander’s manager, had been observing this new practice of agileplanning.Afteritwasover,shepulledXandertooneside.

“Sixmonths?That’s ridiculous.Wecan’t afford to take sixmonths toget thisreleaseout,”shesaid.

“Well,we do have the option of deploying any time after sprint three, sowecouldcallthistworeleasesreally,”Xanderreplied.

“Butit’sstillgoingtotakeussixmonthstogetallthefunctionalityfinishedisn’tit?”

“Itlooksthatwaywiththeinformationwehaveatthemoment,butitcouldbequicker or it could even be longer,” Xander explained. “This plan is just anaggregation of approximations based on little practical evidence of this teamworkingonthistypeofproblem.”

“Well,Iworkedthroughtheserequirementswithacoupleofothermanagerstheotherdayandwecalculateditwouldtakethree-to-fourmonths,nearlyhalf theestimateoftheteamhere,”Heleenasaid.

“Youalreadyplanneditout?”Xanderasked.“Why?”

“Togivemyself a baseline to assess the team’splan. I hadno ideawhat theyweregoingtocomeupwithandwantedtoknowifitwasreasonable.”

“Inotherwordsyoudidn’ttrusttheteam,”Xanderinferred.

“It’snotthatIdidn’ttrustthem,it’sjustthattheyaren’tusedtodoingthisand,well, this ideaof theteamdoingtheplanningisboundtoleadtoteamsunder-committingisn’tit?”Heleenatriedtoexplain.

“Sowhatareyougoingtodowiththisinformation?”Xanderasked.

“Well,I’mhopingyoucanencouragethemtorevisittheplantoseeiftheycanfindawaytobringthetimescalesdown,”Heleenafinished.

AllplansareWrong

Xanderisinadifficultsituationhere.Thisteamisnewandsotheplanisverylikelygoingtobewrong.Allplansarearguablywronganywaybecause,assoonastheyaremade,theinformationusedtomakethemisimmediatelyoutofdate.

Thisismagnifiedwhenateamisnewandtheproblemiscomplex.

Team empowerment is a key part of Scrum; giving the team the space toestablish their capability is a massive contributor to that. In practice, it oftentakesteamsaboutthreeorfoursprintstoestablishasteady,predictablevelocity,before which time they tend to fluctuate between over-promising and over-delivering. In the future you are also likely to see the velocity of the teamaccelerate further as the team getmore familiarwith each other and optimisetheirprocesses.

While the team is figuring things out, it might be worth considering shortersprints to get some empirical data about team velocity earlier. This will helpestablish trustwithmanagement,whomightbe feeling abit afraidofwhether“thiswholeagilething”willevenwork.Thatbeingsaid,shortersprintsshouldbeweighed up against the extra overhead and strain on a team. Formore onsprintlengthsseethechapter“HowLongIsaPieceOfString?”.

OneofthebigbenefitsofScrumisthattheproductownerhastheopportunitytore-evaluatethecompany’sgambleontheprojecteverysprint.If,afteronesprint,the release plan has expanded to nine sprints, chances are the project will bestoppedoramoreexperiencedteamchosen,becausetheprojectedcostswillbetoo high with the current team. However, if the team velocity is higher thanpredictedandthereleaseplanshrinkstofivesprints,theproductownerwillfeelmuchbetteraboutthechancesofsuccess.

Attempting to encourage, pressure or bribe the team into reducing the releaseplanwillalmostcertainlyleadtotheteameitherconsciouslyorsub-consciouslycuttingqualityandintroducingtechnicaldebt.

TrustandPrinciples

Although establishing release plans with any new team is difficult, the moresubtleprobleminthissituationisthelackoftrustoftheteam.Iftheteamwereto find out that their plan would only count if it met the expectations of theproductownerormanagement, then theirbuy-in to theprocessand theprojectwouldundoubtedly diminish.Theywould thenhave little chanceof achievingtheproductivityandcreativitybenefitsofferedbyaself-organisingScrumteam.

ToquoteformerAmericanpoliticianHenryStimson:“Theonlywaytomakea

mantrustworthyistotrusthim.”

Whilewemust sometimesmake short-term compromises for long-term gains,greatScrumMastersknowwhenitisimperativetotakeastandonprincipleforthesakeofthelong-termagility,performanceandintegrityoftheorganisation.They might educate stakeholders and management about the benefits of self-organisation and the general advantages of teambuy-in.Theymight also helpcalculate and visually represent the costs of the technical debt thatwill likelyresult from pressuring the team into meeting a fixed scope by an imposeddeadline.

Thatbeingsaid,whileadvocatingfortheirteams,ScrumMastersmustbecarefulabout how they approach the situation. It’s critical that any arguments bepresentedcalmlyandfactually.Explainingthedangerofunderminingtheteam’sautonomyandself-organisationandemphasisingthecostofpoorqualitywillgoa longway towardhelpingmanagement understand the importanceof trustingtheteam.

Organisations that compromise the integrityof theirproducts—andworkingatan unrealistic or unsustainable pace is the quickestway to do this—will soonaccumulate technical debt that slows down their performance. Once thishappens, there is even greater pressure on estimated project timescales,whichonly exacerbates the problem. It is a very slippery slope.Great ScrumMastershaltthatslidequicklybuttactfully.

HoldingToAccount

AgoodScrumMasterwillholdteammemberstoaccountifneeded.AgreatScrumMasterwillholdtheteamtoaccountfornotholding

theirteammatestoaccount.During their efforts to tackle areas of waste in the National Health Service(NHS),researchersmadeaninterestingdiscoveryaboutthepowerofownership.Cialdini discovered that General Practitioner (GP) offices could reduce thenumber ofDNA’s (did not attends / no-shows) by 18% simply by asking thepatient to personally write down the appointment date instead of having thereceptionistwrite it [8]. It turns out that patients aremore likely to keep theircommitmentsiftheyareactivelyinvolvedinmakingthem.Thephysicalactofwriting it had a material effect on them keeping their commitments. Cialdiniattributes this to people’s desire to act consistently with their view ofthemselves.

Scrum teams are no different. All groups operate under a set of explicit orimplicitrules,thatareoftencalledworkingagreements.I’venoticedthatScrumteamswhowritedowntheirworkingagreementsaremuchmorelikelytoabidebyandholdthemselvesaccountabletothem.

Take the Blue Peter team, for instance. Vince was facilitating his first sprintplanningmeetingasthenewScrumMasteroftheBluePeterteam.ThefirstthingVincedidwastoasktheteamwhatrulestheynormallyhaveforthesetypesofmeetings, as he wanted to know how they would like to be facilitated. Theyrespondedwithanumberofstatementsincluding:

*Westartandfinishontime*Everybody’sopinionshouldbeheard*Therearenostupidideas*Noelectronicdevicedistractions*Makedecisionsbyconsensus

Vincewrotetheteam’sstatedrulesonaflipchartsheet,stuckitonthewallandbeganthemeeting.Within30minutes,oneoftheteammembers,Janet,gother

laptopoutandstartedgoing throughher inbox, replying toemails.The restofthegrouplookedather,lookedatthesheetonthewall,backatJanetandthenatVince,asiftosay,“Sowhatareyougoingtodoaboutit?”

Vince considered for a moment. He was disappointed that Janet had showndisrespect to the team, the meeting, and her own commitment. He was morecurious,though,astowhytherestoftheteamdidn’tfeelabletopullJanetuponherbehaviour.

Vincedecidedtoaskthegroupaboutit.“Let’spausejustamomentandreturntoour working agreements,” he began. “Janet, I notice that you are on yourcomputerrightnow.AndI’venotedafewtimeswhereoneortwoofyouhaveinterrupted eachother.Bothof these actions seem toviolate the rules here onthisflipchart,”Vinceconcluded,pointingtothepaperhe’dhungonthewall.

“I’msorry,”Janetsaidquickly,blushingassheshutherlaptop.

“Myintentionisn’ttosingleyouout,Janet,”explainedVince.“Youarenottheonlypersonwhohasviolatedthestatedrulestoday,justthemostrecent.Iwanttoasktheteamaquestion:aretheseagreementstrulyreflectiveofyourintendedbehavior?Becauseyouarenotonlybreakingyourownrules,youarealsofailingto take action or hold each other accountable to them. If Iweren’t here, howwouldyounormallyproceed?”

Theteammembersjustlookedateachotherandshrugged.

Vincesaid,“Ultimately,youmustbeabletoholdeachothertoaccountforyourworkingagreementsandfeelresponsibletoeachotherforyourbehaviours.Let’stalkaboutwhatwouldneedtohappentomakeyoucomfortabledoingthat.”

WithVince’shelptheteamdiscussedwhytheycreatedagreementsbutdidnotenforce them.They talked throughobstacles toupholdingwhat theyallagreedwerenecessaryrules,suchasnoelectronicdistractions.Janetexplainedthatshefelt compelled to check email often becausemanagers expected an immediateresponse.Others agreed that thiswas a very real concern thatmade it hard tofocus on meetings sometimes. The team felt that the rule of no electronicdistractionsstillneededtobeinplace,butalsoputforthafewsuggestions,suchas regular email breaks and auto-responders, that theymight use to help themsticktothatcommitment.

Theyalso talkedabout the importanceofallowingeveryonetheopportunity tospeak,evenifthatmeantholdingagreatideabackforafewmoremoments.Intheend, theydecided that the ruleswerenot theproblem; their failure toholdeachotheraccountabletothemwas.

As thediscussionwounddown, the teamagreed thatVince shouldwalk themthrough theworkingagreements exercise again.This timeVince reminded theteamtoonlyincludebehaviourstheyreallywantedto,andfeltableto,committoasa team.Foreachdesiredbehaviour,Vinceasked the team todescribe itsimpactontheteam.Iftheteamagreeditwasaruletheywantedtofollow,oneoftheteammemberswroteitontheflipchartsheet.Vinceensuredthateveryonehadtheopportunitytopersonallywriteatleastonerule.Oncetheruleswereallonthesheet,theentireteamsigneditbeforehangingit inplaceoftheoriginalsheetonthewall.

First,asktheteam

In his role as facilitator,Vince had a number of optionswhen he noticed theteam straying from their stated and postedworking agreements.One responsecouldhavebeen to ignore it—after all, hewasverynew to the team.Anotheroption would have been to question the team or to confront individual teammembersaboutwhytheywerebreakingrulestheyhadpostedonly30minutesago.InthespecificcaseofJanetcheckingemail,VincecouldhaveshutJanet’slaptop, or asked her to leave, although this could have been quiteconfrontational.Vincewaswithinhisrightsasafacilitatortotakeatimeouttorevisittheworkingagreementoralternativelycouldhaveaskedtheteamiftheyneededabreaktoseetootherresponsibilities.

Inthissituation,Vincechosetopointouttheobvious—andlessobvious—rulebreaches he and others on the teamhad observed and ask the teamwhat theyplanned to do about it. This was a very brave move by Vince. Letting thisbehaviourgo,evenjustonce,wouldhavesetaprecedentthattheteamworkingagreements weren’t that important. Solving the problem or confronting rulebreakerswouldhavetaughttheteamthathewouldfunctionastheirrulepolice.Vince’sdecisiontoplacethesolutionontheteam’sshoulders,whileremainingnon-judgemental,helpedminimisedefensivebehaviouroraconfrontation.

A good ScrumMaster would undoubtedly call people to account for breaking

theircommitments,nomatterthesituation.AScrumMasteroftenplaystheroleofconscienceoftheteam,especiallywhenitisintheformingornormingstagesof development [9]. Over time, however, the ScrumMaster should have thehigher expectation that the teammemberswill hold each other to account forfailingtohonouragreements.

CreateafeedbackcultureGivinghonestfeedbacktosomeonewhohasbrokenfaithwithyouisnotaneasythingtodo.Neitherisacceptingcriticalfeedbackfromapeer.Teamswillverylikelyneedhelpinlearninghowtoholdeachothertoaccountwithout incitingargumentsordrivingwedgesbetweenteammembers.

Scrum teams, the individualswithin the teams, and the organisations they areoperating in, all need to become comfortable with the process of giving andreceiving feedback on a very frequent basis.We need to be open to feedbackabout the state of our requirements, our design decisions, our estimates, ourpriorities, our interactions with other team members, and, most importantly,whatwehavebuiltandhowwehavebuiltit.

Though many organisations say they value feedback—”It’s the breakfast ofchampions” isaphrase Ihaveheardmany times—when it comes to it,peopleareeitherunskilledat,unpreparedfor,orunwillingtotakegood,proper,helpfulfeedback.

Ironically, those that think they are best at giving and receiving feedback areoftentheworstatit.asimplemodeltostartoffwithistheAIDmodel,whichIcameacrossinMaxLandsberg’sbook,TheTAOofCoaching[10]:

Actions:What specifically is the person (or team) doing well, or poorly? Beobjectivewherepossibleandfocusonthebehaviournottheindividual(s).Impacts: What effects are these actions having? Speak from your ownperspective;not,forexample,“I’veheardthat...”or“Peoplehavebeensaying...”Desiredoutcomes:Whatwouldgoodlooklike?

Inthestory,VincenotedthatJanet’saction(checkingemailduringthemeeting)hadtheimpactofdistractingothersanddivertedherattentionfromthemeeting.Rather thanblameJanetforbreakingtherule, though, theyworkedtogether tocomeupwithsomeways(designatedemailbreaksandauto-responders)tomake

iteasierforthemalltoadheretotheruleandstillbeabletofocusfullyonthemeeting.

There are other simple, yet effective models for giving feedback that a greatScrumMastercanintroduceintotheteamtofosterthispractice.Sometimes,justfocussingonthepositiveaspectsofabehaviour,ideaordelivery,andthewaysitcouldbemadeevenbetterisenough.OneteamthatIwasworkingwithmadeapoint of religiously using the phrase “What I like about that idea is...” ThisbecamesuchamottofortheteamthattheydecidedtochangethenameoftheirteamtoTheWILATI’S.

Another potential feedback tool is The Perfection Game, as described in theCoreProtocols [11].ThePerfectionGameeffectivelybuildson theconceptofWILATIbyaddingsomeconstructivethoughtsabouthowtoextendtheideaorbehaviourinquestion.

Ihavefoundbothofthesemodelstobeagoodstepping-stoneforhelpingteamsgetusedtoafeedbackculture.

Scrumasksfororganisations,teamsandindividualstobecomecomfortablewithfeedbackonamoreregularandtangiblebasis.Thiscanbeashockforsomeandcantaketimetoestablish.AllgoodScrumMasterswillfindwaystoprovidethenecessary feedback for all parties tomake the decisions they need tomake inorder to be successful. Great ScrumMasters go one further and create theenvironment where feedback flows freely in all directions and becomes anaccepted,expectedandvaluedpartofhowwework.

Enabling“Itisamazingwhatyoucanaccomplishifyoudonotcarewhogets

thecredit.”

HarryS.Truman

AScrumMasterismuchmoreofanenablerthanadoer.ScrumMastersarethere,firstandforemost,tohelppeopledowhattheyneedtodo.GreatScrumMastershave a strong paternalistic streak—they enjoy helping their teams and theorganisationstheyoperateindevelopandfulfiltheirpotential.

Enablers takegreatpleasure inwatchinga teamwhowereonceaccustomedtobeingtoldwhattodoandhowtodoit,starttotakeownershipoftheirworkanddeliverexceptionalresultsintothebargain.It’salsogreattoseecustomerstakeadvantageof theopportunitiesavailable to theminScrumandbuildextremelysuccessfulproductsveryquickly.

It’s even satisfying to facilitate a meeting in a way that fosters creativity,collaborationandcommitmentwherepreviously therewas tedium, tensionandtacitdisbelief.

TheFreeDictionary.com[12]describestheverbenableas:1.tosupplywiththemeans,knowledge,oropportunity;makeable.2.tomakefeasibleorpossible

TIP: Try “battle mapping” [13] to map out both the formal and informalstructuresofyourorganisation,interactions,powerrelationshipsandspheresofinfluence.

TIP:Findoutwhattheteam’sbiggestfrustrationsareintheirwork.Choose

onethatyoucouldreduceorremovetoincreasetheireffectiveness.

In order to be a great enabler of a team, a ScrumMasterwill need to removeimpedimentsatboththeteamandorganisationallevel.Toremoveimpediments,ScrumMasters need to understand (or learn) how things get done in theorganisation.Knowingwhose door to knock onwhen an issue arises orwhatchannelsaremosteffectiveingainingtraction(andresolution)isoftencriticaltoaScrumMaster’s,andteam’s,success.

TheBulls**tBuzzer

AgoodScrumMasteriswaryofinfluencingtheteam.

AgreatScrumMastercanactnormallyandknowtheteamwillstillmaketheirowndecisions

ScrumMastersoftenhavetoexercisejudiciouscautionaboutwhattosay,whentosayitandhowtosayitforfearofinfluencingsomeone’sbehaviour,leadingthem to a particular decision or putting them on the spot and discouragingfurtherinvolvement.That’swhythebestScrumteamskeepeachotherincheck,ratherthandependingontheScrum-mastertodoitforthem.

OnetoolI’veseenteamsusetoholdeachotheraccountableduringadailyscrumis a buzzer. at any time, if a speaker is being too vague, too detailed, usingjargon,orgenerallynotgivingtheteamtheinformationitneeds,anyoneoftheirteammateswill activate the buzzer to bring the speaker back on track.But becareful, ifyou’re theScrumMasteranddoyour jobright,someday thepersonthatgetsbuzzedmightjustbeyou.

Take TheDivas for example. TheDivas teamwere having their daily scrum.TheirScrumMaster,Fin,tookhisturntoupdatetheteamontheprogressthathehadmadeononeoftheteam’simpediments.

“Wellyesterday,”beganFin.“yousaidyouwerehavinganissuewithnotbeingable to get in touch with the vendor so I put out a few emails and I left avoicemailwith...”

“BuZZZZZZZZ”

Jaime had pushed the “bulls**t buzzer” to interrupt the ScrumMaster mid-sentence.

“What?”askedFin.

“Emailsandvoicemail?Really?Comeon,Fin,youcandobetterthanthat,can’tyou?”askedJaime.

“Fair point, Jaime. I was a bit busy yesterday and so took the easy option. Imeant to followup in theafternoonbutgot sidetracked,”Finadmitted.“Goodcall.Sothatwasyesterday.Obviously,todayI’mgoingtogetananswerabouttheconfigdetailsfromthevendor.Ifnecessary,I’lldriveoverthere.”

ItwasthenTheo’sturn.TheowasanewmemberoftheDivas.FinthoughtTheoseemedalittleshy,especiallyinthedailyscrum,sohewaskeepinganeyeonhimtomakesurehewasOK.Finrememberedthatit’ssometimeshardtojoinanestablishedteam,especiallyonethatisgoingalongquitenicely.

Theostatedthat,afterlearningaboutthestorageparametersyesterday,todayhewasgoingto“findoutabouttheuploadfacility.”

Fin’s curiositywas sparked by Theo’s comments. They seemed a little vagueandnon-committal.HewantedtoaskTheoabouttheminalittlemoredetailbutwasworriedhowhemightreactifquestionedinfrontofthewholeteam,soFinwaiteduntil after thedaily scrumhad finishedbefore askingTheo for aquickchat.

“Howareyousettlingin,Theo?”Finasked.

“Notbad.There’salottolearnbutit’sallinteresting.”

“Youmentioned that youweregoing to look into theupload facility today. IsthereanythingIcanhelpwithinthatregard?”

“Not really,” Theo explained. “It’s just a case of finding stuff out. I know itwouldn’ttaketherestoftheguysverylongbutI’mstillgettinguptospeedwiththings really. To be honest I was half expecting to get the bulls**t buzzertreatmentbutperhapstheyarecuttingmealittleslack.”

“So how about pairing upwith one of the others?Would that help you out?”askedFin.

“Well obviously yes but I don’t want to slow the team down even more,”explainedTheo.

“Youwon’t,”saidFin.“Pairingtohelpeachotherlearnandgetnewmembers

uptospeediswhatwedo.”

“Youknow,”admittedTheo.“IwasabitafraidofthebuzzeruntilIsawJaimeuse it on you. At my last company, the agile project manager acted like hewantedtohearwhatwasgoingon,butifyoutoldthetruthaboutanythingyouwerestrugglingwith,hetendedtoreportittomanagementoruseitagainstyoulater. I figure if the teamisholdingyour feet to the fireaboutyourupdates, itcan’tbelikethathere.”

“WowIcanseewhythatwouldaffectyouTheo,butno,theDivasaren’tgivingme a status report.We’re sharingwith each other.Never be afraid to ask forhelp. And don’t think you can avoid the buzzer forever. you can see, they’reprettyruthless,”Finadded,smiling.

Creatingatrustingteam

The Divas were a well-established team with a relatively informal and frankapproach tomanaging themselves—thebulls**t buzzer.On the day Iwatchedthisparticulardailyscrum,itwasparticularlyrefreshingtoseeateammemberbuzztheScrumMaster,asitdemonstratedthattherewasnosenseofauthorityorstandingonceremonywithregardstotheteam’sScrumMaster.

Another sign that the Divas were a healthy team was that they and theirScrumMaster recognized that a new teammembermight not be ready for thebuzzertreatmentyet.Knowingwhentospeakupandwhentowaitisaskillthatthe best ScrumMasters cultivate. Though Fin (and likely the rest of the team)noticed that Theo was vague in his comments, Fin chose to speak to Theoprivatelyinsteadofbuzzinghimorquestioninghimpublicly.

As Fin noted, it can be difficult to join awell-established team.When a newteam member joins, it may even be worth revisiting the team norms andpractices to see if there are existing customs that might seem odd, beinappropriate,orrequireexplanation.Alwaysrememberthatwhatissimplefunand banter with one set of people may not have the same effect when thecompositionoftheteamchanges.

New teammembers often benefit from pairingwith differentmembers of theteam. It helps decrease their learning curve and builds relationships. Whenassimilatinganewteammember,youmightalsofocusdailyscrumupdatesona

productbacklogitematatimeratherthanonepersonatatime,thusreducingthefocusonanyonememberandincreasingthefocusonthework.

Byre-examiningteamnorms,establishingapairingrotation,andfocusingonthework during daily scrums, new team members will assimilate much morequickly.Soon the teamwill return toa statewhere theywill allbeable toactcompletelynormallyinthefaceofanythingthattheirScrumMastersaysordoes.

A team that feels comfortablewith each other and their ScrumMaster has thepotential to reach a truly high-performing state. When the ScrumMaster canchallenge the team, and each individual, with some really powerful questionsandobservationsthattheteamcantakeonfacevalue,theteamcanusethemasvaluablereflectionpointsforequallypowerfulgrowth.

TheProblemWithProxies

AgoodScrumMasterwillensuretheteamhaveaccesstoaproductowner.AgreatScrumMasterwillensuretheteamhaveaccesstothe

productowner.“Scrumwouldbefineifonlywehadaproductowner!”Ihaveheardthisfrommany teamswhoare frustratedbecause theydon’thaveaproductowner, theyhavethewrongproductowner,ortheyhavetherightproductownerandeithercan’tcommunicateeffectivelyorjustnevergettoseeorspeaktothem.

Take theOscars teamforexample.Theyhadaproductowner,Phillip,butdidnot havemuch access to him during the sprint. Phillipwas a former businessanalyst who was used to handing off requirements documents. The team hadtried to reach him for questions during past sprints but he had put them off,tellingthemthateverythingtheyneededtoknowwasintheuserstoryandthathecouldanswerquestionsduringthesprintreview.Thislackofcommunicationcame to a head during one sprint review when team member Jimmy wasdemonstratingthenewmigrationfunctionality.

“Whoa.What’sthat?”askedPhillip“That’snotwhatIaskedfor!”

“What do you mean?” replied Jimmy, quite shocked. “Look at the story. Itspecificallysaysweshouldmigratetheactiveuserstothenewsystem.”

“Well, sure, technically itmeetswhat the requirement said but it’smissed thepointofwhat Iwasafter,” saidPhillip. “Ionlywanted tomigrate theusers ingroupsa-Dtothistypeofaccount.Usersintheothergroupsshouldhavebeenmigratedtothesecondaryaccount.”

“Well,that’snotourfault,”saidJimmydefensively.“Wecouldn’taskyouaboutitduringthesprint,sowejustfollowedthestorytotheletter.”

Frank, the ScrumMaster, suggested the team take this up in the retrospectiveafter the review to see if the teamcouldworkoutwhat happened andhow toavoiditinthefuture.

“Shouldwerollbackthisfeature,Phillip?Orwouldyoulikeittostayandthenwecanseparateoutthetwoaccounttypesnextsprint?”Frankasked.

“Wecan’tdeploy this feature like this sowewillhave to roll itback,”Phillipconfirmed.

Duringthesprintretrospective,thefirstitemtheteamdiscussedwasthelackofaccesstoPhillipduringthesprint.Philipexplainedthatwhilehe’dliketohelpthe team better understand his needs, he just couldn’t free up enough time toanswer all of their questions. Frank suggested that they try a proxy productowner.

“Aproxy isempowered toexplainyour requirementsandanswerquestionsonyour behalf,” he explained. “But understand that if we build somethingaccordingtothewaytheproxydescribesit,anditstilldoesn’tmatchyourtruerequirements,that’ssomethingyou’llneedtotakeupwiththeproxy.Wehavetogobywhattheproxysaysifyouaren’there.”

Phillipagreedtofindsomeonetoactasproxy.Unfortunately,despitehavingaproxy,therewerestillmisunderstandingsthatsurfacedatthesprintreviewattheendofthenextsprint.

FrankwaspreparedforthiseventualityandcametothenextsprintretrospectivewithabreakdownofthecostofPhillipbeingunavailableduringthesprint.

“I’ve broken down our costs in terms of wasted effort, unnecessary re-work,timespentwaitingfordecisionstobemade,andsoon.Bytotallingthenumberofhoursordaysandmultiplyingbythedailycostofthedevelopmentteam,youcan see we have a pretty viable business case for freeing up your time. Not

havingaproductownerthatisavailableduringthesprint,evenwhenweuseaproxy,hasareal,measureablecost.”

FrankandPhilliptookthisinformationtothemanagementteamandconvincedthemto rethink the ideaofaproxy.Theydecided to freeupsomeofPhillip’stimeduring the sprint bybringing in someone tohelpPhillipwith testing andproductbacklogmanagement.ThisproxyhelpedwiththeelementsofPhillip’sjob thatweremuch easier to delegate and left the task of interactingwith theteamtoPhilliphimself.

AsPhillipworkedmorecloselywiththeteamduringthesprint,notonlydidtheteambegintocreatethefeaturesPhillipactuallywanted,butPhillipandtheteamalsobegan to likeand trusteachother, fosteringcreativesolutions thatneithercouldhavecomeupwithalone.

Encouragingcustomercollaboration

Product owners havemany different perspectives to consider, bothwithin theorganisationandoutsideit.Assuch,theycaneasilygetoverloaded.Many,likePhillip,managetofindtimetoensurethattheproductbacklogisprioritisedandsized appropriately enough for the sprint planning sessions and attend everysprintreviewmeeting.Buttoooften,theyareunavailableduringthesprintitself.Thisleavesteamstomakeanumberofassumptionsabouttherequirementsinanattempttoimplementthem.

The agile manifesto talks about valuing customer collaboration over contractnegotiation;theproductownerroleisanattempttobringconversationintothesprintratherthanrelyonwritteninstructions.ScrumMastersmustensurethattheteam get the answers they need during the sprint, which typically involvesworkingwith theproductowner to improveproductbacklog items, facilitatingbetter relationships, and removing impediments that stand in theway of teamaccesstotheproductowner.Let’sexaminesomeofthewaysScrumMasterscanhelpreducethedistancebetweentheteamandtheproductowner.

Userstories&acceptancecriteria

Whenproductownersareunavailableduring the sprint,most teams try tighterrequirementsordelegation. Ironically,userstories[14]are thechoiceformostteams who are looking to move away from tightly defined, up-front

requirements.Theunderlyingproblemofproductowneraccess isnotgoing tobe resolved by user stories because user stories are quite openly a token (orplaceholder) for a conversation. They are not a contract for a feature and canonlyreallyworkiffollowedupwithaconversationabouttheneedexpressedinthestory.

Proxies

Teams that lackaccess to aproductowner are forced to rely toomuchon thecard that the requirement, or user story, is written on and not enough on theconversation.Onewaytomitigatethisistodelegateuserstoryelaborationtoaproxy.Aproxyissomebodywhorepresentstheproductowneronaday-to-daybasis during the sprint and is empowered to make decisions on the productowner’s behalf. Even the most trusted and knowledgeable proxies still don’talwaysunderstandexactlywhattheproductownerwants,buttheyareabridgeforateamthatcannotgetproductownertimeanyotherway.

Thoughproxiesarebetterthannoproductowneraccessatall,theyarefarfromideal.Assigningaproxyfailstotackletherealproblemofwhyaproductowneristoobusytointeractwiththeteam.Istheproductownerworkingontoomanypieces ofwork?Does the product owner not have the support of an adequateproduct owner team? Is the product owner spending too much time with thestakeholdersoridentifyingmoreproductbacklogitems(oruserstories)thantheteamcandealwith?Istheproductownertestingorcreatingbugreportsfromtheprevious sprint? Ideally proxies, if used at all, should be dealing with theseelements of the product owner workload rather than the interface with thedevelopmentteam.

TheproductownerisacrucialroleinScrum.GreatScrumMastersavoidputtingstickingplastersorBand-Aidsovertheproblemandworkinsteadtoresolvetherealissue;inthiscasehelpingfreeenoughtimefortheproductownertospendtimetalkingtotheteamduringthesprint.Showcasingthetruecostsofcreatingfeatures that have to be rolled back and rebuilt because the team did notunderstandalloftherequirementscanhelpmakeiteasierforaproductownertojustifydedicatingtimetotheteamduringthesprint.

Onlytrueproductownerswilldo

GoodScrumMasterswilldoeverythingpossible tobridge thegapbetween the

productownerandthedevelopmentteamsothattheybuildtherightproductinthe right way. ScrumMasters should be prepared to dowhatever is needed tofacilitate an effective working relationship between these two parties. GreatScrumMasters realise, however, that being the go-between, arbiter or thetranslatorisnottheoptimallong-termstrategy.

As the agile manifesto states: “Business people and developers must worktogetherdailythroughouttheproject.”

GreatScrumMastersknowthatultimatelytheyneedtodowhateverittakesnotto function as a go-between. Instead they should aim to bring the team andproductownertogethersothattheyworkhand-in-hand(notliterallythough,thatwouldbealittleweird).

AssessyourWayToMaturity

AgoodScrumMasterhelpstheteamdevelopandgrow.AgreatScrumMasterhelpstheteamdeveloptheirowngrowthpathway.

So how agile is your team? Are they in Shu? Ha? Ri? How do you know?Shouldweevencare?Thereseemstobeafairlymajorsplit intheagileworldbetweenthoseincampa,whobelieveyouneedamaturitymodel,andthoseincampB,whobelievematuritymodelsareanti-agile.OnethingIamfairlysureofisthattraditionalmaturitymodelsandwaysofmeasuringteamsdonotmaptotheworldinwhichagileteamsoperate—oriftheydo,theyatleastreducetheeffectivenessofagile teams,which isnot thepointof thesemodels. I amalsosurethatalmostallmaturitymodelsbeganwithgoodintentions.

I am a firm believer that organisations should not have the aim of becomingagileandneithershouldteams.Theaimofanyorganisation(andateam)istobeassuccessfulaspossible.So,whilemeasuringhowstrictlyyouareadheringtothe rules andprinciples ofScrum is not the point, if youbelieve that an agileapproach, such as Scrum, is a viable means of becoming successful thenassessing yourself against the application of that framework or process as aproxymetricofsuccessmightnotbeabadidea.

Mostpeople—andteamsarenodifferent,since theyaresimplyacollectionofpeople—yearntoknowhowtheyaredoing.Theyarecompetitive,evenif it isonlywith themselves; theyvalue achievement, growth andmastery.Couldwefindsomethingthatwouldgiveteamsthesefactors,andperhapsalittleguidanceintothebargain?Ibelievewecan.Thisisadangerousroadthough.(Iwillcomebacktowhyit’sdangerousabitlater.)

I regularlyget asked tohelporganisationsbegin their agile journey.Typicallythis involves someone from the client organisation contacting me and sayingsomething like, “We aremoving fromawaterfall organisation andneed sometraininginScrum.”assomeonewhooffersScrumtrainingthisisgreat—Ihavea customer asking me for one of my products. But is it right for them?Myresponseisalwaysaquestionabouttheirmotivations:

“HowdoyouknowthatyouneedScrumtraining?”or“youaremovingfromawaterfall organisation, into what exactly?” or perhaps “Why are you movingfrom a waterfall organisation?” I need to know that they knowwhy they aremakingthischange.Whataretheyhopingwillbedifferent?Onceweknowthegoaloftheorganisationwecanbegincreatingastrategytoachieveitandthenassessprogressagainstit.

IntheearlydaysofScrumthefirstmaturitymodelthatemergedwastheNokiatest[15](eventhoughitemergedfromNokiaSiemensNetworksasopposedtoNokia),whereteamswerescoredagainstninemetricstoassesshowagiletheywere.Aswithall firstversions therewere issues,but itwascertainlyausefulstartforthecommunitythat,untilthen,hadnothing.Theninemetricswere:

•Iterations•Testing•UserStories•ProductOwner•ProductBacklog•Estimates•Burndown•TeamDisruption•TeamOwnership

Theintentionof the testwasharmless(andthis iskey),as itsobjectivewas toallow the team to reflect on some characteristics of agile to see where theythought they could improve.And I personally saw a number of teamsuse theNokia test effectively; they loved being able to see their progress over time.However,Ialsosawanumberofteamsgamethesystemtothedetrimentoftheteam,theprocessandtheorganisation.Forexample,ifthetestvaluesiterations,then it could be implied that the more iterations we have, the better we are.Teams were pushing for one-week sprints, regardless of their capacity andwhether it was suitable for the product, just to increase their number ofiterations. I sawsome teamschanging theirprocess to scorehigheron the testrather than tobecomemoreeffective.This isagreatexampleofwhymaturitymodelsaredangerous.

It did however sow a number of positive seeds, for me at least, for teammaturity. What if we could tailor the model to encourage more positivebehaviour anddiscourage lessdysfunctional behaviour? I began to experiment

withanumberof the teams Iwasworkingwithand foundnot justonemodelthat worked but many. Some teams found measuring themselves against theagilemanifestovaluestobereallyeffective,someteamsfoundthetwelveagileprinciples to be better for them, while other teams created their own values,principles and behaviours to measure themselves. One team simply used the“awesomenessfactor”andaskedthemselves,“Whatdoweneedtodotobethemostawesometeaminthecompany—theonethateveryonewantstoworkforandeveryproductownerwantsworkingforthem?”

Imageofateammappingthemselvesagainstthe12agileprinciplesovertime

IwanttostateasclearlyasIcanthatthemodelthatIhaveincludedhereisnottherightagilematuritymodel(bewareofanyonewhosaystheyhaveit).Butitisone potential agile maturity model. It is a real case study of one team that Iworkedwith to help themdefinewhat agile, and success,meant to them.Thecharacteristics that they decidedmade a team agile and, by proxy, successfulwereasfollows:

CLEARGOALS

Havingaviewof thegoalof theproduct, not necessarily the specificdetailedrequirements

STABILITY

Teamsthatstaytogetherlonger,generallyaremoreproductive

SUPPORT

Thelevelofservant-leadershipprovidedtotheteam

CONTINUOUSIMPROVEMENT

Theteam’sabilityandappetiteforfindingwaystoimprovetheirprocess

SELF-MANAGEMENT

Theteam’sabilitytomanagethemselvesandself-organise

ATTENTIONTORESULTS

Theteam’squalityandintegritylevels

PREDICTABILITY

Howconfidentcantheorganisationbeintheteam’scommitmentsandcapacitytodeliver?

FUN

Thedegreetowhichtheteamenjoysthemselveswhileworking

Each of these metrics had levels as well, although no scoring system. Forexample“ClearGoal”couldbebrokendowntoLEVEL1:Deliveringworkwithad-hocpriorities

LEVEL2:aclear,prioritisedbacklogbutnothemefortheiteration

LEVEL3:aprioritisedbackloganditerationtheme/sprintgoal

LEVEL4:Sprintgoalispartofareleasegoalwithclearcustomerrepresentation

LEVEL5:SprintandreleasegoalsaremappedtostrategicdirectionwithclearROIjustification

And“Selfmanagement”mightbebrokendownto:

LEVEL1:Theteamupdatetheburndownthroughouttheiteration

LEVEL 2: The team actively utilise the iteration artefacts* to managethemselves

*Note the term burndown has been removed because the teammay be usingsomethingelse(perhapsentering“Ha”)

LEVEL3:Thewholeteamareinvolvedinthedecision-makingprocessandownthedecisions

LEVEL 4: The team readily critique and explore multiple options beforedecidingthewayforward

LEVEL5:The teamchange theirprocess inorder to improve; theyrequirenofacilitationtomanagetheirownimpediments/conflict(perhapsentering“Ri”)

Imageofateammappingthemselvesagainsttheabovemetricsovertime

It’sso important thatyoudon’t take thisas theonemodel that Iwill re-iteratethekeyconceptshere:

1.DoingScrumor evenbeing agile is not the goal but canbe a useful proxymeasureforeffectiveness.

2.Effectivewillbedefineddifferentlyfordifferentorganisationsandforteamswithinthoseorganisations(andmayevenchangeovertimeforeachindividualteam).

Work with the team (and possibly leaders in the organisation as well) tocollaboratively determinewhat a successful team looks like and then howwewillknowifwearemovingintherightdirection.Andbeopentochangingthemodel if it’snotworkingor circumstanceschange.Perhapsonce the teamhasreachedacertainpoint,whatgood(orgreat)lookslikewillbedifferent.

Tactful

“AdeadScrumMasterisauselessScrumMaster.”

KenSchwaber[16]

ScrumMastersareexpected toembody theScrumprincipleofTheArtOfThePossible–makingthebestofeachandeverysituationinordertomovetheteamandtheorganisationforward.Theyarealso,however,expectedtoberuthlesslydetermined to push their teams and organisations towards a new state ofteamwork, organisation and performance. Transforming a team, let alone anentireorganisation,fromtheprinciplesofcommandandcontrol tothosebasedon servant-leadership, from plans based on prediction to plans based onempirical,evolutionarydatarequiresbothpatienceandtenacity.Toremovetheimpediments to teamproductivityand then resolve theorganisational issues inordertofacilitatethepainfullyslowtransformationtoamoreagileorganisationrequiresdeterminationandresilience.

Itcanbeveryeasytogiveup,thinking,“Thisorganisationwillneverchange”or“Thisteamjustisn’tsteppinguptotheplateintermsofself-organisation,”soitis very important to regularly reflect and keep a tally of progress andachievementsbothattheteamandtheorganisationlevel.

Theywill consciously ruffle some feathers, stand up forwhat is right and, tosomeextent,deliberatelyprovokedifficultconversations.Howevertheywilldosowithcareandrespectforthefactthatcurrentprocessesandbehaviourswerealways rational at some point and that they have an element of emotionalattachment for people. Great ScrumMasters are not loose cannons constantlyrailingagainst theirorganisations.Theypick their confrontationscarefullyandareprepared toacceptcertaincompromises inorder tohave theopportunity tocontinuethebattleanotherday.

TIPPractice staying calm (the old adage of counting to ten never gets old)when confronting a challenge. Take your time before sending emails ormakingphonecalls.Ifyoucan,runthroughyourviewsandargumentswithacolleaguebeforepresentingthemtoyouractualaudience.Usethefeedbacktogaugejusthowprovocativeyourmessageandtoneis.

WhilebeingeffectiveintheScrumMasterrolewillrequireyoutobetenacious,controversial and resourceful to the point of bending or breaking rules, it’sequallyimportanttobetactful.GreatScrumMasters,whileimpatientforsuccessandchange,are sensitive toeachsituation they face,considerateof thepeopleinvolvedandtheconsequencesofeveryaction.

TIPNotesignsofprogress,eveniftheyarelittlethingslike“Johnfeltableto

join in the retrospective” or “People are looking at each other in the dailyscrum rather than their feet” or “Dave offered to helpArush todaywithoutanyonepromptinghim.”Thesesmalldetailsmaygetlostinthebiggerpicturebutcanserveasenergyreserveswhenthingsdon’tseemtobeprogressingasfastasyouwouldlike.

ATaleOfTwoScrums

AgoodScrumMasterremovesdisruptiveinfluencesfromthedailyscrumsoitisusedfortheteam’sbenefit.AgreatScrumMasterwillcreateanenvironmentwhereothers(particularlytheproductowner)

canattendandnotaffectthebehaviouroftheteam.ThesprintburndownandthedailyscrumaretwooftheScrumtoolsavailabletotheteamtoallowthemtoeffectivelymanagethemselvesduringasprint.Theyarenot,assomepeoplethink,reportingtoolsformanagement(oranyoneelse)tocheckontheprogressoftheteamonadailybasis.

GoodScrumMasterswillcreateasafeenvironmentwheretheteamfeelabletoshare their progress, ideas and concernswith each other.Great ScrumMasterswillcreatethatenvironmentandthenpushtheboundariessuchthattheteamarecomfortable involving the product owner (and everyone else) in activities likethedailyscrum.

Oneexperienceinparticularbroughtthisfactintosharpfocusforme.Itwasfirstthinginthemorningonmyfirstdaycoachinganewteam;teamIcarus,whohadinvitedmealongtotheirdailyscrum.TheyhadbeenusingScrumforacoupleofmonthsandhadcommandeeredagreatmeetingroomwithglasswallsonallsidesandalovelyviewofthelake.Ononewalltheyhadtheirsprintbacklog,onanother they had the sprint burndown, and on another they had the outcomesfromthelastretrospective.

Everybody was there on time. Even Annika, the product owner, wasdemonstratinghercommitmenttotheteambybeingpresent.Therewereafewquick greetings before the team members stood in a circle and took turns toupdate theircolleagueson theirprogress,confirming theviewindicatedby thesprintburndownthattheyweremakinggoodprogresstowardstheirsprintgoal.Thedailyscrumdidn’tlasttoolong,probablyonlyaboutsixorsevenminutes,beforetheteamdispersed,preferringtogetbacktowork.

Iwaspleased.RarelyamIcalledintocoachateamthatisprogressingsowell.On my way back to the team room, I was already contemplating all of the

advanced topics I could coverwith such an evolved team.No sooner hadwereturnedtothespacewheretheteamworked,however,thanIsawStephanie,theScrumMaster, look furtively around. I then watched as she grabbed anotherprintedcopyofthesprintburndownoutofadrawer.Theteamgatheredaroundherandthenproceededtohaveanotherdailyscrum.

ThisdailyscrumwasmuchdifferentfromtheoneIhadjustwitnessed.Thenewsprint burndown implied the teamwere not on track tomeet their sprint goal.When I asked what was going on, Stephanie told me, “This is the real dailyscrum; thefirstonewas just for theproductowner.Annikawouldfreak ifshesawtherealsprintburndown!”

Iheldmyshockincheckandsaid,“Interesting.Igathershehasnotreactedwelltopastburndowns?”

“Youcould say that!”confirmedoneof the teammembers. “The last timeweshowed her a sprint burndown that was trending badly, she decided that shewasn’t being hands-on enough. She was constantly checking up on us,interrupting our work every five minutes to ask us how we were doing andaskingustostaylateuntilwewerebackontrack!”

“Exactly,”confirmedStephanie.“Soyoucanseewhywehavetohavetwodailyscrums. The team are confident that they are on track and things are undercontrol but the sprint burndown is not doing us justice. It takes less than 10minutesadaytotellAnnikawhatshewants tohear,andthenshe’soutofourwayuntilthereview.”

Alwayserronthesideofagilevalues

SometimesScrumMastersmay choose to deliberately break rules that seem toflyinthefaceofagileprinciples.Stephanieandtheteamcertainlywerebreakingtherules,butnotfortherightreasons.

I can see how Stephanie might have felt justified in her actions. TheScrumMaster has a responsibility to protect the team and allow them to beproductiveastheyfocusonachievingtheirsprintgoalinthebestwaytheycan.If anyone is distracting the team, putting them under unnecessary pressure orstealingtheirfocusthentheScrumMastershouldtrytoreduceorremovethis.

However, the ScrumMaster also has a responsibility to foster relationshipsbetweentheproductownerandthedevelopmentteam,topromotetransparency,trustandasenseof“one team.”Bydeceiving theproductownerorhiding thetruth, a ScrumMaster runs the risk of driving a wedge between the productownerandtherestoftheScrumteam,decreasingthetrusttheproductownerhasintheteamandtheprocess.

Ironically, by shielding the team from the product owner’s scrutiny,ScrumMastersalsocaninadvertentlymakeithardertoremovetheimpedimentsthat stand in the way of their teams’ success. The best product owners getinvolved inhelping the team remove the impediments, andareoften rewardedwith an instant improvement in the velocity of their team. Even thoughimpediment removal is officially the responsibility of the ScrumMaster, theproductowneristypicallyfromanotherpartoftheorganisation,withadifferentnetwork and sphere of influence, and can work with the ScrumMaster to bedoubly effective at enabling the team to be productive.This can only happen,however,ifthereisvisibility.

In the story of Annika and Stephanie, the fact that the ScrumMaster anddevelopment teamfelt theneed toputonacharadefor theproductownerwasdefinitely not a good sign about the health of the relationships in the Scrumteam.GreatScrumMasterslearntoexposesuchissuesbytalkingopenlywiththeproductownerandbytakingthewholeteamfurtherdownthepathofdiscoveryto find a better solution - one that is more aligned with the agile values oftransparencyandcollaboration.

CreateasafeenvironmentHavinganaudienceatdailyscrumsandretrospectivescanbeuncomfortablefordevelopment teams.Someof theworst daily scrums and retrospectives I haveseenhavehadproductownerspresent.Oddlyenoughthough,someofthebestdailyscrumsIhaveseenalsohaveproductownerspresent.Thisgoes toshowthat while product owner involvement in daily scrums (and retrospectives forthat matter) can be a destructive thing if handled badly, it can be highlyproductiveifhandledwell.

In the early stages of team development, ScrumMasters should help establishtrust and safety for the team. Jean Tabaka suggests that collaborative leaders“takeawaytheblame”byhelpingshiftconversationsawayfromfindingblame

towardsfindingsolutionsand,ifnecessary,shoulderinganyblameyourself.Bydoing this “the team learns that takingownership ispossiblewithout sufferingthedestructionofblame.”[17]

Establishingsomeexplicit rulesfor theformalmeetings,suchas“nothingsaidhereleavesthisroom”,canalsohelpfosteramoretransparentenvironment.Trystarting the daily scrum (or retrospective) with a short confessions session,where everyone (even neutral observers) shares a short example of somethingtheyscrewedup.Thiscanincreasethesharedlevelofvulnerabilityandthesensethatnoteverythingalwaysgoestoplan.

Creating a process of gradual exposure is also a common pattern that greatScrumMasters tend to follow. Daily scrums and retrospectives start off asbehind-closed-doors or off-sitemeetings.As the teamgrows comfortablewitheachother,theycanextendaninvitationtotheproductowner—perhapsforasafe meeting first— and, then gradually for meetings where the team has ahigherriskofexposure.Iwouldrecommendanelementofprimingtheproductowner (or any other stakeholder) on how to avoid negatively influencing theteam’sbehaviour.

Working up to a level of trust will help teams feel less anxious about theirvisibility and prevent them from losing value in the meetings altogether.Remember that while protecting the team by excluding disruptive influencesmay be a good short-term strategy, great ScrumMasterswork towards amoreinclusive and transparent process. Eventually your team should reach a pointwhere theproductowner—aswellasanyotherstakeholder—is included inteammeetings,suchasthedailyscrum.

HowLongIsaPieceOfString?

AgoodScrumMasterwillhelpateamchangetheirsprintlengthto

findtheiroptimum.AgreatScrumMasterhasfaithinself-organisationandknowsthevalueofrhythm

Thedebateover sprint lengthshasbeenaroundas longasScrum itself. In theearlydaysofScrum,therewas(officiallyatleast)noargument;sprintswere30calendardayslong.Overtime,however,teamshaveexperimentedwithdifferentiterationtimeboxes.Thisisagoodthing.

Oneofmyclientswentthroughatypicalsprintlengthdebate.AstheTempurateamwasenteringthefinalweekoftheirsprint,theybegantoquestionwhethertheirsprintwastherightlength.

“...soI’vemadesomeprogressbutthere’snowayI’mgoingtobefinishedwithmyothertasksbytheendoftheweek,”saidMaya

“SamehereI’mafraid,”addedBo.“Weneedmoretime,Robin.”

Robin,theScrumMaster,lookedattheoutstandingtasksandtheburndownchartthatwasshowingtheywerebehindschedule.Itwasclearthesprintcommitmentwasinjeopardy.

“OK.Icansee thingsdon’t lookgoodandIreallyappreciate thefact thatyouare all beingveryopenaboutwhereweare.However, I’mnot convinced thatextendingthesprintisthesolution.”

“Whatdoyoumean?”askedBo.“Weprobablyonlyneedafewmoredays.”

“Anextraweek,tops,”addedMaya.

Robinthoughtforasecondandsaid,“Ibelieveyou.AndIreallythinkitwouldbeagoodideatohavealookatoursprintlengthattheendofthesprint—butIdon’twantustoextendthissprint.Fornow,though,Ithinkweshoulddowhatwe can to finish asmany of the outstanding items as possible by the original

sprintdeadline.Tellmewhatyou think isachievableandwhat isat riskandIwillbreakthenewsto[theproductowner]Alex.”

Theteamre-organisedtheirsprintbacklogandendedupdroppingthreefeaturesfromthesprint.WhenRobinbroughtthisupintheretrospective,theteamwerestilldisappointedatnotbeingallowedtofinishthembyextendingthedeadlineabit.

“I still don’t understand why we couldn’t just have had an extra week tocomplete everything,” Maya said. “I think that six-week sprints are probablymoreappropriateforusgoingforward.”

“Fair enough,” Robin said. “I did saywewould consider changing the sprintlength at the end of this sprint so let’s do that. I’d like you to break up intogroupsof twoor threepeopleand listoutwhatyou thinkwecouldgain fromhaving a longer sprint and alsowhat you thinkwe could gain from a shortersprint,saytwoweekslong.”

Aftertenminutesthegroupscamebackandrobincollatedalltheprosandconsoflongerandshortersprints

“It looks as though longer sprintswould allowus to completemorework andhavelessincompletepiecesofworkthathavetocarryoverintothenextsprint.Oh, and theywouldbe less stressful,”he summarized. “It appears that shortersprintsaremorefocussedandwouldgiveusmoreopportunitiestogetfeedbackandmakechanges.”

“Can I just jump in here?” askedAlex. “I don’t thinkwe have the option oflongersprintsbecausewehaveareleaseintwomonths.”

“Goodpoint.Let’stryaslightlydifferentanglehere,”suggestedRobin.“Whatwouldmakeyoumorecomfortablewithshortersprints?”

“Smaller pieces ofworkwould help,” saidBo, jumping into the conversation.“Someoftheseproductbacklogitemsarequitebigandquitevague.”

“That’s true,” agreedMaya. “And if we could speed up some of our manualprocessesthatwouldhelp.We’vegotabigoverheadthere.”

“Personally I think it would be an interesting experiment to run a two-weeksprinttoseehowitfeels,”saidRobin.

Nobodylookedverykeen.Mayasaid,“I’mnotsureaboutgoingtotwoweeksbut, ifwegot smaller user stories and some time to automate then I thinkwewouldbebetterabletocopewithfour-weeksprints.”

“OK.Let’sdoafistoffive[18]onthatsuggestionthen.”suggestedRobin.

Theteamallvotedbydisplayingthenumberoffingersthatindicatedtheirlevelofsupportforthesuggestionand,giventhateveryonehadatleastthreefingersofsupport,theteamdecidedtoadoptit.

Parkinson’slaw[19]

CyrilNorthcoteParkinsononce said that “Workexpands so as to fill the timeavailableforitscompletion”andthishasbeenhailedasahumoroustruismeversince.

Theagilemanifestorecommendsaniterationlengthof“acoupleofweekstoacouple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.” [20] Shortersprints do allow for greater risk reduction, earlier feedback and moreopportunitiestoadapttochange.

Longer sprints, however, offer more breathing space for the team and cantherefore allow for greater creativity within the sprint as well as increase thechancesofthingsbeingcompleted.It’sadifficultbalanceforteamstostrike.

What teamsshouldneverdo,however, isextend the sprint,notevenby just acoupleofdays.Therhythmofdeliveryisfartooimportanttocompromiseanditisaterribleprecedenttoset.

Balancingpace&rhythmMaintainingasustainablepaceiskeytoScrumteams.Theoptimalsprintlengthwillbalancegettingthingsdoneandbeingadaptabletochangewithapacethatcanbesustainedindefinitelywithoutphysicalormentalburnoutorresortingtocutting quality. In general, teams develop more quickly and become morepredictable if they keep a constant sprint length. They learn what they are

capable of delivering within a given timebox and optimise their workingpracticestodelivertheirbestwithinthetimeavailable.

Therefore,youcouldarguethatagoodScrumMasterwouldhelptheteamfindtherightrhythmandkeepit.

GreatScrumMastersknowthatthelengthofthesprintisrarelythetrueproblemandsoencouragetheteamtostickwiththeirchosensprintlengthevenwhenit’shard. If teams maintain one sprint length for a few sprints, resisting thetemptation to extend it to ease the pressure, they will soon normalise to thetimeboxandfindwaystoworkeffectivelywithinit.

In the story,Robinwasverycarefulnot to imposea solutionon the team.Heasked them toconsider theprosandconsofdifferent sprint lengths, includingshorterones,andencouragedthemtodiscusswhatwouldhelpthemworkinsidethetimebox.Healsomadegooduseofaconsensus-buildingtooltoensuretheteamwere comfortablewith thedecision theymade to stickwith their currentsprintlength.

IngeneralItypicallyrecommendteamsstartoffwithshortersprints.Oncetheyhaveoptimised theirprocesses andestablishedapredictablevelocity, theycanthen consider extending it to take advantageof the greater focus that a longersprintoffers.

ThePowerofSilence

AgoodScrumMasterwillsaywhatneedstobesaid.Agreat

ScrumMasterknowsthepowerofsilence.Early in thebook, in thechapter“AboveAll,EmpowerTheTeam”I toldyouthat ScrumMasters should first ask the team and then try tomake themselvesredundant.BothofthesefacetsoftheroleareevidentinthefollowingstoryofOssie, aScrumMasterwhowas trying tohelp the team takegreater controloftheirownprocessandbecomemoreself-managing.

Ossielookedathiswatch.8:52.Thedailyscrumwasscheduledtohavestarted7minutes ago. Curious as to whether it had begun without him, he stood up,pickeduphiscoffeeandwanderedovertotheShandies’Scrumroom.Therewasa mixture of relief, frustration and concern on the faces of the team as hewanderedin.

“Wherehaveyoubeen?”askedRicky.

“Don’tworryaboutme,”Ossiereplied.“I’mmoreinterestedinwhatyouguyshavebeendoing”

“Whatdoyoumean?”“Well,whathaveImissed?”

“Nothingyet,wewerewaitingforyou,”explainedasomewhatconfusedRicky.

“Whywouldyoudothat?”askedOssie.

“Ummm...because this is the daily scrum...and you’re the ScrumMaster?”offeredRicky.

“Interesting,” beganOssie. “I’ve had a feeling recently that somethingwasn’tquite right in these meetings, like it all revolved about me. Is that what youthink?”

“Notexactly,”joinedinPerry.“Butyouaresupposedtofacilitatethem,right?”

“Fair point, Perry. So how does me being late count as facilitation?” askedOssie.

“Well,it’stheexactopposite.Youarespecificallynotfacilitatingthemeeting,”repliedRicky,growingobservablyfrustrated.

“Hmmmm,”ponderedOssie,andhewaited.

As the awkward silence built, he waited a little more. He wanted to explainhimselfbutfoughttheurge.

EventuallyPerryoffered,“Sodidyoudeliberately turnup late thismorning toseehowwewouldhandleit?Toseeifwewouldfacilitateourselvesorwhetherwewouldjuststandaroundwastingtime?”

“AndifIdid,whatcouldwelearnfromthat?”askedOssie,gladhehadwaitedratherthanexplaininghimself.

“Well,Iguesswedidn’tpassthetest,”saidPerry,lookingalittleembarrassed.

“The point isn’t whether you pass or fail a test, Perry. The point is findingsomething we can learn in almost everything we do,” explained Ossie. “Igenuinelywantedtoseeifyouwereover-reliantonmypresenceinthemeeting.Imean,IgetthatthisiswhereyouaregoingtoraiseyourimpedimentsandIcanhardlydo anything about them if I amnot awareof thembut doyou actuallyneedmehere inorder toupdateeachotheronhow thingsaregoingandwhatneedstobedonetoday?”

Don’tbreakthesilence

Ossierananexperimentinordertohighlightwhethertheteamwereover-relianton him in the daily scrum and, therefore, whether they were using it for itsproperpurpose.Hemadeapointwithhisabsence,effectivelyaskingtheteam,“yourScrumMasterisn’there,howwillyoureact?”WhenOssiedidn’tshowupon time, the team had no option but to consider this question on their own.However,itturnedoutthattheteamneededalittlemoreproddingtocometoananswer.Ossiewasn’tafraidtocoachtheteamonthistopicdirectly.

An important aspect of “ask the team” is to give the team space and time toproperlyconsiderthequestionandanswerit.That’swhyOssiefoughttheurgetoofferhisownexplanation.Differentcultureshavedifferentlevelsofcomfortwith silence. In theUK it’s around the9or10 secondmark; inScandinavia Ihave learned it’s a bit longer (especially first thing in the morning!) buteventually someone in the teamwill break the silence. This is almost alwayspreferabletotheScrumMasterbreakingthesilencebecauseitforcestheteamtoreflect and come up with an explanation or solution of their own. It is animportant part of a team’s development as a self-organising unit and alsoreinforcesthelackofauthorityintheScrumMasterrole.

A good ScrumMaster should never be afraid to expose the “elephant in theroom.” The best ScrumMasters know, though, that the collective problemsolvingskillsoftheteamaremuchstronger,andmuchmoreconducivetoteambonding, thananysolution theScrumMastermightput forth.That’swhygreatScrumMasterssaywhatneedstobesaid,butalsoleaveanappropriateamountofsilenceandspacefortheteamtothink,act,andsolveonitsown.

Resourceful

“Thecouragetoimaginetheotherwiseisourgreatestresource.”

DanielJ.Boorstin

Iwouldliketoclarifystraightawaythat,whenIsaythatScrumMastersshouldberesourceful, IdonotmeanaScrumMastershouldbeable to“domorewithless”althoughtheadageof“iflifegivesyoulemons,thenmakelemonade”canbeincrediblyappropriatefortheScrumMasterattimes.

Resourceful, here, means to adopt an “art of the possible” attitude. In otherwords,assumeasolutionispossibleandachievesomemovement towards thatsolution,nomatterhowsmallorcircuitous.

AScrumMasterwillbefacedwithmanyimpediments,bothwithintheteamandwithinthewiderorganisation.Somemaybeeasilyresolvedbutmanywilltakeseriouseffortandtime,sobeingresourceful—opentocreativewaysofmovingyourteamandorganisationforward—isagreatcharacteristictohave.

Great ScrumMasters are proactive, pioneering and they hate monotony. Theytypicallyadopttheattitudethatthingsarepossiblenomatterhowdifficulttheymayappearandareconstantlylookingfornewwaystoengagetheirteamandtoinspirecuriosityandenergyintheirteam.

Whenconsideringhowtosolveaproblem,resourcefulScrumMasterschallengeall of their assumptions about an impediment. They will ask themselvesquestionssuchas:

•DoIreallyhavetospeaktothatpersonaboutit?•Doweevenneedtoremovethisimpediment?•IfIhadtoexplainthisproblemtomyson/daughter/niece/nephew,howwouldIexplainit?Whatwouldtheysuggest?

Many resourceful ScrumMasters broaden their perspectives and find newsolutionsbyimaginingwhatwouldmakeaproblemworse,asopposedtobetter.Manypeople find takingadestructiveapproach toaproblemnotonly ismorenaturalbutalsoisa loteasier thantakingaconstructiveapproach.Turningtheproblemupsidedowninthiswaycanleadtoinsightfuldiscoveriesastohowtoimprovetoughsituations.

For example, if the team are strugglingwith access to a particular person forinformation,asking,“HowcouldImakethisworse?”mightleadto“Howwouldwe cope if this person left the company?” If I consider this, I may findalternativestrategiesforcopingwithoutthisperson.

Resourcefulness is also very important when it comes to the application anduptakeofScrumin thewiderorganisation.Findingways toencouragesupportfor Scrum, protect fledgling teams or clear challenging organisationalimpedimentssuchasresourcingorrewardmodelscanbethedifferencebetweenScrum bedding in to the organisation or dying out before it has even had achance.

TIP:Tostimulateresourcefulness,playacreativitygamesuchas“100uses”whereyouchallengeyourself to thinkof100ways touseaneverydayobjectsuchasapaperclip.

Great ScrumMasters realise that they can’t do all of this on their own and somake every effort to develop their network both within the organisation andoutside.Knowinghow thingsget donewithin the company, how impedimentsgetresolvedandwhotogoandspeaktoaboutcertainissuesisoneofthefactorsthat separate the good ScrumMasters from the great. This, coupled withbroadeningyourperspectivesbybuildinganetworkofpeoplefromoutsideyourdirectenvironment,willhelpincreaseyourresourcefulnessandtheeffectivenessinyourrole.TIP:SearchoutScrumMasters fromotherorganisations– ideally those thatare themost different from yours and share experiences.User groups are agood start but great ScrumMasters usually establish more focusedrelationshipssuchasScrumMastercircles.Thesecirclesareusuallynolargerthansixpeoplewhomeetupeitherface-to-faceorvirtuallyonaregularbasisto discuss their latest challenges or thoughts. Perhaps you could even try aScrumMaster exchange program—swap a ScrumMaster with anothercompanyforaretrospective,orevenawholesprint?

InvokingCreativity

AgoodScrumMastercreatesanenvironmentwhereraising

impedimentscanoccur.AgreatScrumMastercreatesanenvironmentwherecreativitycanoccur.

AScrumMaster’sfirstjobisoftengettingteamstoapointwheretheycansharestatusandraiseimpedimentsfreely(see“ATaleOfTwoScrums”).Whilethisisn’t toomuchofachallenge formostgoodScrumMasters, theScrumMastersthatsetthemselvesapartarethosethatcantaketheteamtoapointwheretheyactually begin solving their own problems, offering creative suggestions toothers’impedimentsor,perhapsbetterstill,beingproactiveandfindingwaystosolvethingsbeforetheybecomeimpediments.

The following story, while nothing to do directly with Scrum, is nonethelessrelevanttoScrumteamsandtheScrumMasterrole.

“Good evening folks, welcome aboard Southwest airlines Flight 372, withservicetoOklahomacity,”begantheflightattendant.“ThoseofyouwhohaveflownusbeforeknowthatwedothingsalittledifferentlyhereatSouthwest.”

“We’regonnashakethingsupalittlebit.Ineedalittleaudienceparticipationorthisisnotgoingtogooverwellatall,”hecontinued.

“AllIneedisforyoutostompandclapandI’mgonnadotherest—cosI’vehadfiveflightstodayandIjustcan’tdotheregularannouncementagainorI’mjustgonnaputmyselftosleepso...”

The flight attendant then set the travellers off with a beat, “Give me astomp...clap...stomp...clap...comeon...stomp...clap...”

Thenherappedalongwiththebeat:

Thisisflight273onSWA.TheflightattendantswhoareservingyoutodayWe’vegotTeresainthemiddle,Davidintheback.

MynameisDavidandI’mheretotellyouthatShortlyaftertakeoff,firstthingsfirst,There’ssoftdrinksandcoffeetoquenchyourthirst.Butifyouwantanotherkindofdrinkthenjustholla;Alcoholicbeverages’llbefourdollars.IfaMonsterenergydrinkisyourthang,That’llbethreedollarsandyougetthewholecan.Yougottapaywithcash,wedon’ttakeplastic.Ifyouhaveacouponthenthat’sfantastic.Weknowyou’rereadytogettonewplaces,Openupthebins,putawayyoursuitcases.CarryonbagsgounderneaththeseatInfrontofyousononeofyouhavethingsatyourfeet.Ifyouhaveaseatonarowwithanexit,We’regonnacomeandtalktoyousoyoumightaswellexpectit.You’regonnahavetohelpevacuateincaseweneedto;Ifyoudon’twannathenwe’regonnareseatyou.Beforeweleave,ouradviceisPutawayyourelectronicdevices,Fastenyourseatbelt,putyourtraysup,Thenpressthebuttontomaketheseatbackraiseup.Sitback,relax,andhaveagoodtime.It’salmosttimetogosoI’mdonewiththerhyme.ThankyouforthefactthatIwasn’tignored;ThisisSouthwestairlines—Welcomeaboard!

Thewholeplaneapplaudedandcheeredthisunusualandentertainingversionofsomethingthatmostregularpassengerseitherzoneouttoorfindtedious.

Makeworkfun

In the above example, I can imagine the scenariowhere the flight crewwere

moaning about having todo the safety announcement every flight. It’s a legalrequirementevenifveryfewpeoplelistentoitsotheydon’treallyhavemuchchoicebuttodoit.Theydo,however,haveachoiceabouthowtheydoit.(Youcanevenwatchthevideo[21]ifyouwanttoseetherapinitsfullglory.)MostScrum teams also have things that they would rather not do but must.WhilesometimesgreatScrumMasterscanhelpremovetheoverheadofsomeoftheseaspectsofredtape,greatScrumMasterscanusuallyhelpteamsfindinteresting,funandinnovativewaysofgettingthemundanethingsdone.

MarkTwainsaid,“Workiswhatweareobligedtodo.Playiswhatwearenotobliged to do.” Great ScrumMasters help introduce a playful aspect to work.You can think of this as leveraging the Tom Sawyer effect. In Twain’s TheAdventuresofTomSawyer[22],Tomisforcedtowhitewashhisaunt’sfenceaspunishmentforskippingschool.Hisfriend,whoisonhiswaytotheswimminghole,seesTomoutworkingandstopstochat.

Tommakeshisfriendbelievethatwhitewashingfencesissuchgoodfunthathisfriendjoinsin.Tomcontinuestopitchthejobtothepassersbyuntilnotonlyareseveralofhisfriendsdoingtheworkforhim, theyareactuallypayinghimforthe privilege! What is work to one person can be a great opportunity forsomeoneelse;itisoftenassimpleaschangingperceptions.

“Theoppositeoffunisnotwork,it’sdepression.Webelieveworkcanbefun,andwhenitisyougetmoredone.”

SowriteSamLaing&KarenGreaves,ofGrowingAgileinSouthAfrica.Theyblogged [23]abouthow they turned theiradmin time into fun timebyplaying“fourinarow”(orConnect4aswecallitintheUK),withstickynotesdenotingtheiradmintasks.Theytellofhowoncetheyturnedtheirtasksintoagame,theygotdistractedlessoften,weremorefocussedand,asaresult,probablydoubledproductivityintheirleastfavouriteaspectofwork...andhadfun!

Thesimplest,mosteffectivewayofaScrumMasterincreasingthechancesthattheteamwillfindcreativewaystohandlemundaneworkistousethesprinttocreateasafecontainerwheretheteamcaninnovate.TheScrumMastercanworkwiththeproductownerandmanagementtodefinebusinessproblemsthatneedsolving and identify the absolute constraints that teams need to work within.Ratherthanhavealistofsolutionstheyarerequiredtoimplement,theteamthenhave free rein to solve the problem and meet business needs within thoseconstraintsinthemostcreativewaypossible.

Rememberthatteamsneedspacetobecreativeandproactive—theycan’tandwon’t do so if they are overloaded—so ensure your team is working at asustainable pace. When you do see something innovative happening, make apoint of highlighting, recognising and appreciating it to encourage similarbehaviour in the future. One simple thing to consider is the amount of worktaken into the sprint. Themore space a team has, the more creative they arelikely to be, so try to leave a little space in each sprint for creative problemsolving.

Togetpeopleintothepracticeofbeingcreative,trygivingthemanalternativemedium such as Lego blocks or modelling clay to express their thoughts orideas.Legoblocksareagreat tool touseinsprintplanningsessions(tomodelpotential system solutions for example) and retrospectives because they allowpeopletoillustratetheirideasandthoughts.

Another great technique for practicing creativity is the improv game of“Delight”[24].InthegameofDelightitisyourjobtotellsomeoneelse’sstory.Yourpartner(whosestoryyouaretelling)cannotspeakexcepttosay“no”tothe

bitsofthestorythattheydon’tagreewith.Thestorytellerthenmustreacttothis“rejection”bytryingsomethingelsetomaketheirpartnerhappywiththestory.Itseemssosimple...anditisgreatfun.

Another way to leverage the team’s collective genius and encourage them tosolveproblemsthemselvesinthefutureistoincludetheminthebrain-stormingprocessbyaskingthemapowerfulquestionortwo,suchas:

“Howwouldyoulikeittobe?”“Ifyouweremewhatwouldyoudofirst?”“Whatwouldbeyourbackupplan?”“Iftherewereabsolutelynoconstraints,whatwouldyoudo?”“Howcouldwemakethisfunor,atleast,bearable?”“Whatassumptionsdowehavethatmightnotbetrue?”

SexUpYourScrum

AgoodScrumMasterensuresteammemberssharetheirstatus

efficientlywithoneanotherinthedailyscrum.AgreatScrumMasterensuresthedailyscrumisanenergisingeventthatteamslook

forwardto.The daily scrum is a really important part of the Scrum framework. It is theteam’sopportunitytocheckinwitheachother,assesstheirprogressagainsttheirsprint commitment and collaboratively plan their day. Unfortunately a lot ofteams don’t seem to get the most out of these potentially crucial self-managementsessions.TaketheSpartans,forinstance.

Itwas9:05.MostoftheSpartanswereintheirScrumroomwaitingtostartthedailyscrum.Oneteammember,Don,wasfiveminuteslateandtheteamwantedtowaituntilhegottherebeforetheystarted.JustasHarvey,theScrumMaster,wasabout togiveuponDonandget thingsgoing,Donrushedin,apologisingprofusely.

“Nightmaremorning,”hesaid.“Sueisn’twellsoIhadtodotheschoolrun,thenIgotcaughtinthetrafficcomingbackacrosstown.Ireallyneededacoffeeafterall thatandthequeuewashorrendoussoIhad tograbonefromthefirst floorinstead.IalmostwishIhadn’tbotheredatall,it’ssobad.”

“Didyoucomealongtheringroad,Don?”histeammatePeterasked.

“Yeah,why?”

“It’s just that there’s a much quicker route through the back roads...” Peterbegan.

“Umm,guys...doyouthinkwecouldsharetraveltipsafterthemeeting?It’sjustwe’realreadybehindschedule,”interruptedHarvey.

“Sure.Sorry,”Donapologisedagain.

“Sowhowantstokickusoffthismorning?”Harveyasked.

“I will,” TJ offered. “Well yesterday, as you know I was re-configuring andoptimising thedatabase schemaby reviewing the indexing andprimarykeys.”TJthenshowedeveryoneadiagramofthenewindextreeandbegantotalktheteamthroughit.“Iaddedacoupleofnon-clusteredindexeshere...”

As TJ continued, Harvey noticed that a few of the team didn’t seem to beconcentratingonwhatTJwassaying.InfactPeterseemedtobepickinguphisprevious instructions to Don by drawing him a map. A couple of other teammembers were already looking at their watches, presumably waiting for theirchancetoleave.

“TJ,”saidHarvey.“Sorrytointerrupt.Thatsoundslikeexcellentstuff,butthatmightbealittletooin-depthfortheneedsofthismeeting.Iexpecttherewillbeacoupleofotherpeopleintheteamwhowillfindthatindextreereallyusefulsoitwouldbegreat ifwecouldfindanicevisibleplacefor it in the teamspace.Would you be available at all today for anyone if they need a bit of helpunderstandingit?”

“Sure,”TJanswered.“I’vegotaclear runon the indexdefragmentation todayandyouallknowwhereIam...”

“Thanks,TJ.Whodoyouwanttohearfromnext?”Harveyasked.

“Um...Peter,”TJsaid.

“Well,wehaven’tgotmuchtimeleftsoI’llbereallyquick,”saidPeter.“IwasworkingonintegratingthenewfeedyesterdayanditturnedouttobecorruptedsoI’llstillbeworkingonthatone.IfTJcouldhelpmegetthefilevalidatedthatwouldbeabighelp.AndIwanttohearnextfromDon.”

Itwas9:30bythetimethedailyscrumended.Astheteamshuffledoutoftheroom, Harvey noticed that they were mumbling and generally looking a bitmiserable.Hedecidedheneeded todosomethingabout thesemeetingsbeforethingsgotoutofhand.

ThenextdayHarveybroughtinacoupleofprops.Atdeadon9:00Harveyshutthedoorandstartedthemeeting,eventhoughDonagainwasn’tthere.

“I’venoticedalackofenergyinthesemeetingsrecentlyandthoughtIwouldtryand shake things up a little,” Harvey began. “The aim remains the same: foreveryonetogetafeelforwhereweareasateamandwhatweneedtofocusontoday, and the rest of the sprint. However, just because the meeting has aprescribedformat,doesn’tmeanwecan’tchangeitupalittle.”

“Thefirstthingwearegoingtodoisfocusonthecardsratherthanthepeople,”hecontinued.“Ratherthangoroundfrompersontoperson,wewillgothroughthesprintbacklogfromcardtocardandgetafeelforprogressthatway.Itmightnotworkbutitcouldgiveusadifferentperspectiveonthings.”

“ThenextthingIwantustouseisthistoybombfromoneofmykids’games.Itgoesoffatarandomtime.We’llpassittowhoeverisspeaking.Then,whoeverisholdingitwhenitgoesoffwillhaveaconsequencetoface.Butthatdoesn’tmeanyoucanjustthrowittothenextpersontooquickly;iftheteamfeeltheyneedmoreinformationfromyou,thenyouwillhavetotakethebombback.”

A couple of the team giggled at the somewhat juvenile approach butmost ofthemseemedkeentogiveitago.Oneofthempickedthefirstcardfromthetaskboard and began talking, passing the bomb from person to person as they alladded their input to the status of the cards. When Don came in, he wasimmediately thrown the bomb and asked if hewanted to add anything to thecurrentdiscussion.

“What?What’sthis?Umm...”helookedalittleconfusedandflusteredand,justthen,thebombbuzzed,surprisinghimevenfurther.

The teamexplained theirnewprocessandhis facechanged fromconfusion tounderstanding.

“OK,sowhat’smyforfeit?”heasked.

“WellIthinkdeterminingfutureforfeitsissomethingweneedtoworkoutasateambut,justtogetthingsstarted,pickacard,”Harveysaid,offeringafanned-outdeckofindexcards.

Donpickedoneandreaditout,“Sharesomethingembarrassingaboutwhenyouwereachild...Ohjeez!”

Keepitfresh

Althoughthedailyscrumhasaprescribedformatofansweringthreequestions,itdoesn’thave tobearepetitivemeeting that teamsdreadeverymorning.ThefirststepformanyScrumMastersistohelpteamsmakethemosteffectiveuseofthemeetingsothattheygetthebenefitfromtheinformationsharingopportunitywithouttheriskofitover-runninganddraggingon.Muchhasbeenwrittenaboutkeepingpeopleontrack,managingthetime,takingdiscussionsoff-line,etc.andmanyScrumMastersarereallygoodatkeepingthemeetingswithinthetimebox.

However,efficiencycanleadtomonotonyifyouaren’tcareful.Answeringthesamequestionswiththesamepeopleatthesametimeeverydaycanbecomealittletedious.SothebestScrumMastershaveallfoundinterestingwaysto“sexup”theirteams’dailyscrums.TheideasthatHarveycameupwithinthestory—movingfromcardtocardinsteadofpersontoperson,andusingatoybombto add a bit of fun and remind people to be concise—are just two of manytechniquesthatwilllivenupthedailyscrum:

•Haveindividualcountdowntimers.•Usea“bored”buzzer thatanyone in the teamcanhit if they feel it’sgettingboring.•Startthemeetingwithajoke,a“guessthesongfromthelyric”,ora“guessthemoviefromthequote”competition.•Beginthemeetingwithatriviaquestionandkeepscorethroughoutthesprint,orstartwithafunfactaboutamemberoftheteam.•Introducefoodordrink,e.g.pastries,fruit,orcoffee.•Giveyourupdateinthestyleofsomeoneelse(perhapsanothermemberoftheteam,orafamousperson).Maybeawardapointfor thepersonwhocanguesswhoyouareimpersonating?•DrawyourupdatesinaPictionarystyle.•Change the timeof thedaily scrum.Some teams find thathaving theirdailyscrum at the end of the day is a nice way to close out the day (especially ifpeopleallstartatdifferenttimes).Plus,theydon’tthenhavetorememberwhattheydidyesterdayandtheyallknowwhattheyarepickingupwhentheycomeinthenextmorning.•Changethelocationofthedailyscrum.Adifferentspacecancreateadifferentenergywithintheteam.Someteamsevenhavetheirdailyscrumsonthemove,inawalk-and-talkstyle;theyfindthemovementgivesthemanextraedge.

• Add an extra element to the 3 questions. For example, “something Iappreciated about amember of the teamyesterday,” “something I amhopefulabout”or“somethingIamworriedabout.”•Haveabullshitbingo[25]cardwithwordsyouarenotallowedtouseinthedailyscrum.

I am sure your team could come up with something interesting and fun thatwouldmakethemeetingmoreusefultothem.Putittothemtohelpyoucomeupwithsomeideasthatwillgetthemexcitedaboutthedailyscrumagain.

AnexampleBullshitBingocardfromtheWizardSleevesteam

BeADAPTIVEinRetrospectivesAgoodScrumMasterhelpstheteamidentifyimprovements.Agreat

ScrumMasterinspirestheteamtobeadaptive.Retrospectivesareacrucialpartoftheagileapproach.Noiterationcaneverbecompletely perfect and no iteration can ever be an unmitigated failure.Understanding this is integral to the inspect and adapt process of Scrum andotheragilemethods.Myheartsinks,therefore,whenIseeteamsgoingthroughthemotionswiththeirretrospectivesandneveractuallyimproving.

Ifteamsarecomingtomultipleretrospectiveswiththesameproblems,IwouldconsiderthistobeafailureoftheScrumMaster.NotbecausetheScrumMasterhasn’tremovedtheimpedimentbutbecausetheScrumMasterhasn’tcreatedanenvironmentwheretheteamcanimprovetheirsituation.

Great ScrumMasters encourage their teams to be ADAPTIVE: Act, Diverge,Account,Probe,Try,Involve,Visualise,andExpose.Actonimprovements

Teams often come up with “we should communicate better” in theirretrospectives. There’s nothing wrong with that. Who can argue againstimproved communication? You might even see some improvements just bynoting the problem. However, the default reaction of a great ScrumMaster inthese situations is to ask the team to be specific.Who needs to communicatebetterwithwhom?Whatdotheyneedtocommunicatebetterabout?Whendoesthiscommunicationneedtohappen?Howwillweknowcommunicationisgoodenough?

Whilethereisnospecificrequirementforteamstoleavetheretrospectivewithan action planwhere each action is assigned to someone, simply building theresulting actions into the sprint backlog of the next sprint often ensuressomethinghappensasaresultoftheretrospective.

While it’sgreat tohaveanactionplan, the teamshould takeonamanageablenumber (one to three) of improvement actions each retrospective. It is muchmore important that the team get into the habit of small and regularimprovementsthantotryandfixeverythingstraightaway.

Divergebeforeyouconverge

Quite often, teams that are new to the concept of self-organisation andparticipatory decision-making will feel uncomfortable the entire time that thedecision is pending.As soon as any semblance of agreement arises, the teamjumponitasanopportunitytoendtheambiguityandrelax.Thisisn’talwaysabad thing but it is usually sub-optimal. Great ScrumMasters get the teamcomfortablewith uncertainty and guide them through the process of divergentthinking: coming up with multiple alternatives before converging on the bestsolution.

One simple technique that hasworked really effectively is calledTheRule ofSeven, as first explained to me by actor and author Lee Devin, who hadwitnessed it from a team atBoeing.With this technique, the team agrees thattheywon’tmakeanydecisionuntiltheyhavethoughtofatleastsevendifferentalternative solutions. I’ve found that the first few solutions or ideas are fairlyeasytocomeupwithand,usually,fairlysensibleaswell.Ideasfourandfiveareatypicallyalittlemoreoff-the-wallandtakealittlelongertoemerge.Ideassixand,especially,sevenaresometimesabitcrazy.In ideassix&seven, though,

areoftentheseedsofground-breakingideasthatcanreallyenergiseateamandleadtoquiteastoundingsolutions.

Accountforfollowthrough

Asweobservedinthe“Holdingtoaccount”chapter,agoodScrumMasterwillhold team members accountable when necessary, while a great ScrumMasterwill hold teams accountable for not holding their teammates to account. Thisholds true in the retrospective as much as anywhere. It can be incrediblyfrustratingandde-motivatingifthesameideas,complaintsorobservationscomeup time and again. Once the team have committed to taking action, the teamshould ensure that they follow through on this commitment.This could be bytransferring the actions on to the upcoming sprint’s backlog, or simply thatduringthenextretrospectivetheteamgothroughtheirpreviousactions.

Probeforunderstanding

GreatScrumMastersoften takeon the roleof teamcoach, askingquestionsoftheteamtohelpthemreflectontheirsituation,establishtherootcauseoftheirchallengeandfindawayforward.Toooften,it’stheotherwayaround:theteamaskstheScrumMasterquestionslookingforhelpandanswers.

Whenyouareaskedaquestionitcantakealotoffocussedefforttoavoidgivingananswer—it’snatural,it’softenwhatwehavebeentrainedtodoanditseemsrude not to. Andwhywouldn’t youwant to give an answer, especiallywhensomeone isquiteplainly asking forhelp?Well part of the theory is that thosewhoanswertheirownquestionsandcomeupwiththeirownsolutionsaremoreempoweredandmorelikelytosucceed.

TohelpnewScrumMastersgetusedtoaskingmeaningfulandhelpfulquestions,theORIDstructure[26]offersausefulwayofstructuringtheirinquiry.

The first stage is asking observational or objective questions, such as Whathappened?Whosaidwhat?Whendidithappen?Theaimhereistogathersomefactsaboutthesituationwithoutinterpretingoranalysingthem.

ThesecondstageisaskingreflectivequestionssuchasHowdidthataffectyou?Howdoyoufeelaboutthat?Howdoyouthinkotherswereaffectedbythat?Theaimhereistolearnabouthowtheteamfeelsaboutthesituation.

The thirdstage is toask interpretivequestions, suchasWhydoyou think thathappened?What do you think thatmeans?How do you think thatwill affectyou/them/the organisation? The aim here is to understand the meaning orsignificanceofthesituation.

The fourthstage is toaskdecisionalquestions, suchasWhatareyougoing todo? How could youmove this forward?What would you consider a positiveoutcome?Theaimhereistohelptheteammakesomeprogress,oratleastmakeaplantomakeprogress.

After all of these types of questions, we come to the powerful questions. Apowerfulquestionisonethatcausescuriosity,intrigueandoftentouchesadeepmeaning. A powerful question usually requires a paradigm shift for it to beanswered. You can usually notice when you have asked a powerful questionbecauseitisusuallyfollowedbyoneormoreofthefollowing:

•Ashiftinbodyposture,perhapsatiltoftheheadorachangeinhowtheyaresitting.•Aperiodofsilentcontemplation,whichyoumustbeverycarefulnottofillnomatterhowtemptingitis.•Anoticeablechangeinenergy.

It’squitedifficult togiveexamplesofgeneric, re-usablepowerfulquestionsasthey are often context-specific, but here are a few that can work in manysituations:

•Howdoyouwantittobe?•Whatwashumorousaboutthesituation?•Whatsimilarsituationshaveyouencounteredbefore?• If youweregoing to create an analogyof the situation,whatwould it be? •Whatissurprisinglydifficultforyouhere?•Ifyourlifedependedontakingsomeformofaction,whatwouldyoudo?

GreatScrumMastershelpteamsprobetheirownchallenges.It’salittlebitliketeachingpeopletofishratherthangivingthemafish.

Trysomethingnew

Not only are retrospectives a great time to discuss, learn and come up withactions,theyarealsoagreattimetoidentifyand/orrunexperiments.Ofcourseretrospectivesaren’t theonlytimethat teamsshouldbetryingthings;gettingateam to a place where they have the time, space and courage to experimentduring the sprint is a great achievement. However, experimentation usuallybeginsinretrospectivesifitisgoingtobeginatall.Thereareanumberofthingsyou can do as ScrumMaster to help here and most of them are to do withredefiningwhatfailuremeans.

When I was a ScrumMaster at BT, I remember one of our senior managersstating thatwe, as a company,were redefiningwhat failuremeant for us as acompany. No longer would failure mean making the wrong decision. Nowmakingthewrongdecisionwasagoodthing—solongaswemadethatdecisionquickly,cheaplyandingoodfaith,wedidn’tmakethesamemistaketwice,andwe learned from that decision how to get better. This public statement helpedtremendouslywhentryingtoencouragepeopletodealwiththeuncertaintyandnumerouspossibilitiesaroundthem.

One example of redefining failure I have seen in teams is to introduce theconcept of the failure bow [27], a ceremony where a team member whoseexperiment led toanunsuccessfuloutcome literally takesabowandacceptsaroundofapplausefortheeffort.Itisimportanttonotethatwearenotglorifyingfailureherebutratherchangingthewayweperceiveanddealwithit.Werewardtheeffort,transparencyandunexpectedlearninginstead.

Thereisasayingthatinscientific(and,inparticular,iterative)experimentation,youlearnthemostwhenyouhavea50percentchanceoffailurebecausehalfofthepossiblescenarioswillbeeliminated.However,itcanbeadauntingprospectforateamtoenterintosomethingknowingthattheyhavea50percentchanceofanundesirableoutcome.Oneaspectofredefiningfailureistorestatethevalueofexperimentssowearenotnecessarilyvaluing theoutcomebut insteadvaluingthe learning, regardlessof the result.Another thing Ihaveseen reduceanxietyhere is to take a set-based approach to experimentation, running multiplesimultaneousexperimentstotestmultiplehypotheses.

Almostwithout exception, themost successful Scrum teams I have seen havehadaScrumMaster that has created an environmentwhere teamsdon’t acceptlimitingbeliefssuchas“butthatwillneverhappenhere.”

Whentheyidentifyopportunitiestoimprove,theywillactfirstandjustifylater(seetheupcoming“ForgivenessandPermission”chapter).Ifthingsworkoutasthe team predict, they are lauded for their initiative or perhaps aren’t evennoticed. If things don’t work out, then the team can explain themselves andjustifywhytheydidwhattheydid.

The larger the organisation, the more bureaucracy is involved in making adecision.However, the larger theorganisation, thegreater opportunity there isfor a team’s action to go unnoticed or for inertia to stop something that isunderwayandseemstobeworking.

Involveeveryone

Thismaysound likeanobvious thing foraScrumMaster todobut it iseasilyoverlooked in practice. It is important for a team to know that everyone iscontributing but people will only contribute if they feel safe to do so. Thisfeelingmaytaketimetodevelop.Ateamwhereeveryonefeelsableandwillingto contribute to theirmaximum is going to be amore productive and happierteam.

Visualizedatatohelpguideprogress

Scrum as a process and the ScrumMaster role in particular are sometimesanalogisedasholdingamirroruptotheteam,allowingthemtoseethemselvesand their behaviours in order to inspect and adapt. Thismirror can be simplycapturing the data from the sprint burndown and other hard data. It can alsoinvolvemoresoftdataaboutwhattheScrumMasterobserveswithregardtotheteam dynamics.Again, although the retrospective is an ideal time to examinedata, it is valuable to have metrics such as downtime, stories completed, orimpedimentscleared/inprogressondisplaycontinually.

OneoftheScrumvaluesiscourage—ScrumMastersneedthisinspadesastheytackle many issues with team dynamics that are easier ignored. It is oftendifficult to call a team to account on their (lack of) attention to quality butmaking data visible is oneway tomake sure it is always in focus.One greattacticIhaveseenthegreatScrumMastersemployis toasktheteamwhattheywant to be held to account on, or what is important to them. This way theScrumMasterhasbeengrantedpermissiontomakenoteofprogressinthisarea,makingitmucheasierforthemtodoso.

Anothergreat tactichere is toworkwith the teamtodiscover theirvaluesandcreateachart,suchasaradar/spiderdiagram,tomonitorteamprogressonthisovertime.(Seethe“AssessYourWayToMaturity”chapterformoredetail.)

Exposetheelephants

Mostteamshaveatleastoneproblemthattheyarecurrentlyignoring,avoidingor skirting around. This is known as the elephant in the room — a big,uncomfortable topic that everyone knows should be addressed but may seeminsurmountable.Aswith anything, if the elephant is avoided for long enough,the team will develop coping mechanisms. The problem is, these copingmechanismsdon’tdealwiththeissueandactuallymaketheproblemevenlesslikelytoberemovedbecauseitdoesn’tseemquiteasnecessaryanymore.

GreatScrumMasterscourageouslyexpose,andencourageteamstoexplore,theelephantsintheroomassoonastheynoticethem.Theydon’tjudge,butneitherwill they let their team tolerate and get dragged down by these problems.Instead,theyoffertoleadanexploration.Forexample,theelephantintheroomcouldbethatoneoftheteammembersisgettingintotheofficelaterandlater.The teamareaccommodatinghimbyshifting thedailyscrumand, sometimes,writing up their conversations but this is leading to inefficient teamwork andresentmentisgrowingintheteam.

Before this spirals into outright anger and rebellion, the team should confrontandsolvetheproblem.

TherearetwowaystolookatthefactthatretrospectiveswereincludedintotheScrumframework.Theycaneitherbeagreat,built-inopportunityforteamstoimprove the process every sprint. Or they can be viewed as a responsibilityplaceduponteamsaspayofffortheextraautonomyandrespecttheyaregrantedwithinScrum.Inrealityitisprobablyhealthytotakeabalancedviewinvolvingboth of those perspectives but, either way, retrospectives can be incrediblypowerfulifteamsareADAPTIVE.

TheRepetitiveRetrospective

AgoodScrumMasterholdsabalancedretrospective.Agreat

ScrumMasterholdsafocussedretrospectiveAsImentionedinthepreviouschapter,retrospectivesareapowerfulpartoftheScrum framework and an essential element of the team’s process of self-organisationandcontinuousimprovement.However,justlikethedailyscrums,these meetings can be easily misunderstood, abused or lose their impact bybecomingmonotonous.

Kurt’steamwasnoexception.KurthadjustbeenappointedScrumMasteroftheTransformersteam.TheircompanyhadrecentlymovedtoScrumandtheywerejust finishing their first sprint. It had been an interesting, challenging andultimatelyrewardingfewweeks.Kurtwaskeen to finish thesprintoffwellsowaspreparingtofacilitatetheteam’sfirstsprintretrospective.Atthemorning’sdaily scrum hementioned that hewas going to be spending some time todayplanning tomorrow’s retrospective. He was surprised to hear a few grumblesfromtherestof the team.His teammateDanevenmentioned thathemightbetoobusytomakeittotheretrospectivetomorrow,whichdisappointedKurt.

Afterthedailyscrum,KurthadaquickwordwithDanandaskedhimabouthisplansforthenextday.

“Welltobehonest,”Dansaid.“I’mnotthatkeenongoinganyway.I’veneverenjoyedthosetypesofmeetings.”

“Whatdoyoumean?”Kurtasked.“Thisisthefirstone.”

“Yeah,butit’sjustthesameoldthingbyanothername,isn’tit?”Dansaid.“Justanotheropportunityforablame-stormingsession.”

“Well,that’snothowIunderstandit;andit’scertainlynothowIintendtoruniteither,”repliedKurt.

KurtexplainedtheprimedirectivetoDan.HetoldDanthathewasfollowingthe

premise set forth by Norm Kerth [28]: “Regardless of what we discover, weunderstand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could, givenwhattheyknewatthetime,theirskillsandabilities,theresourcesavailable,andthesituationathand.”

Kurt thenwenton to explain thathisplanwas to lead the team toobjectivelylookbackatwhathappenedwiththesolepurposeofenablingtheteamtoworkouthowtomakethenextsprintevenmoresuccessful.HeassuredDanthattherewouldberecognitionofteamandindividualachievementsduringthesprintandalsoanon-judgementalcritiqueofareasforpotentialimprovement.

Dan agreed to give Kurt, and the retrospective process, a chance. He waspleasantlysurprisedastheteammanagedtohighlightboththethingsthatweregoingwellandalso theareaswhere theycould improvewithoutanyonebeingheldouttodry.Perhapsthiswasdifferentfromtheold“projectpost-mortems,”Danthought.

Kurtcontinuedwiththisprocessforacouplemoresprintsbut,afterawhile,henoticed that the retrospectives seemed to be becoming a little mundane andrepetitive.Theteamdidn’tseemanywherenearaskeentoattendastheyusedto.At theendofone retrospectiveheasked the team todoa retrospectiveon theretrospective, something that got a little giggle from the team before theyrealisedhewasserious.

During the retrospective’s retrospective, the team indicated that they were,indeed,boredofansweringthesamequestionseverytimeandfelt themeetingwasbecomingabittoopredictableandrepetitive.Kurtthankedtheteamforthefeedback and promised he would think of something different for next time.Duringthesprint,Kurtcontinuedtorackhisbrain,andhesearchedtheInternetlooking for inspiration. He saw a number of different variations from thetraditional format,discovering somenewquestions to askaswell.He foundanumberofideasfortechniqueshecouldusewithintheretrospectivebyreadingAgileRetrospectives[29]byEstherDerbyandDianaLarsen.Still,nothingfeltexactlyrightforthenextretrospective.

Theanswercamewhenhewastalkingtotheproductowneraboutwhatthegoalforthenextsprintmightbe.ItoccurredtoKurtthattheteamhadreallytakentothe concept of sprint goals (see chapter “Sprint Goals”) so he thought thatperhaps itmightbeworthexperimentingwith the ideaof a retrospectivegoal.

During the next retrospective,Kurt asked the team to imagine that, instead ofbeingatthisretrospective,theywerejustabouttostartthesprintreviewmeetingof the upcoming sprint—to imagine that they were in the future and lookingback on the really successful sprint they had just finished. Once everyoneindicated that they had a mental image of this situation, he asked them todescribe the moral of the sprint: a maxim that explained why they were ahealthier,moreproductive,betterteamthantheywereasprintago.

TohelpthemgetstartedKurtgaveacoupleofexamples:

“Don’t talk tostrangers”mightreflect thatwestoppedgettingdistractedfromoursprintgoal.

“Look both ways before you cross” might reflect that we finally solved ourquality issues by instigating tighter peer review and QA controls within theteam.

Onceeveryonehadamomenttothink,theywereaskedtocompletethesentence“andthemoralofthesprintis...”onanindexcardandhanditin.Whenallthecards were complete, the team clustered the cards and identified a commontheme,whichwas around the truth that havingone completed storywasmorevaluablethantwopartiallycompletedstories.

Themoral?Abirdinthehandisworthtwointhebush.

“Wenowhaveagoalforthisretrospective,”claimedKurt.“Let’sspendtherestoftheretrospectiveworkingoutwhatweneedtodotomakethisgoalareality.”

TheHook[30]

In allmy timeas aScrumMaster, coachandconsultant, I’venotheardof anysprintthathasbeenanunmitigatedsuccess.NorhaveIheardofanysprintthathasbeenanunmitigateddisastereither.Acelebrationmaymake the teamfeelgoodbutitwon’tnecessarilyhelpthemimprove.Equallyineffectiveislistingallthe things thatwentwrong.Itmaybe thoroughbut itcertainlywon’t leadtoamotivated,engagedteamwhoarehungrytoimprove.Therefore,itisimperativethataScrumMasterholdsabalancedretrospective.

95% of ScrumMasters hold balanced retrospectives as if they were second

nature. However, not that many hold focussed retrospectives. Hollywoodscreenwriterstalkaboutthefirsttenpagesofthefilmscripthavingtocontain“ahook,”somethingthatintriguesthereader/audienceandpullsthemin.Thebestmovies all have a hook. Think of the iconic scenes fromTheGodfather, TheShining,Up,JawsorTheKing’sSpeechandyoucanimaginewhatImeanby“thehook.”All thegreatScrumMasters Ihaveseenensure their retrospectiveshaveahookaswell—somethingthatsetsthesceneforwhatisabouttohappenwhilealsopullingpeoplein,grabbingtheirinterestandenergisingthem.

Thereareafewcommonwaysofcomingupwitharetrospectivegoal:

AtTheStartOfTheRetrospective

•Asktheteamtohelpyoucraftagoalduringthefirstcoupleofminutes:• Ask every member of the team to describe the sprint in a word or two, orperhaps as an abstractobject suchas “if the sprintwere a chocolatebar,whatwould it be?” Then cluster the outputs and find a theme before focussing thesprintonthattheme.•UseagamelikeRememberTheFuture[31],whichissimilartothe“moralofthesprint”exerciseinthestory.•Ask the team (or perhaps small groupswithin the team) to come upwith asprintlimerickorsongthatdefineseitherthepastsprintortheonethatisabouttohappen.Usethatoutputassomethingtoeitheraimforortoinvestigate.

DuringTheSprintSomewhere in the team space, set up a number of boxes or envelopes whereteammemberscanpost their thoughtsas theycomeup.Theseboxescouldbelabelled anything, from “frustrations” or “ideas” to “appreciations” or perhaps“achievements.”Inthesprintretrospective,emptytheboxesandasktheteamtocraftagoalfromtheaccumulatednotes.

FollowYourNose

There is always room for good old ScrumMaster intuition. During the sprint,ScrumMastersareinaprivilegedposition,abletoseealotofwhatisgoingonwithacertaindetachment.Theycan,andshould,be listening towhat isbeingsaidandwhatisnotbeingsaid,lookingoutforgoodexamplesofteamdynamicsand development as well as opportunities for further team growth. Great

ScrumMasters have no issue with starting the retrospective with a challengebased on their own observations, for example, “This sprint I have noticed alargerproportionoftimethannormalhasbeenspentonfixingdefects.Iwonderifitwouldbeagoodideatotakesometimeouttoexplorewhythismightbeandwhatwecoulddoaboutit.”

Alternative

“Makeyourownkindofmusic,singyourownspecialsong.”

MamaCass

Working as a servant-leader is an alternative approach for many people andorganisations.Servant-leaders flatten thehierarchiesof theirorganisations, tearup old standards and challenge the traditions and institutionalised workingprocesses of their companies. At some point, all ScrumMasters will be facedwith the prospect of introducing some radical concepts to the team and theorganisation in order to continue the journey to a more responsive, high-performingagilestructure.

Great ScrumMasters are prepared to stand out and break the mould. Theypioneer new techniques and strategies in the pursuit of excellence andperformance no matter how counter-culture they may seem. Even after manyyearsofexperimentingwithScrum,thepathisstillnotwelltroddenandthereisstill no blueprint for how organisations should be structured and organised inorder tobe successful.ThereforeScrumMastersmustbeprepared tochallengethestatusquoanddothingsdifferently.

Thisdoesn’tmeanthatScrumMastersshouldbecontrarymerelyforthesakeofit.Itdoes,however,oftenmeanthatgreatScrumMasterswillhavetogoagainstthegrainofconventionalwisdomand,almostcertainly, take themoredifficultoptionavailabletothemiftheeasieroptionislikelytonotberadicalenoughtoalterlong-termbehaviour.

As teams develop and grow, there will even be opportunities to look foralternativestosomeoftheScrumpractices,especiallywhentheteamreachRi.Bepreparedtostandupandstickyourheadupabovethecrowdbut,whenyoudo,beonthelookoutforanythingthatmightbecomingtotrytocutyoudownto size. Always remember Schwaber’s advice that a dead ScrumMaster is auselessone;pickyourbattlesandfindwaystopushforchangeinatactfulway.

TIPSeekoutalternativeperspectives fromdifferent industriesorparadigms.Forexampleobservehowteachersmanageaclassroom.Alsotaketimeouttoseekoutinnovativeandinspiringideas(TED.comisagreatplacetostart)andsee how these ideasmay apply to your situation.Another idea is to play anabstract game such as “TheMarshmallow Challenge” [32] or “The PennyGame” [33] with a group to see what parallels the team can draw fromsomethingfuntotheirrealsituation.

T-ShapedPeople

AgoodScrumMasterencouragesteamstoshareskills.AgreatScrumMasterencouragesteamstoshareresponsibilities.

In the early stages of adopting Scrum at your organisation, creating a cross-functionalteamisoftenabigchallenge.Iftheteamisn’tcross-functional,thenthey will find it nearly impossible to get anything done (as in potentiallyshippable)inasprint.That’swhystaffingtheteamwiththeappropriatemixofskillshastobeoneoftheScrumMaster’sprimaryobjectives.MostnewScrumteams aremade of I-shaped people—peoplewho have a depth of skill in oneparticulararea,likecodingortestingoruserinterfacedesign,butnotmuchskillinareasoutside theirspecialty.Theirskills, therefore,aredeeper than theyarebroad,resemblingthesans-sarifletterI.

AnexampleofanI-shapedperson

This I shape is particularly appropriate because it also reflects the typicalmindset:ThisiswhatIdo,whoIamandIamverygoodatthisparticularskill.It definesme. Being I-shaped has advantages: a depth of knowledgemakes aperson highly efficient at accomplishingwork in that area. At the same time,though,itintroducesagreatdealofrisk,becauseeachteammighthaveonlyonepersonwhocanaccomplishaparticulartask.AsmyfriendAislinnGreenusedtosay,I-shapedpeoplehaveahigh“lottofactor”,describingtherisktotheteamifthatpersonwinsthelottoanddoesn’tcomebacktowork.

That’swhygreat ScrumMasters encourage people to develop cross-functional,T-shaped, skillsets. “T-shaped people”were touted as the engine of creativityand success at IDEOby theirCEO,TimBrown [34]. T-shaped people are so

namedbecausetheverticalshaftoftheTrepresentsthedepthoftheirchosenorpreferredskill,whilethehorizontalbaroftheTrepresentsthediversityofotherskillstheycandipintoinordertocollaborate.

T-shapeddoesn’tjusthavetorefertoskillsthough.Scrumteamsareexpectedtodo whatever is required of them to deliver within a sprint. This often meanspeople need to act outside of their job description and take responsibility fortasks that theyarenot technically responsible for,ornecessarilyhighlyskilledat. The Geckos are a good example of a team that needed a more T-shapedmindset.

TheGeckoswerecomingtowardstheendofthesprint(day28of30)andwereholding their daily scrum. The team were standing around the sprint backlogboardandweretakingitinturnstoupdatetherestoftheteamonwhattheyhadbeenworking on and their plan for the day.An extract from the conversationfollows:

“Guy&IhavefinishedcodingthephotouploadfeatureandhavehandeditovertoRoxieandevetotest,”Christiansaid.“We’renowdoneforthissprintsoweare probably going to make a start on the ratings feature from the productbacklogtogiveourselvesabitofaheadstartforthenextsprint.Obviouslywehavenoimpedimentsbecausewe’refinished!Hooray!”

Christian then threw the speaker’s ball to Roxie to indicate that hewished tohearfromhernext,soRoxietookherturn:

“It’sprobablygoing to takeus the last twodaysof thesprint to test.Wewerehopingforahandoffyesterday,butweendedupkindofhangingaroundalittleyesterday waiting for Christian and Guy to finish. Now we have the featureready for testing, we can get cracking on it. I am a bit worried about it as Isuspectitmightbeacanofwormsbutatthemomentwehavenoimpediments.”

Theteamthenupdatedtheirveryhealthy-lookingsprintburndowntoreflectthefact that some tasks were finished a bit early. In fact, with Christian & Guystartingonsomeofthestuffcomingupinthenextsprint,theteamremarkedthatthey were actually in an even healthier position than the sprint burndownimplied.

Itcameasabitofasurprise to theproductownerEricka, then,whenshewastoldattheendofthesprintthatthephotouploadfeaturewasnotactuallyreadytodeploy—itdidn’tpass testing.Thesprintburndownhadmade itappear thatthe team was so far ahead that a few members had even started working onbonusfeaturesthathadn’tbeenplannedintothissprint.Yettherealitywasthatoneoftheproductowner’smostimportantfeaturesdidn’tgetdone.

Intheretrospective,theteamdiscussedwhathappenedtocausetheteamtomisstheircommitment.

“Wellwemanagedtogeteverythingdoneourend,”saidChristian.“Itwasjustthetesterswhodidn’tmanagetodotheirstuff.”

“Well, if youhadmanaged toget it tousmorequickly,wemighthavehadachance,”Roxiereplied.“Weonlyhadtwodaystotestit.Ididmentionthatthephotouploadwaslikelytobeacanofworms,bytheway.”

Marcelle,theScrumMaster,quicklytriedtodefusethesituation:“Whosefaultitwasdoesn’tinterestme,andIamprettysureitdoesn’tinterestEricka.”

Marcelle, realising the teamneeded to face a harsh reality stated, “What I seehereis thatwefailedtodeliverherpriority#4featurethissprintbutsomehowmanagedtofindtimetoworkonherpriority#9feature.AmIright?”

TherewereacoupleofsecondsofsilenceastheteamprocessedthisbeforeGuysaid,“Yes,butwhatwerewesupposedtodo?Testourownworkorsitarounddoingnothing?Wehad finished the codingof thephotoupload feature sowemovedontothenextitem.”

Marcellesimplyrespondedwithaquestion:

“What makes you believe that the testing of that feature was purely the

responsibilityofRoxie&eve?”

“Thefactthattheyaretesters,”theyquicklyanswered,inunison.

Ifyoucan’tgetdone,gosurfing

The concept of “done” is critical to Scrum. Teams do not have the luxury ofbeingabletojustdothecodingthissprintandtestitnextsprint.InScrum,everyfeaturethattheteamtakesonneedstobepotentiallyreleasableattheendofthesprint.

The“developersdon’ttest”syndromeisprobablyoneofthemostcommonroleclashesinScrumteams.Becausemostorganisationsaresetuparoundatypicalwaterfalllifecycle,whichencouragesI-shapedpeople,thismindsetisincrediblycommonplace.InScrum,theroleofdeveloperisintendedtomeanamemberofadevelopmentteamwhoseprimaryresponsibility,aboveallothers,istohelptheteam turn product backlog items from requirements or user needs to workingfunctionality.

“Itisbetterforthedeveloperstobesurfingthanwritingcodethatwon’tbeneeded.[...]Iftheywentsurfing,theywouldhavefunandIwouldhavealess

expensivesystemandfewerheadachestomaintain”

JeffSutherland[35]

Thereisnopointinanymemberoftheteamgettingalloftheirtaskscompleteifthefeaturesarenot“done.”Onasoftwareteam,that’sgoingtoinvolvetesting.Ifthereisabottleneckinskills,theteamhavearesponsibilitytodowhatneedstobedone,tothebestoftheircollectiveability.Andsometimesdoingnothing(notaddingcodethatcan’tbetested)isthebestresponse.Ratherthangooffandbegin writing new code, Christian and Guy should have found a way toacceleratethetestingoftheirfeature.Betteryet,theyshouldhavefoundwaystominimizethesizeoftheirhandofftothetestersinthefirstplacebyinvolvingthetestersearlierandfindingwaystotestsomething.

PeoplewhoseprimaryskillsetistestingmustbepartofmostScrumteams.Thisdoes not, however, excuse the other members of the development team fromtestingorallowthemtoabdicateresponsibilityforgettingafeaturedonetothetesters.Testing,andindeedquality,isawhole-teamresponsibilityinScrum.

Blurringthelines

Funnilyenoughitisnotjustthedeveloperswhoareconcernedoranxiousaboutblurringthisboundarybetweendevelopmentandtest.Therearestatusconcerns,qualityconcerns,jobsecurityconcerns,careerprogressionconcerns.Ihaveseenmanyorganisationsthatattachlowerstatustotestersthantheydotodevelopers;only when you have become “good enough” are you allowed to become adeveloper. This rather absurd practice is nevertheless a cultural reality (re-enforcedbypayrates) thatsomeScrumMastersmayneed tocounter (with thehelpofmanagement,HR,andsoon).

Similarly,Ihavemetmanywhobelievethatyouhavetohaveaspecialmindsetto be a good tester.Developers, they say, are a different breed.As such, theycan’tbetrustedtotest.Again,thisnonsensicalpointofviewisalmostcertainlygoingtobecomeself-fulfilling.Themorethatdevelopersarenottrustedtotest,the more they will be unable to test and the more they will shirk theresponsibilityofwritinggoodcode.

Will spreading my skills away from pure development into the testing arenareducemymarketability?WillIhavetosacrificemyfocusonbeingthebestinmy field inorder to learn (and implement) new skills?Am Igoing tohave tobecome a hybrid? Will I miss out on some sexy new languages or codingtechniquesjusttodomoretesting?Thesearejustsomeoftheconcernsoverjobsecurity and career progression that peoplehavewhen facing this situation. Incontrast, the growing evidence suggests (unsurprisingly) that the rates fordeveloperswithgoodtesting/qualityskillsaremuchhigherthanthosewithout.

EstherDerbysaysthattheonlywaytodealeffectivelywithturnoveronteamsisforeachmembertobedoingonething,learninganother,andbeteachingathird[36]. This is also the way to encourage the development of T-shaped peoplewithinScrumteams.

Pairingdeveloperswithtesterscanallowtestingtobeundertakenduringcoding,andallowsthatcodetoevolveinresponsetothefeedbackoftheongoingtestingprocess.Itismuchmorecollaborativeandagileatheartthanpairingdeveloperstofeedtesters.

Anotheroptionisfortheteamtoimplementsomeformofkanban-typelimitson

thestageswithinasprint.Forexample,theteamwouldsetalimitofamaximumoftwoitemstobe“intest”atanyonetime.Oncethatlimitisreached,theteamthen“swarm”aroundtheitemsatthebottleneckstagetocleartheblockage.

Oneteamcameupwitha“teaminitiationknowledgetest”thateverymemberoftheteamneededtotakeinordertoshowthattheycouldcompletetasksineachdisciplinewithintheteam,includingtestautomation,databasescripts,controllertests,andsoon.Thiswaseventuallyrolledouttopotentialnewrecruitsaspartof theassessmentprocess.This same teamalsohad sheriff anddeputybadgesforeachdiscipline,withthesheriff’sbadgebeingwornbytheleadinthatareaand the deputy being the personwhowas committed to learning that skill asbackup.

However the team decide to develop their T-shaped skills, they need tounderstand how taking on new tasks and learning new skills will affect theircurrentjobs,potentialincentives,andfuturepromotions.Assuch,ScrumMasterswould dowell to facilitate discussions in a clear and gentle, yet firm,manner(andpossiblyincludeanHRpresence).Bearinmindthatthisareaisdefinitelyoutsideofmostteams’comfortzones—butsometimesteamsneedtobepushedoutsideoftheircomfortzoneinordertodevelop.

Gettingstuff“done”

AgoodScrumMasterhelpsateammeettheirdefinitionofdoneattheendofthesprint.AgreatScrumMasterhelpsateamextendtheir

definitionofdoneScrumcallsforacross-functionalteamtocommittogettinganincrementoftheproduct toa stateof “potentially releasable”every sprint.Todo this,wemustarrange the work so that tasks that were previously done in a silo and thenhandedoffareworkedonintandemorwithagreatdealofcoordination.Pluswemust learn to work closely with groups that we might not previously haveinteractedwithmuch.

These are tough skills to learn, as we will see in the following story of theDoomsday Bunnies. Reaching the high bar of done is so difficult that manyScrumteamsmaybeginwithalessstringentdefinitionofdoneatfirst,astheylearn to work in new ways. Great ScrumMasters understand the need to bepractical, but quicklymove the team forward to newways ofworking so thattheycancreatepotentiallyreleasableincrementseachandeverysprint.

The Doomsday Bunnies were a newly formed cross-functional team of 10,pulled together around a new project to establish a system for monitoring,groupingandreportingofinternalandexternalfinancialtransactions.Rafael,theproduct owner, explained to the team how this system would provide costsavingsof$6m,aswellasoffertheopportunitytoincreaserevenuesby$10minthe first sixmonths.The teamwasexcitedaboutbeingonanewprojectbutalittleanxiousaboutusingScrumforthefirsttime.

Stevie,theScrumMaster,hadexplainedtotheteamthatbeingdoneeachsprintmeantthateverythingthatwascodedneededtobetestedaswell.Theteamwascomprised of developers Lucas, Javier,Maxine,Glen andDirk, testers Jamie,MartinandAndrea,plusFernandoasthearchitect/designerandDanielleastheuserexperiencelead.

The first sprint didn’t go well. Tester Jamie and developer Glen had a bigconfrontationaboutthequalityofGlen’scodeorJamie’spernicketyapproachto

testing, depending on your point of view! There also seemed to be a bigmismatch in terms of who was busy at various points in the sprint. Thedevelopers seemed to be very busy at the start while the testers were under-utilised. The reverse happened towards the end of the sprint, with the testersworkingovertimewhilethedeveloperswaitedforabugtofix.Thoughtheteamhadcommittedtoeightproductbacklogitems,theyonlytrulycompletedthree.

At the retrospective, the team agreed that the entire sprint felt chaotic. Thedeveloperscomplainedthattheycouldhavegottenmorecodingdone,butweredistractedbythebugfixestheyhadtodoinsteadofworkingonnewitems.Thetesterscomplainedthattheyseemedtobetheonlyonesconcernedaboutquality.The teamlooked toStevieexpectantly,waiting forhim tohelp themsolve theproblem.

Steviedescribedwhathehadobservedduringthesprint—twoteamsworkingintandem,butnotasone.Whenheaskedtheteamforsomesuggestionstocreateasenseofunity,theteamsuggestedthattheymightbebetteroffsplittingintotwoteamsforthenextsprint–thedevelopersinoneteamandthetestersintheother.The testerscould finish testing the incomplete items from this sprintwhile thedevelopers beganworking on new features. Thiswould give the developers aone-sprint headstart, so that the testers would always be one sprint behind,testingwhatthedevelopershadbuiltthesprintbeforewhilethedevelopersmoveontodevelopingthenextitems.

“Isanitemtrulydoneinasprintifit’snottested?”Stevieasked.

Theteamreluctantlyadmittedthatitwasnot.Buttheywerestuckastohowtoachieveastateofdonewithoutcausingconflictandchaos.

“Whatifwestopthinkingoftestingasanactivitytofinddefectsandmoreofanactivitytopreventdefects?”Stevieasked.“Couldwefindwaystoworkasoneteamtogetmorethingstoapotentiallyshippablestateinsideonesprint?”

“Whatdoyoumean?Testbeforewecode?Butthere’snothingtotest!”repliedLucas.

“Istherenowaythatwecanbeabitmoreproactivehere?”challengedStevie.

“Well we could turn the acceptance criteria for the first couple of product

backlogitemsintotestscriptsduringsprintplanning,”saidAndrea.“Then,whilethedevelopersarewritingcodetomakethosetestspass,wecouldbedoingthesameforthenextcoupleoffeatures.”

Martin then joined in, “Where I used toworkwe buddied a developerwith atesterand theyworked togetherona featureuntil itwasdevelopedand tested.Thatmightwork,althoughwewouldprobablyneedanothertester”

“Well,shallwetrytheoptionthatisavailabletoustoseehowitgoes?”askedStevie.Theteamagreedtogiveitatry.

Scrummerfall

Almost all new teams struggle to avoid the trap of mini-waterfalls orscrummerfalls—squeezing a traditional software development lifecycle intoshortiterations.Thiscanhappeninsidethesprint(ashappenedtotheteaminourstory)andoftenprogresses to the testingteammovingoutof thesprint(as theteamsuggested).Theendresult is that thedevelopmenttimeextendsfromonesprint to at least twobecause each item takes at least two sprints to complete,sometimesthreeormore.

GreatScrumMasters avoid scrummerfalls andget stuffdone insidea sprintbyencouragingteamstofindwaystointegratetestinganddevelopment(andothertasks).TheideaofbuddyingupthatMartinputforwardisoftenahealthyoneinthatitexplicitlyshiftstheideaofonegrouporindividualbeingresponsibleforthequalityoftheproduct.Qualityshouldbeawholeteamresponsibilitynotanafter-thoughtorQA’sjob.Thisisaculturalchangethatwilltaketimetoembedandteamswillneedtobeguidedthroughit.

EngineeringpracticessuchasTDD[37]ortest-firstarenotexplicitlycalledout

in Scrum—Scrum is completely non-committal about such things— but incommon practice,most if not all of the successful Scrum teams I have comeacross in the IT sphere make extensive use of such practices. ScrumMastersshouldencourageteamstoexperimentwiththese.Anoteofcautionherethoughisthatdespitebeingproventoprovidemassivebenefits,inordertoreallygraspthesetechniques,teamsneedtoputalotofeffortinandthereisasteeplearningcurve.

Slowdowntospeedup

Scrum teams, especially new ones, often need to slow down to speed up. Ascounter-intuitiveasitmightseem,takingfeweritemsintothesprintwhenateamisnewandlearningallowstheteamtofindwaystoworktogethertogetthoseitemsdone.Plus,partiallycompletedworkisofnovaluetoaproductowner.

MembersofaScrumteamshouldalsobeawarethattheydonotneedtobebusy100%of the time—in fact, this can lead to sub-optimal results [38].ThemosteffectiveScrumteamsacknowledgethat,inorderfortheteamtobesuccessful,eachindividualneedstohavesomesparecapacity.Ifthesparecapacityforanyindividualistoohigh,theteamshouldaddressthisintheretrospective.Isthereaneedforafull-timememberwiththisskillset?

Is there anything else this individual could be contributing to the team?Howcouldtheteambetterorganisethemselvestobemoreproductive?Rememberthegoalisnotforeachindividualtobeasproductiveaspossiblebutratherfortheteamtobeasproductiveaspossible.Theformerdoesnotnecessarilyleadtothelatterand,inmanycases,individualoptimisationleadstoadiminishingofteamproductivity.

Doneordonedone?

IwasworkingatoneorganisationthathaddecidedtoadoptScrumbecause,intheir words, “Things couldn’t get any worse so what the heck?” Not a greatreasonforchoosingScrumbutthat’sanotherstory!Towardstheendofthefirstsprint the teamwere really excited about the upcoming sprint review becausetheyhadmadesuchgreatprogressontheircommitments.

The product owner was delighted with the demonstration; after not receivinganything of value from the team in nearly a year, getting a few features in a

monthwasclose to amiracle inher eyes.Shewaspraising the team,praisingScrumandpraisingmeprofuselyaboutthisturnaround.

“Whenmyusersgetholdof thesefeaturesonMondaytheyaregoingtobesohappy!” she exclaimed, atwhich point the developers looked at each other, alittlesheepishly.

WhenIaskedtheScrumMasterwhatwasgoingon,headmitted,“Whenwesaidweweredone,wedidn’tmeanthatweweredonedone.Thisstuffworksonourmachinesbutthere’snothingreallybehindthescenesandithasn’tbeentestedorintegrated yet. It will be another couple of months before you could actuallyreleaseit.”

Theteamhaddonethebesttheycouldandmanagedtogetsomefunctionalitytoademonstrablestatebutitwas,intheeyesoftheproductowner,justsmokeandmirrors.Reflectingonthis,theproductowneradmittedthatalthoughthiswasamuchbetterposition thanshewas inonemonthago—shenowhadsomethingshecouldgive tangible feedbackon—shewasdisappointed.The teamrealisedthatitwouldhavebeenbettertotrytogetonefeaturecompletelydonethantohavemanyfeaturespartiallydone.

GettingthingsdoneisultimatelyattheheartofScrum.Thedefinitionofwhatisclassified as done is key. Scrum states that a feature needs to be potentiallyreleasable by the end of the sprint for it to be considered done.This high barmeans that our product owner is continually getting value delivered and ourteamsaregetting tangible feedbackon thewholeof thedevelopment lifecycleevery sprint. It also avoids the risk ofmonths andmonths of development offeaturesthatendupbeingmisunderstood,incorrectorfaultywhenweeventuallygettothetestingandintegrationphases.

Gettingdoneinasprintisoftenahugechallengeforteamsandorganisationsingeneral. It usually involves gathering specialist skillsets from around thecompany and forming a cross-functional team from them. It also involveschangingworkingpracticesandsomeveryruthlessandcreativeproductbackloggroomingtoensurevaluableslicesoffunctionalityarebeingfedintothesprints.

Sometimes, teams find it impossible or impractical to meet the potentiallyreleasabledefinitionofdonethatScrumsets.AgoodScrumMasterwillhelptheteamcraftadefinitionofdonethatisasgoodaspossibleatthatmomentintime.

ScrumMasterswilltypicallyfindalotoftheirtimeintheearlystagesofScrumadoption will be taken up with helping their team find ways to meet thatdefinitionofdone,evenifitisawatered-downversionofwhatScrumhasaskedfor.Whilemanypuristswill tellyou this isnotagood thing,we find thebestsolutionpossibletotheproblemthatwecaninourcurrentcircumstances.

GreatScrumMasters,whilebeingpracticalandpragmatic,willnotlet theteamstay too long in a less-than-optimaldefinitionofdone. Instead, theywill set atargetofhelpingtheteamextendtheirdefinitionofdoneasmuchaspossible,asquicklyaspossible.Thisalmostalwayshasthebiggestimpactonproductivity,quality, morale and, in effect, agility. It might involve lobbying for greatertraining or for the transfer of an individual into a Scrum team or perhaps aninvestment in automation—whatever is needed to help the teamget “done” inthisandeverysubsequentsprint.Untilwecandothis,thebestwecanhopeforisscrummerfall.

ReviewTheSprintReview

AgoodScrumMasterfacilitatesthesprintreviewtolookbackand

reviewtheproductbuiltintheprevioussprint.AgreatScrumMasterfacilitatesthesprintreviewtolookforwardand

shapetheproductinfuturesprints.The sprint review is perhaps themost neglectedmeeting in Scrum. It is oftensimply labelled as a sprint demo or a show and tell, which is an importantelement of the meeting but certainly not its sole purpose. The sprint reviewshouldn’tbeacelebrationoranarrativereport;itshouldn’tneedanyslide-basedpresentations or dashboard reports. It should be very tangible, interactive andpractical.Andthereshouldbeadiscussionaboutwhatthesprintresultsmeanfortheteamandtheproject—thisistheprimaryopportunityfortheproductownerand, more importantly, the stakeholders to guide the future direction of theproduct.

The following story, of the trigger Happy Bunnies team actually tells of asomewhatunconventionalsprintreview.

At theendofonedailyscrumtowardtheendof thesprint, the team’sproductowner,Diego,poppedhisheadinthedoor.“Youwantedtoseeme,Isa?”Diegoasked.

“Yep. I have an idea to run by you. I’ll be right there.” after the meetingfinished, the two of them wandered off and, when Isa returned about twentyminuteslater,theteamwerecurious.

“Whatwasthatallabout?”askedRicardo.

“Ah,nothingmuch.Wewere justgoingoverdetailsof the sprint review. Justdouble checking the timings, location and such like,” responded Isa. “By theway,thereareprobablygoingtobeafewmorepeopletherethannormalasthelastcoupleofreleaseshavegatheredabitofattention.”

Ricardo wasn’t convinced that he was getting the whole story from Isa but

shruggedandthoughtlittlemoreofit.

Thenextday,aseveryonegatheredintheshowcaseroomforthesprintreview,Ricardo noticed that indeed therewere a lotmore people than they have hadpreviously to such meetings. He took note of the new participants, many ofwhom he had never seen before and didn’t know, and also the addition ofdonuts,fruitanddrinks.

Ricardologgedinandconnectedthedisplayuptotheirenvironmentsothatthedeveloperscoulddemonstratethefeaturestheyhadcompletedthissprint.OnceRicardowasloggedin,Diegostoodupandmadeanannouncement:

“Iknowthisisabreakfromprotocolbut,thistime,Isahasaskedifwecoulddothings a little differently. Rather than have the developers give thedemonstration,Iwouldliketodothatpart.”HelookedatRicardoandadded,“Ifthat’sOK,ofcourse.”

Ricardolookedaroundandthesawtheteamlookingateachother.Theylookedalittleconfusedand,perhaps,alittleworriedaswell.HethenlookedatIsawhosmiled,noddedandgavehimalookthatsaid,“It’sOK.Gowithit.”

AlittlenervouslyRicardosaid,“Ooookaaay...sure.”

Diegoproceeded to run through thenew features,demonstratingboth thewaythefeaturesworkedandthathewasfamiliarenoughwiththemtobeabletousethem.Becausehewasexperiencedwithhowtheproductwastobeusedratherthan just how itwas built, he ran through the functionality in a differentwaythanthedeveloperswouldhavenormally.

Rory,oneoftheaccountmanagerswhoseteamusestheproduct,asked:

“Whydoweneedtogothroughthatstep?Itseemsunnecessaryandslowsdownthevaluationprocess.”

Diego explained the reason was because of another feature that was to bedemonstratednextbut,whileexplainingthistoRory,herealisedthatthefeatureswereimpactingoneanotherandneededtobeseparated.Theteamdiscussedthesituationbriefly,decidedthatachangewasrequired,andaddedanewuserstorytotheproductbacklog.

Afterthesprintreviewhadfinished,IsaexplainedtotheteamthathethoughtitmadeanicechangeforDiegotodothedemonstrationpartofthesprintreview.HeknewthatbecauseDiegohadbeensoinvolvedduringthesprint,heknewthefeatures and how they worked. Therefore, not only was he comfortable withwhattheteamhadbeenworkingonbuthecouldalsorelatethefeaturestothestakeholders in adifferent andmoredirectway.Healsoexplainedhow ithadchanged the focusof the conversation a little to focusmoreonwhat couldbedonenext.

Thedevelopmentteamagreedthatithadbeenhelpfulandalsocommentedthatithadbeenquitenicetositbackandlistentotheproductownereffectivelysayto the stakeholders “Look what my team have done this sprint – aren’t theygreat?”

Thisonechangehadbeenahugemorale-booster in thedevelopment team.Isabelieved that it would have the added benefit of further strengthening therelationshipbetweentheteamandtheproductowneraswell.

Nosurprises

Thisproductowner–ledsprintreview,thoughabitunconventional,turnedouttobeoneofthebestsprintreviewmeetingsIhaveeverseen.Perhapsironically,itactually broke one of the rules of Scrum. The sprint review is, among otherthings,anopportunityforthedevelopmentteamtodemonstratetheirdeliveries.Itisanopportunityfortheproductownerandstakeholderstoseeprogress,guidethedirectionoftheproductthroughtheuseofempiricalfeedbackandpotentiallyrealisevalueincrementally.It isalsoachanceforthedevelopmentteamtogetfeedbackfromtheproductowner(andotherstakeholders)andtogainasenseofmomentum from making tangible progress through the product backlog andseeingtheproductcometogether.

ThesprintreviewiseffectivelyasafetynetbuiltintoScrum.Beforetheproductispublic,theproductownerhasachancetoreviewwhatthedevelopmentteamhasdelivered.Intheworst-casescenariotheproductownerturnsuptothesprintreviewandtells theteamtheygot itwronganddeliverednothingofvaluethissprint. It’s disappointing, but the fact that these reviews happen every sprintmeans that any waste is minimal, especially when compared to the end-of-projectreleasetypicalofwaterfalldevelopmentmethodologies.

The more effective Scrum teams involve the product owner continuallythroughout the sprint, getting feedback on features in real time so that, at thesprintreview,theproductownerisnotsurprisedaboutwhathasorhasn’tbeendone and the team are not surprised by features getting rejected at the lastminute.Themoretheproductownerisinvolvedduringthesprint,thelesstimetheteamneedtospenddemonstratingfunctionality.If therearenosurprises, itfreesuptimeduringthesprintreviewfor theproductowner,stakeholders,andteamtoproactivelycollaborateonthefuturedirectionoftheproductitself.

Try this at one of your sprint reviews, even if only the team and the productownerareinattendance;youmightbesurprisedathowpowerful(ortelling)itis.

EndOfSprintQuestions

Tohelpmakesprintreviewsevenmorevaluable,Iencourageteamstoaddressanumber of questions in addition to demonstrating the features that have beendelivered,asshownintheillustrationbelow.

EndofSprintQuestions

NewRequirements?

Havewe identified any new functionality thatwe now need? Sometimes newrequirementsemergeduringthesprintorseeingwhatisnowpossiblesparksanideainsomeoneaboutwhatcouldbedonenext.

NewPriorities?

Have the priorities changed? For example, has the reporting feature suddenlydropped down in importance while the security feature is nowmore critical?Sprintreviewsareagreatopportunitytoshiftprioritiesaroundtosuitthecurrentstateoftheproject.Perhapsoneitemfromtheproductbacklogisnownolongerrequired at all, in which case it could be removed from the product backlogaltogether

NewEstimates?

Have our estimates changed?The sprint review is a time for the developmentteam to revisit their estimates against some empirical data to give a moreaccurateviewoftheteam’svelocity.Equallyimportantisthechancetochangethe estimate of something the team have yet to start because of the newinformationgatheredduringthissprint.

NewVelocity?

Has our velocity changed? The team now have another data point about howmuchwork they are capable of completingwithin a sprint.By revisiting theirvelocity projection, they should be able to increase their certainty about thelikelyenddateorthelikelyscope.

NewDesign?

Doesthedesignneedtochange?Scrumteamsembracetheconceptofemergentdesignand,assuch,shouldrevisitthedesignoftheproductatleastattheendofeverysprinttoensurethatitremainssensible,withintegrityandthattheybuildintheappropriateamountofrefactoring.

NewRelease?

Canwerelease?IdeallyScrumteamsshouldbeinapositionwheretheycouldreleasetheincrementattheendofeverysprintiftheysodecide.Thismightnotalwaysbe thecase (see the“GettingStuffDone”chapter) and sowemayusethisinformationtoguideourreleaseand/ormarketingstrategy.

NewProcess?

Shouldwechangeourprocess?Mostof thiswillbecoveredin thesubsequentsprint retrospective but there may be some elements of this that it would beappropriatetodiscusswiththewideraudiencepresentforthesprintreview.Forexample, access toUAT, teamcomposition, feature acceptance criteria and soon.

Allofthesequestionscontributetotheoverallaimofupdatingtheplantoreflecttheinformationthattheteamhavenow.Ultimately,theteam,productownerandstakeholdersmustdecideifthisisaprojectthattheywishtocontinueinvestingin,which is amuchmore valuable output from the sprint review than ameredemonstrationoffunctionality.

Inspiring

“Donotfollowwherethepathmaylead.Goinsteadwherethereisnopathandleaveatrail.”

RalphWaldoEmerson

I see ScrumMasters as radical change agents within organisations and peoplewho inspire energy for change in others around them. They act as catalysts,incendiaryfire-starterswhocreateaplacewherepeoplewanttobeandareabletobetheirbest.

Nobody is ever inspired by a cynic. Great ScrumMasters are infectiouslypositiveandoptimistic,embodyingtheartofthepossibleandrole-modellingthevaluesandprinciplesofgreatness.Theyarecourageousintheirconvictionsandruthless in their belief in the capacity and the potential of their team and theorganisation. This positivity is part of what makes great ScrumMasters suchmotivatingpeople.

Great ScrumMasters will also find out what motivates the people they areserving.IwasonceaskedinaworkshopaboutwhatrewardpoliciesScrumhasbuiltintoit.WhenIrespondedwith“therearenone,”theythenaskedmewhattheyshoulddoaboutit.Iposedthemahypotheticalscenario:

Suppose,attheendoftheproject,yourbosscomesalongandsays“Greatjob!Thatwasareallyimpressivepieceofworkanditmeantalottome,andtherestof the company. I would like to recognise your effort and performance but Idon’tknowhow.HowcanIrewardyou?Nameit...”

Iaskedthegrouptothinkaboutitandthenaskedthemwhattheywouldaskfor.TheresponsesIgotincluded:

•“Itwouldjustbeniceifsomeoneactuallysaidsomethinglikethat!”•Money•Timeoff•Newgadgets•Company-sponsoredsocialevents•Timeandauthoritytoimprovetheteam’sworkenvironment•Moreautonomyovertheteam’swork•Anopportunitytoexperimentwithnewtoolsortechnologies

Andthenoneladysaid:

“It’s funny you should ask because just recently I got something that I didn’tknowIwantedbut,nowthatI’vehadit,Iwantitallthetime.”

Therestofthegrouplookedatherandfellexpectantlysilent,asiftosay,“Whatisthismagicalthingofwhichyouspeak?!”

Sheexplainedthat,atthelastsprintreview,theScrumMasterhadarrangedwiththeproductownertobringalongacoupleoftheactualendusersoftheproducttoseethelatestfeaturesthathadbeendevelopedandtogivealittlefeedbackonthepreviousrelease.Itturnedoutthatthedevelopmentteamhadheardrumoursaboutendusersbuthadnevermetoneandhadn’tbeforehadtheopportunitytospeaktothem.Hearingdirectlythatwhattheyhadbeenworkingondayinanddayoutwasnotonlyactuallybeingusedbutalsothat itwashavingapositiveimpactonpeople’sworkingliveswasamassivelymotivatingfactor.

The rest of the group nodded in agreement. We then discussed how thisopportunityisactuallybuiltintoScrumwiththesprintreview.

TIP: Find out what motivates the individuals within your team and whatmotivatesthemcollectivelyasateam.Theseareunlikelytobethesamething.Youmayalsobesurprisedbywhatyoufindoutandhowsimpleitmaybetomeetthoseneeds.

SprintGoals

AgoodScrumMasterhelpsensurethehigh-valueproductbacklog

itemsareselectedinsprintplanning.AgreatScrumMasterhelpscraftaninspiring,engagingandsynergisticsprintgoal.

Sprintgoals are the forgottenmanofScrum.TheearlyScrum literatureaskedfor the teamtoworkoutwhat theycoulddofromtheproductbacklog,craftasprintgoalandcommittothatgoal.Somewherealongtheline,however,teamsjustseemedtoforgetabout thepracticeofsprintgoalsandinsteadjustmadeacommitment to deliver a number of product backlog items. These teams havemissedoutonsomuchpotentialvalueasaresult.

Withoutquestion, themosteffective,happyandsuccessfulScrumteams that Ihaveseenallmakegreatuseofsprintgoals.Withoutthem,Scrumteamsrunthevery real risk of turning into a monotonous factory production line and theorganisation runs the risk ofmissingout on the synergies availablewithin theproductbacklogandthecreativityoftheirteams.

Thefollowingstoryshowshowoneteamstumbledacrosstheconceptofsprintgoalsandhowithelpedthemdelivermorevalueandahighervelocity.

Greg, the product owner for team Speedwagon, was pleased with the releaseburnupchartforthelastsixsprints.Theamountof“GregDollars”theteamhadbeendeliveringwasreallyhighandhadbeenforthelastcoupleofsprints:

GregDollarswasa techniquefor relativelyvaluingproductbacklog items thatGreg had learned from his product owner training last year.Aswell as beinghelpfulforhimintermsofprioritisingtheproductbacklogandquantifyingthebenefitsofeachsprint,italsoseemedtohaveasurprisinglypositiveimpactonthemotivationofthedevelopmentteam.Theyseemedtobequiteenergisedbyworking out how they could maximise the amount of Greg Dollars theydelivered each sprint.At the sprint reviewGreg took the opportunity to showeveryonehisgraphandtopointoutthatsprint6wasjustassuccessfulassprint5. The product backlog had been re-stocked and Greg was keen to hear theoutcomeofthenextsprintplanningsession.InGreg’sview,thingscouldn’tbebetter.

In the sprint retrospective, Spencer (the Speedwagon’s ScrumMaster) openedwithsomedatafortheteamtodigest.HepostedGreg’svaluedeliveredgraphonthewallandthenputupthevelocityburnupgraphandtheproductbacklog.

“According to thedata,ourvelocity range is18-25pointspersprint,”Spencerobserved.“And,giventhecompositionoftheproductbacklog,itlookslikewecandobetweenfiveandsevenofthehighestpriorityitems,whichwouldgiveussomewhereintheregionofG$800forthenextsprint.ThequestionthatIwouldlikeustofocusonforthisretrospectiveis,“HowcanweincreasetheamountofGregDollarswecandeliver in sprint 7without compromisingour sustainablepace?”

Theteamlookedalittleconfused.

“So what do you mean? Deliver more value without working longer hours?”askedConnor.

“Exactly.Andwithoutreducingyourquality”addedSpencer.“Let’sjustassumeforaminutethatitispossibleandseeifwecanfindtheanswer.Breakupintogroupsofthreefortenminutestokickafewideasaroundandthenwe’llcomebackasagroupandsharewhatwe’vediscovered.”

When the team came back together, the group of Martha, Laine and Connorsuggestedthat theycouldconvinceGregthatsomeoftheitemsontheproductbacklog were worth more Greg Dollars than he had initially suggested. Theyproposedhavingthatconversationwithhimduringsprintplanning.Therewasachuckle from the rest of the team as they realised that this was a somewhattongue-in-cheeksuggestion.

Connorcontinued,“Iknowit’sgamingthesystemandit’seffectivelycheatingbuttheretrulyareacoupleofitemsontheproductbacklogthataretodowithremoving some of the technical debt. Greg doesn’t put much value on theseitems.Ifhewasawareofhowmucheasier tidyingupthoseareaswouldmakehislifeandhowitincreasesourabilitytodeliverhisotherstuffthenhemightbewilling to putmore value on them.Thiswould help us in the short term and,moreimportantly,inthelongterm.”

“Fair enough,” said Spencer. “Finding away of prioritising the technical debtitemswouldbegreat,soIdefinitelythinkit’sworthtalkingtoGregabout.Whatdidthenextgroupcomeupwith?”

Lori, Harry and Ravi had apparently been discussing alternative ways ofdelivering the high-priority items on the product backlog so as to be moreefficient.

Harry summarized it on behalf of his group, “Well, in-keepingwith the agileprinciple of maximising the amount of work not done, we thought we couldsimplify the designs of a couple of the features to strip out a bit of thecomplexity, which should then give us extra time to take on a couple morestories.”

“Well,thatsoundslikeagoodideaaswell,”saidSpencer.“WeshouldrunthoseoptionspastGregtomorrowandseewhathethinks.Personally,though,Ican’tseeaproblemwiththem.

“Whataboutthethirdgroup?”heasked,lookingatSian,JamesandBen.

“Well, we took a slightly different approach and looked for synergies,” Sianbegan. “We thought that the top three priority features—chat, forum andFacebooklink—wereallkindofrelated.Sowelookedfurtherdowntheproductbacklogforother items thatwere in thoseareas.Bybringing inpriorities7,8,11,12and19,wethinkthatwecoulddeliverG$1,000ofvalue.”

“But that’s 30 points of effort, guys. We’ve only ever achieved 25 pointsbefore,” observed Spencer. “I did say that you couldn’t jeopardise yoursustainablepace.”

“Weknowthatbut,becausetheseitemsaresocloselylinked,wethinkthatwecouldactuallydothemalliftheywereinthesamesprint,”claimedBen.“I think they are right, Spencer,” agreedConnor. “Andgiven that they are allrelated to connection and chat, it almost looks like thewhole sprint could besummedupwith thegoal,“Gettingtoknowyou.”Helookedathis teammateswhoseemedtounderstandandagree.

Lori even started to sing, “Getting to know you...getting to know all aboutyou...”fromTheKingandI.

“Interesting,” said Spencer. “So are you suggesting that we go to Greg andsuggest that,byskippingagroupofhigherpriority itemsand insteadbringingsomerelatedlowerpriorityitemsintothisGettingToKnowYousprint,hecouldend up with 25%more Greg Dollars than if we just focussed on the highestpriorityitems?”

“That’sexactlywhatwe’resuggesting,”saidSian.

Priorityandvalue

Asageneralrule,teamsshouldbepullingitemsintothesprintfromthetopofthe product backlog (the top items being the highest value items). GoodScrumMastersensure that teamsareable todo this.Spencerand the teamhadpleasedtheirproductowner;Gregfelthewasgettinggoodvalueandreceivinghis highest priority features. Yet Spencer felt the team could do better andchallengedthemtodiscoversomewaystheycouldcontinuetoimprove.

Ascounter-intuitiveas itmayseemat first, teamsmight find thatoccasionallytaking items from lower down the priority list can lead to a greater overalldeliveryofvalue.GreatScrumMastersharnessthepowerofsprintgoalsbothtodeliver more value and also to build energy, engagement, creativity andeffectivenessintosprints.

Sprintgoalscanbeformedinafewdifferentways.

Team Speedwagon created their sprint goal bottom up, in that they found agroupofrelatedproductbacklogitemsthatmadesensetodotogetherandthenworkedoutwhatasensiblesprintgoalwouldbeforthoseitems.

Someteamsprefertocreatetheirsprintgoalstopdownby(usuallytheproductowner) stating a desired future state for the end of the sprint. The team thenchoosetheitemstheycanbringintothesprintthatwillhelpthemachievethatgoal.

Bothtop-downandbottom-upsprintgoalscanbebrilliantlyeffective.Theoneapproach that I don’t recommend, however, is a forced-fit. In a forced-fitapproach,theteamtakethetoppriorityitemsfromtheproductbacklogandthentry to define some sort of sprint goal that fits the items. That is usuallyunsuccessfulandoftenuninspiringbecauseof theunrelatednatureof thehigh-priorityitems.Theresultisoftenaveryunconvincingattemptatasprintgoal.

Some teams form sprint goals by writing them in the form of user stories,expressinganactualuserneed thatwewould like to satisfy this sprint.Otherschoose sprint goals from one of the product backlog themes (security,connectivityor“gettingscientific”forexample).AlternativelyIhaveseenteamsmakeuseofmetaphorsfortheirsprintgoals,suchasTheMarsBarSprint,whichoriginated from thecatchphrase“amarsadayhelpsyouwork, restandplay.”The teamchose thisgoal toexpress thefact that,startingwith thissprint, theyweregoingtointroducealittlebitoftechnicaldebtremovalandalittlebitoffuneverysprint,alongwiththenewfunctionalitytheyhadbeendelivering.Plustheworktheyweretakingonseemed“alittlebitchewy!”

Therewasalsotheteamwhocreatedtheirsprintgoalsbasedoncelebrities.Theyhad the ParisHilton Sprint,whichwasmore style than substance; theNelsonMandela Sprint, which involved some sacrifice for the greater good of theproduct;andtheLadyGagaSprint,becausetheyweredealingwithanumberof

somewhat eccentric requests from their stakeholders. A motivating, inspiringandcompellingsprintgoalisagreatexampleofpurpose:oneofwhatDanPink[39]callsthethreeelementsofmotivation3.0.

Inhisbook,Drive,andhisoft-watchedTEDtalk[40],Pinktalksaboutthethreeelementsofmotivationinenvironmentswherecreativethoughtandcognitively-challengingworkisrequired(andScrumprojectsdefinitelyfitthatdefinition):

AutonomyThedesire tobeself-directingandhavecontrolover, ifnotwhatyoudo then,howyoudoyourworkMasteryThedesiretogetbetteratwhatyoudoPurposeTheknowledge thatwhatyouaredoinghasa reason; that it is contributing tosomethingworthwhileandbiggerthanjustthetask.Asprintgoaldefinitelyfitsintothiselementofmotivation

Otherexamplesofsprintgoalmetaphorsinclude:•Sportsteams•Movies•Songtitlesorbands•Animals•Modesoftransport•Foods•Countries•Gadgets•Advertisingslogans

The list goes on and on. Not only can sprint goals have a big impact on thebottom line delivery, but they can also have a huge boost to the energy andmotivationoftheteam.

BurnTheBurndown?

AgoodScrumMasterupdatesthesprintburndowntofreetheteamfromoverhead.AgreatScrumMasterhelpstheteamfindafunwayto

managethemselvesvisually.OneofthemostmisunderstoodaspectsoftheScrumframework,andoneofthefirst things togetdropped inmany teams, is the sprintburndown.This simpleyet powerful tool that displays quite visibly the state of progress during thesprint isoftenjettisonedbytheteamorhandedoff totheScrumMaster todealwith. The sprint burndown was intended to be a tool for the self-organisingScrumdevelopmentteamtomanagethemselvesduringthesprint;toaidthemintheirdailyre-evaluationoftheirsprintcommitments.

Inrealitythough,sprintburndownstendtobemisinterpretedorsimplybecomemonotonous,causingtheteamtoeitherresenttheiruseorfindreasonsnottousethem.The followingstoryshowshowoneScrumMaster,Mirjam,attempted todealwithjustsuchasituation.

Itwas7:45.Mirjamwasatthesprintbacklogwallwheretheteam’ssprintplan& burndown was visibly displayed. Her first task at the beginning of everyworkdaywasalwaystoupdatethesprintburndownforteamB.O.B.everynight,before leaving, every member of the team updated the tasks he or she wasworking on that day with the amount of effort remaining. Every morning,Mirjam added the total hours remaining across all tasks and plotted it on theburndownchart so the teamcould see how they are doing at the start of eachday. Mirjam agreed to update the burndown for the team after they hadthreatened to ditch the sprint burndown altogether if they had to do itthemselves.

Thoughshehadagreedtotakeontheburdensometaskofplottingprogress,theoverheadwasevenbeginningtograteonMirjam.Thismorningshethoughtshewoulddosomethingaboutit.Duringthedailyscrum,Mirjamaskedtheteamifthey still found the graph useful.When the team confirmed that they did, sheaskedifanyonecouldspareanytimetodaytoworkonawaytheteammightbeabletoremovethisoverheadaltogether.

Over lunchHenningandMandaoffered tohelpMirjamworkon thisproblem.Together, theydecided that an electronic supplementmight help them. If theycreatedareallysimplespreadsheettomirrorthewall, theteammemberscouldeachupdateoneortwocellsinaspreadsheetandhavethegraphautomaticallycreatedfor them.AllMirjamwouldhavetodowasprintout thelatestversionandstickitonthewalleachmorning.

Thisworkedwellforacoupleofsprints.Itwasn’ttoolong,though,beforetheteam started to get a bit slack in updating the cells in the spreadsheet. Iteventually disappeared from the wall completely. One retrospective, Mirjamaskedtheteamabouttheirlackofavisibleprogressindicatorandwhethertheywantedtotrysomethingelseinsteadofaburndownchart.

“Likewhat?”Henningasked.“Ithoughtthat’swhatyouusedinScrum.”

“Well,yes.Butwhatifyoucouldfindanotherwaytohelpmanageyour-selvesduringthesprint?Whatwouldbetheharminthat?”

Theteamsplitoffintoafewsmallergroupstocomeupwithsomealternativesand,after15minutes,theypresentedthemtothewiderteam.Onegrouphadsimplyinvertedtheburndownchartintoaburnupchart.

Though this was not particularly ground-breaking, they seemed keen on thevariation.Anothergrouphaddecidedtocreateanewgraphthattrackeddifferenttypes of work items that they worked on during the sprint—features, bugs,changes,etc.anothergroupsuggestedaweather-forecaststyleprogressindicatorthattheteamcouldusetoindicatetheirthoughtsonhowthesprintwasgoingonadailybasis.

Theweatherforecastoption

Thefinalgroupsuggestedthattheyswaptheburndownforachartshowinghowmanystorypointshadbeenachievedandmarkingthemwithpicturesofpintsofbeer,ona2-points-per-pintratio.Theidea, theysaid,wasthat themorepointstheteamdelivered,themorepintstheywouldhaveattheendofthesprint.

Theteamdecidedtheylikedtheideaofconvertingstorypointsintopintsandthesimplicityofageneralfeelingaboutthesprint,sotheywentforacombinationofthe pint graph and theweather forecast, both ofwhich the team seemedmorethanhappytokeepuptodatethemselves.

Misuseofburndowns

Theintentionbehindthesprintburndownisfortheteamtobeabletoglanceattwolinesonachartandusethatdatatosupplementtheirconversationaboutre-planning the remainder of their sprint in order to meet their commitments.However,manyorganisationsseethesprintburndown(andthedailyscrum)asamethod of keeping track of the team on a daily basis. This quickly feels likemicro-managementof the team—theexact oppositeof the intentionofScrum.Wesawsomethingsimilar in the“TaleOfTwoScrums”chapter.The irony isthat,ifthirdpartiesallowthesprintburndowntobeusedforthepurposesofthe

team, rather than as amicro-management tool, it could become an incrediblyvaluable information radiator for the rest of the organisation. However, toooften,itsprimarypurposeisinsteadtogiveinformationonthestateofprogressoftheteamtoothers.Whenthathappens,notonlydoestheteamrebel,buttheinformationisalsomuchlesslikelytobeaccurate.

Teams that rebel against the sprint burndown usually are rebelling against theuseof theburndownbyotherparties (perhaps theScrumMasteror theproductowner or even those outside of the direct Scrum team) andwill cite a lack oftimeorunnecessaryoverheadasanexcusenottocontinuewiththeburndown.So while a good ScrumMaster will remove any impediments and reduce theoverheadontheteam,thegreatScrum-masterwouldreducethatoverhead(makeiteasyfortheteamtoupdatetheburndownorevenmakeitautomatic)andalsoremoveanyexternalpressurethatmaybecausingtheteamtorebelagainstit.

ThegoalisthethingOver time, as the teammatures, they may find other, better ways to managethemselves visually. Great ScrumMasters will recognise and encourage theteam’sgreaterownershipoftheirprocess,evenifitdoesn’tmatchupexactlytooneof thespecifiedScrumartefacts.Thepoint,afterall, isnotfor the teamtodraw a graph but for the team to find a way of visually representing theircollectiveprogresssothattheycaneffectivelymanagethemselves.Thetrickisknowingwhether they are just looking to avoid the spotlight that it might becastingonthemorwhentheteamisactuallyreadytodothis.(GoingbacktotheconceptofShu-Ha-Ri,theteamshouldbeinHaor,evenbetter,Ri)

Aswith a number of aspects of Scrum, if teams can find alternativeways ofmeeting the goal of a part of the framework, ScrumMasters should encouragethemtotryit.

Nurturing“Weneedfourhugsadayforsurvival.Weneedeighthugsadayfor

maintenance.Weneedtwelvehugsadayforgrowth.”

VirginiaSatir

Don’t worry all you conservative Brits out there; I’m not suggesting thatScrumMasters should be huggers! However, the concept of supporting andnurturingtheteamiskeytoteamgrowth.Astheysay,eventhegrandestofoaktrees started as a tiny seed and needed the right conditions for growth,whichthoughtentativeandslowatfirsteventuallybecameastrong,sturdy,immovableobjectthatcouldwithstandalmostanyconditions.

GreatScrumMasterslookupontheteamassimultaneouslyacontinualworkinprogressandaworkofwonderwithunlimitedpotential.Theywanttheteamtogrow, taking a sense of personal pride out of their development as bothindividuals and as a self-supporting and high-performing unit. They have analmostlaissez-fairepaternalisticattitudeintheirapproachtoteamgrowth.GreatScrumMastersareveryprotectiveoftheteam,ensuringtheyarenotundermined,distractedorsabotagedand,at thesametime,ruthlesslyencourage the teamtoself-manageandself-regulate.

Thisattitudeisbasedonagenuinelypositiveviewofhumannature; thebeliefthat very fewpeople turnup towork in themorning thinking, “Doyouknowwhat?Ifancyscrewinguptoday!”GreatScrumMastersbelievethatpeoplewantto do a good job and that looking for, recognising and building on people’sstrengths is more likely to lead to their potential for doing a good job to berealised.

At the same time, great ScrumMasters know that sometimes individuals willneed to trade-off some of their own personal aspirations for the good of theteam. The old adage of “there is no I in team” is true to a degree but greatScrumMasters balance the fact that, while a great team cannot really tolerateindividual self-interest, that team ismadeupof individualswho all have theirowndesires,needsandinterests.

TIP: Facilitate your team to come up with their definition of a great team,drawing from theirexperiencesofgreat teams in thepast.Ask them to spellout thebenefitsofagreat teamandwhat isrequiredboth tobecomeagreatteamandalsotomaintainthatgreatness.Lookforvaluesandprinciplesthatcan be applied to any situation as well as specific behaviours that can beapplied immediately. A team-values exercise such as theHigh PerformanceMetaphor, as describedbyLyssaAdkins inher bookCoachingAgileTeams[41],isasimpleyetpowerfultoolthatcanbeusedbygreatScrumMasterstohelptheirteamsnavigatethroughdisharmonytoanewlevelofteamwork.

TheProblemTeam

AgoodScrumMasternoticesareasforimprovementintheteam.

AgreatScrumMasterrecognisesandhighlightsstrengthsfortheteamtobuildon.

Imagine your child brings home a report card with As in Maths, Science,History, and Technology, Bs in English and French, and an F in Geography.Whichsubjectareyoumostlikelytotalktoyourchildabout?Thechancesareitwillbetheanomaly:theFinGeography.Wetendtofocusontheareawiththemostroomforimprovementandthisisnotnecessarilyabadthing.Itwouldnotbewise, forexample, to simply ignoreyourchild’s failinggrade.At the sametime,though,thereisalottobesaidforconcentratingonwhatwearegoodatandmaximisingthat.Likewise,allgoodScrumMasterswillhelptheteamreflectonwheretheycanimprove,whichisareallyvaluable—ifnotcritical—thingtodo.WhatIhavenoticed,however,isthatthegreatScrumMasters,likeParisinthestorythatfollows,focusmuch,muchmoreontheteam’sstrengthsthantheirweaknesses.

Pariswasabitnervous.AftertheChristmasbreak,shewouldbeswitchingtotheDominos team to replace theirScrumMaster,Nicola,whohad recently left thecompany.ParishadspecificallybeentoldthatshewouldbeagoodinfluenceontheDominosteam,whodidn’thaveagreatreputation.Parishadwitnessedafewarguments in their daily scrums and had heard the Dominos referred tomorethanonceastheproblemteam.

On the morning of her first day with the team Paris was walking the floor,looking at the team artefacts on thewalls. She noticed that, in addition to thesprint backlog board, the team also had another board. One of the teammembers, Claire, noticed Paris looking at the board and said, “That’s thecrapboard.Basicallyit’sallthestuffthatwehavetosortoutbecauseofthecrapsome of us have built in the past.” Claire looked pointedly at her teammateDamien.

“Hmmm.Well, it’s good that you have captured it all,” saidParis,wonderingwhatshewasinfor.

Itwasn’tlongbeforeshefoundout.Duringthesprintplanningsession,Alison,theproductowner,kickedthingsoffbyexplainingthetoppriorityitemsshewashopingforthissprint.

“Theyseemlikereallyvaluableitems,Alison,butthere’snowaywe’regoingtobeabletodoevenhalfofthemwithall thetrashweneedtosortoutafter lastsprint’shotfixes,”saidClaire.

“Well there’s a surprise,” responded a clearly frustrated and sarcastic Alison.“Thisisgettingridiculous.Everysprintyouguysfindanexcusefornottakingonwork,andit’susuallydowntosomethingthatyoudidbadlylasttime.WhydoIalwaysenduphavingtopayforyourpoorquality?”

“Wedidtellyouthatwewereworkingonsomeriskyitemsandwedidgetthemoutintimeforyou,”offeredClaire.

“Yeah but it’s the same old story every sprint. I’m getting tired of it,” saidAlisonlookingatParis.“Weneedtodosomethingaboutalltheseso-calledhotfixes.”

“Icanfeelthefrustration,”saidParis,“I’mstillgettinguptospeedsothere’snotmuch insight I can give to the hot-fixing issue at themoment.Howaboutwelook atworking outwhatwe are capable of for this sprint for now andworkfromthere?”

TherewassomeobvioustensionintheroombutagrudgingacceptanceofParis’suggestion.

“Thisitemhereismarkedspike.Howdoyounormallyhandlespikes?”

Theteamexplainedthattheitemsmarkedspikewereonesthattheteamdidn’tfeelwerewell understood enough and, as such, needed to beworkedon a bitbefore they couldbeplanned into a sprint.The teamwent on to say that theydidn’tworrytoomuchaboutthelowpriorityspikes,astheyhadplentyoftimebeforetheyhadtodealwiththem,butanythathadmadetheirwaytowardsthetopoftheproductbacklogwereeitheraddressedinthesprintplanningmeetingorinabackloggroomingsessionsometimeduringthesprint.

“Couldyoushowmehowyouwouldgoaboutthatforthisitem?”askedParis.

Parismainlyobservedastheteamdiscussedtheuserstoryinquestion,gainingclarificationfromAlisonaboutwhatthesolutionmightbe,identifyingdifferentoptions and the risks associated with them, and remaining focussed on theproblemathand.Also,Parisnoticedthateverymemberoftheteamjoinedinatsomepointintheidentificationofthewayforward.Bytheendofthediscussion,the whole team seemed to have a good understanding of the problem and asensiblestrategyforaddressingitintheupcomingsprint.

As they were wrapping it up, Paris asked if she could offer some feedback.When the team agreed, she said, “I’m blown away, to be honest. That waspossiblyoneofthebestexamplesofacollaborative,self-organisingteamIhaveseeninthiscompany.”

It took amoment for this feedback to sink in. Thewhole team seemed to bewaitingforthe“but...”Oneofthem,Paul,actuallyasked,“Whatdoyoumean?”

Parisexplainedhoweachmemberoftheteamhadcontributedtothesolution—ahallmarkofgreat collaboration—andhoweveryone’s ideaswere amalgamatedinto something that couldn’t be attributed to any one person. She pointed outhowimpressive itwas that the teamhad takenaccountof risksand lookedforvariousoptionsbeforedecidingonarouteforward.

“Andit’sobviousthatyoucareaboutthispieceofwork.Now,howdoyouthinkyoucouldapplythisprocesstotheissueofhotfixing?”shefinished.

“Well if we had this kind of discussion about each story, rather than just thespikes,thenIthinkwecouldavoidanumberoftheproblemsthatwenormallyruninto,”suggestedClaire.

“Wouldthatbeamoreusefulwayforyoutospendtheremainderofyoursprintplanningtimethen?”askedParis.

Theteamagreed.

Duringthesprint,therewereafewbumpsandintra-teamconflictsthatneededtobeworkedthroughbut,byandlarge,Parisconsideredthistobeasuccessfulfirstsprintwithhernewteam.Toreflectthis,shedeterminedthatthethemeforthe

retrospectiveshouldbe“Theawesomenessretrospective”

Sheasked the teamto listallof the reasonswhybeingpartof theDominos isgood.Whatmakes it enjoyable to come towork,why are they successful andwhatwould theymiss about this team if the teamwere disbanded tomorrow?Whentheyhadfinished,shepostedtheanswersonthewall.Shethenaskedtheteamtolistallthethingsthatwouldneedtohappenforthisteamtobecomethebestteaminthecompany,theteamthateveryonewouldbequeuinguptobeapartof.ThissecondlistbecamewhatPariscalledtheirawesomenessbacklog.

Sheaskedtheteamtoprioritisethisawesomenessbacklogandthenselectoneortwo items from it to focus on for the next sprint,with the aimof becoming alittlebitmoreawesomeeverysprint.

CoachtostrengthstoovercomeweaknessesTheDominoshadbeentoldsomanytimeswhattheyweren’tgoodat,thattheydidn’tevenrealisetheyhadthecapacitytodogoodthings.Theirproblemteamreputation could well have been a self-fulfilling perception. They neededsomeonetonoticewhattheydidwellandhelpthembuildonsuccessratherthanfocusonshortcomings.

Ascoaches,greatScrumMastershelpteamstackleproblemsbyaskingquestionslike, “How canwe usewhatwe are good at to help us in this situation?”Or“HowcanourskillsandexpertiseinXmakeyeasierforus?”

OneoftheScrumvaluesisrespect.Partofrespectingpeopleincludesholdingagenerallypositiveviewofhumannature.Becausewerespectourcolleagues,webelieve that most people want to do a good job. One way of helping ensurepeople do a good job is by believing in them (See the “BELIEF” chapter formoreonthis).Butbeyondthat,wemusthelpthembelieveinthemselvesiftheyare to realize their potential and truly become a high-performing team. Yourbeliefinthemmustbegenuine

However; if you try to fake your belief in someone, or the team, it will bedetected and have the opposite effect on self-confidence. Ensure you pick acredible strength tobuildupon,one that they can recognize, acknowledge andthenvisiblyuseintheirpathofself-improvement.

It’s very easy to go along with the labels that have been attached to people,teams,andevenorganisations;theycanveryeasilybecomeself-fulfilling.Pariscouldn’t help her initial preconceived notions—but she dismissed them andpurposefully focused on what she saw that day during sprint planning. Shenoticedthebad,yes,butshechosetofocusonthegood.

Regardless of where your team is in its development or maturity, I wouldrecommend you consider the technique of a team improvement (orawesomeness)backloginretrospectives.Itcanbeagreatwaytorecogniseteamachievements andhelp encourage aprocessof continuous improvement.GreatScrumMastershelp teams firstofallbecomeawareof their strengthsand thendecidehowtousethemtodevelopevenfurther.

GrowingIndividualsOrTeams?

AgoodScrumMasterhelpseverymemberoftheteamgrow.AgreatScrumMasterfosterstheteam’sgrowth.

To improve their teams, all servant-leaders should help ensure that a uniquestrategy exists for every team member to grow individually. However,ScrumMasterssoonrealisethatgrowingindividualsisonlypartofthesolution;greatScrumMasters also focusonhow togrow individuals to thepointwheretheyarefocusedmoreontheteam’ssuccessthanontheirown.TheSpidersteamareaclassicexampleoftheimportanceofteamgrowth.Theteamwereintheir5thsprintandhadbeendeliveringwellsofar.Duringadailyscrumonday16ofthemonth-longsprint,thefollowingconversationhappenedbetweenearl(developer),Darren(developer)andLonnie(ScrumMaster):

“I’mstillworkingon thebusiness logicof theaccountmanagementpieceandcould dowith a little help. I know you have a bit of experience in this area,Darren.Doyouhaveanytime?”Earlasked.

“Sorry,Earl,I’vejustgottoomuchonatthemoment,”Darrenreplied.

“OK.Howaboutanyoneelse?”

Therestoftheteamlookedanywherebutatearlandremainedsilent.Lonniehadneverseenthemsoreluctanttohelpeachotherbefore,butsheremainedsilentaswell.

“OK. Well I’ll just carry on as best I can then,” earl said, looking a littledisappointed.

Aftereveryonehadasay,Lonnieaskedaboutanitemonthesprintbacklogthathadremaineduntouchedsofarinthesprint.

“Does anybody have any plans to tackle the algorithm task soon? It’s gettingclosetotheendofthesprintandwesaiditwasariskytaskinsprintplanningyetnobodyhasstartedityet.”

Again, the teamwasuncharacteristicallynon-committal.Lonniewasbeginningto get a bad feeling about things and askedDarren for a quickword after thedailyscrum.

“What’shappeninghere,Darren?” sheasked. “Something isdifferent. I’mnotsurewhatitisbutitisworryingme.BetweenEarlnotbeingabletogethelpandthehigh-risk items remaininguntouched, it looks like the sprint is at risk.Yeteveryone is ignoring it andnoone is steppingup tohelp. Ifyouallhave it inhandthenthat’sfine, tellmethatIamworriedaboutnothingbutIamsensingthatyouareall leavingit toeachother.Youweremuchmoreofateaminthelastfewsprints.”

“You’re right that thealgorithmisa risky item,Lonnie.AndI think that’s theproblem at the moment. Nobody wants to take that risk just now,” Darrenconceded.

“Whynot?”

“It’s review time. Nobody wants to have his name explicitly associated withfailureatthistimeofyear,”Darrenexplained.“Therearecertaintimeswhenit’severymanforhimself,nomatterhowmuchwe’dlikeittobeotherwise.”

ARiskyReward

Rewardpoliciesinanorganisationwill,soonerorlater,comeintothespotlightwhenteamsstartusingScrum.Scrumimplicitlyvaluesteamdeliveryratherthanindividual delivery and contribution to the team rather than individualperformance.Thisisinconflictwithalotoforganisationalrewardpoliciesandcanleadtosomedysfunctionalbehaviour,especiallyaroundrewardtime.

OneofmyfirstScrumteamswasgoingalongOKuntilperformancereviewtimecamearound.Itwasthenthattheteamrealisedthattheindividualobjectivesandtargets ineveryone’sperformance reviewsweresomewhatcontradictory to theobjectives of the team as a whole. We took this as a retrospective goal—toremoveor at least reduce the conflict—anddecided that althoughwe couldn’tchangethewholecompany-wideperformancemanagementsystem(certainlynotintheshortterm),wecouldstilltakesomecollectiveaction.

Every member of the team was required to have five personal objectives for

performanceanddevelopmentbuttherewasnothinginthesystemthatsaidtheyneeded tobeunique.Soweagreedasa team that fourof those fivewouldbeword-for-word the same in everyone’s form and would be focussed on theprojectgoals.Theremainingobjectivewouldbespecifictotheindividual’sownuniquedevelopmentpathway.ThisworkedforusandwascopiedbyanumberofotherScrumteamsintheorganisation(andanotherorganisationasithappens)butwasn’tinstitutionalisedacrossthecompany—itdidn’tneedtobe.

AsaScrumMastersometimesyouneedtoplaybytherules,sometimesyoubendthe rules and sometimes you need to help write new rules. We couldn’t justignoretheperformancemanagementprocessbutwecouldencouragetheteamtofind some common ground that would tick the objectives box while alsoencouraging greater teamwork. While this is a good short-term fix, greatScrumMasters work with the team to also come up with some proactivesuggestionsonhowtochangethesystemforthebetteroverthelongterm.

Makeaholetomakeitwhole

Ateamcowedbyperformancereviewsisunfortunatelynottheonlyreasonforalack of teamwork. Sometimes one ormore of the teammembers is just a notteamplayer.Whatmakes itworse iswhen thepersonwhojustwon’tbuy intotheteammentalityisthestarplayer.

Whetheryoulooktosportsteamsorsoftwareteams,allhighlysuccessfulteamshaveasimilarattitudetothissituation.DanJacobs,inhisjobasheadoftalentatapplefamouslysaid,“I’dratherhaveaholeinmyteamthananassholeinmyteam.” Jacobs went on to explain that, nomatter how indispensable someonemayappeartobe,youmaybesurprisedhowmuchtherestoftheteamstepsupwhenthatdisruptiveinfluenceisremoved.Icouldn’tagreemore.

Thereisrarelyasituationwherethelossofonepersonisasdamagingasitmayappear.IwasataDenverNuggetsgameinColoradoacoupleofyearsagoandwatchedasthecrowdbegantoboooneoftheirownplayers—CarmeloAnthony,an NBA all-star player. As someone who hadn’t watched much basketball, Iaskedoneofthehomesupporterswhatwasgoingon.Itturnedoutthat“Melo”wasrefusingtosignthelargestcontractthefranchisehadeverofferedandwasplayingouthis existing contract in thehopeof joining theNewYorkKnicks.Thecrowdwereupsetthathewasplayingforhimselfratherthantheteam.

AfterreturningtotheUK,Icontinuedtofollowthisstory.Asitturnedout,notonly did the Nuggets trade away Carmelo Anthony for a number ofinexperienced, younger players instead of letting him leavewhen his contractexpired, they also traded away their second best player, Chauncey Billups.Though these trades left a huge hole in the team, incredibly, the team’sperformanceincreaseddramatically.Intheirfirstgameafterthetrade,8playersscoredindoublefiguresen-routetoadecisive131-101victoryovertheDetroitPistons.

After that game, theNuggets drastically improved their previous 32-25 recordwitha15-4run(56%to79%winningpercentage).Assistsalsoincreasedfrom21.2 to 25.4 per game. It was clear that once the disruptive elements wereremoved,therestoftheteamsteppedup.

WillFelps’studyonteameffectivenessalsofoundthatthepresenceofjustoneslacker or jerk can bring down performance by 30-40 percent.While a goodScrumMasterwillattempttocatertoeveryindividualwithintheteam,thegreatScrumMasterswillalsoidentifywhenit’sappropriatetoremoveoneindividualforthegoodoftheteam[42].(Seethe“AssessYourWayToMaturity”chapterformoreonhelpingtheteamgrowasateam).

Individualgrowthisnecessaryforhigh-performingteamsbutwillonlygetyousofar.Theteamsthatdevelopthefurthestfocusondevelopingboththeirsenseofteamandalsothestrengthsoftheteamasawhole.

Empathic“Mostconversationsaresimplymonologuesdeliveredinthepresence

ofwitnesses.”

MargaretMillar

Empathy,accordingtoWikipedia,is“thecapacitytorecogniseemotionsthatarebeingexperiencedbyanother sentientor fictionalbeing.” [43]Oneof thebestwaystohaveandshowempathyistolisten.Truelisteningismuchharderthanpeoplethinkandisaskillthatrequirespractice.

Stephen Covey [44] claims that most people do not listen with the intent tounderstand; they listenwith the intent to reply.ScrumMasters listen towhat isbeing said, what is being implied and also what is not being said. GreatScrumMasters also listen in a way that helps those they are listening tounderstandaswell.

GreatScrumMastershelptheirteamsdevelopatalentforlisteningandempathyaswell. Imagine thedailyscrumforexample. Ina teamofsevenpeople,eachpersonwillbelisteningforsignificantlylongerthantheywillbetalkingsothemore that each team member can develop their abilities to listen and trulyunderstand,themoreeffectivethatteamwillbecome.

While ScrumMasters and team members may not necessarily agree witheverything they are hearing, by displaying a genuine understanding for aperson’sbeliefsandfeelings,theyaremorelikelytoincreasetheirrelationshipswithothers,resultinginhigherlevelsofcollaborationandperformance.

If I were to recommend one skill for ScrumMasters to practice it would beempathic listening. It is crucial and has a huge impact on team performance,dynamics,moraleandprogress.

TIP: To develop your ability to listen and concentrate, sit in a noisy place(perhaps a coffee shop or a park) and try to isolate certain noises - a birdchirping, the sound of the traffic, the wind - and practice blocking outeverything but that noise. Don’t get discouraged when your mind wanders;that is normal. When it happens, consciously bring your focus back to thechosennoise.Thenpracticeshiftingyourattentionconsciouslyfromonenoisetoanotherandbackagain.

TwoEars,OneMouth

AgoodScrumMasterfacilitatescooperationbetweenpeople.

AgreatScrumMasterfacilitatescollaboration.Cooperation and collaboration are both good things but they are not the samething. You can’t get collaboration without at least a degree of cooperation.However, just because people are cooperating does not mean that they arecollaborating.

You can cooperate under duress but you can only collaborate freely. Whenteams collaborate, they build on top of one another’s ideas in a “yes, and...”style. Lyssa Adkins describes collaboration as something where “each persongivesawaytheircherishedvisionofwhatit‘shouldbe’sothatsomethingbetter,somethingthatnoneofthemcouldhaveimaginedalone,canemerge”[45]andshe quite rightly points out that this type of behaviour requires courage andvulnerability.

Scrum asks people from different departments, with different cultures andskillsetstoworktogetherasacross-functional,self-organisingteam.Sometimesthe user experience (UX) or Business analysis (BA) people have worked nocloserthanatarmslengthfromthedevelopersbutnowwearethrowingtheminthesameroomandasking themtoget features“done” inasprint.Learning tocooperatewith others is hard enough; learning to collaboratewith them takesserioustimeandeffort.

Thefirststep,anditisbynomeanseasy,istogetthesevariouspeopletosimplycooperatewithoneanother;getthemtoworktogetherforthecommongoodoftheteamandtheproject.Thesecondstepistobegintobreakdownanybarriersbetweenroles,functions,orpersonalitiesandbuildacohesive,cooperativeteam.

For an example, let’s look at a story.Diane’s teamwas co-located and cross-functional; they had no major teamwork issues yet the team just wasn’tcollaboratingasDianeknewtheycould.Eachpersonwasfocusedonthetaskathandandrarelyaskedfor,oroffered,help.Dianedidalittleresearchandcameto the next sprint retrospective prepared to propose a different kind of team

buildingactivity.

Thesprintretrospectivewentwell.Dianementionedatthestartthatshewouldliketochallengetheteamtocomeupwithbetterwaystocollaborate.Theteamcame upwith some ideas, including pairing and regular “whole-team” designsessions,whichtheywereexcitedto try.At theendof thesprintretrospective,Dianecongratulatedthemonalltheirhardworkandthensurprisedthemwithanewchallenge.

“AllofyourideasaregoodonesandI’mexcitedtoseeyouputthemintoactionduring thenext sprint,”Dianebegan.“Iwant tosuggestanadditionalactivity.I’vebeenreadingaboutimprovtheatre.Itissaidtobethemostpure,naturalanddirectexampleofcollaboration.Tohelpusmovetothatnextlevel,Iwantustogooutasateamtothelocalcomedystoreforanimprovnightandseeifwecanpickupanytips.”

Afterthegigglessubsided,Dianeexplainedthatanimprovteamhavenoscriptandhavetorespondtounpredictablestimuli...asa team.Whenonememberofthe team speaks, rather than think “why did he say that?” or “what a terribleidea,” another team member immediately builds on the direction the firstteammatehastaken(choosingtobelievethatthesuggestionwasbothinevitableandinspired)andattemptstoaddsomethingtoit inordertofurthertheteam’sobjectives. Ifoneof the teamisstruggling,another teammatewillcometo therescueinstantly.

Thoughtheteammoanedandgroanedabit, intheendtheyallshowedup.Bytheendoftheevening,notonlyhadtheysharedagoodlaughandincreasedtheirbondoutsideofworkbuttheyhadalsodecidedtoexperimentwithsomeofthefun improvgamesbackat theoffice tohelpdevelop their team’scollaborativespiritandskills.

In fact, the teamenjoyed thegamessomuch that theydecided tochange theirteamname from the Sonics to the Sonic Players in homage to their increasedcollaborationskillsandloveofimprovtheatre!

Intuitionandimprovisation

Intuition is an important skill for a ScrumMaster to invest in and develop.Though things on the teamwereOK,Dianewas sensing something unspoken

thatindicatedtheteamweren’treallyfunctioningproperly.Shechosetoactonthis intuitionbothbyencouragingtheteamtoproposesomein-sprintactivitiesand also by bringing them out of the office to work together outside of theirdailyproject.

Ifanimprovnightistoomuchforyourteam,youmightconsiderimprovgamesthat you can play in the office (or at a local pub).Games such as “one-wordstorytelling” [46] or “the three-headed expert” [47] or “story spines” [48] arereallyquickandeasy(andfun)gamesthatcanhelpteamsgetintothemindsetofcollaborationandpracticethatskill.

ListenUp

Improvactorsandcollaboratorsareallgoodlisteners,askilleverymemberofaScrumteamshouldworktofoster.IntheearlystagesofScrum,communicationshould be establishedwithin a team andwith the organisation. The teamwillprobably need tomake use ofmanymore communication channels than theywere previously used to and most likely at a much broader frequency, soencouragingpeopletotalktoeachotherisanobleandworthwhileaim.Usuallythemostobviousexampleofthisisatthedailyscrum,wherethepurposeisforteammemberstosharetheirstatuswiththeircolleaguesandusethatinformationtore-planonadailybasis.

The old adage of “you have two ears and one mouth so use them in thatproportion”comestomind.Duringadailyscrumforateamofseven(Scrum’sidealteamsize),everyoneislisteningtotalkingataratioofroughly6:1.AndIdon’tjustmeanhearingthewordsthatpeoplespeakbutactivelylisteningtothewords, the tone and the intent so that we know if our teammates are OK orwhethertheyneedhelp.Thisbringstomindanothergood-to-greattruth:

AgoodScrumMasterencouragespeopletotalktoeachother.AgreatScrumMasterencouragespeopletolistentoeachother

AsImentionedpreviously,listeningisaskillthatcan,andshouldbe,developed.Thereisadistinctdifferenceinenergywithinateamwhoareactivelylisteningtooneanotherandateamthatarewaitingforsomeonetostopspeakingsothattheycanhave their turn.Anotherreallysimple(andfun)exercise thatyoucantry to help your team really listen is “FirstLetter,LastLetter” [49].Theonly

ruletothegameisthatthepersonwhospeaksmuststarttheirfirstwordwiththelastletterofthelastwordofthepreviousspeaker.Forexample:

“...The only impediment I have got is that I have a departmental meeting toattendthisafternoon.”

The next speaker must therefore begin their sentence with the letter ‘n’, forexample:

“Naturally...yesterdayIwasworkingon...”

You can also try changing up the order of who talks next with a ball that isthrownfromperson toperson tohelpensure thateveryone is listening towhateachpersonissaying,notjustwhatthepersonstandingnexttothemissaying.

Yes,butthatwillneverwork

AgoodScrumMasterhelpsteamsuse“yes,but”effectively.Agreat

ScrumMasterhelpsteamsfindmorespacefor“yes,and.”RightfromScrum’sintroduction,theconceptof“yes,and…”hasbeentaughtasanimportantmindsetforteams,organisationsandScrumMasters.Whenwefirstheardabout“thisagilething”whenIwasatBt,therewasafairlybroadresponseof“Well,obviouslyIcanseehowitwouldworkinSiliconValleyatcompanieslikeyahoo!Butitcan’tworkhere.”andthensomebodysaid,“Wellactually,wehavetriedithere,anditworkedprettywell”

Towhichtheresponsewas“yeah,wellIcanseehowitwouldworkinthatsmallprojectbut itwouldn’tworkonan infrastructureproject.”evenwithallof thebuts,wedecidedtotakethisasachallengetomakeitworkratherthananexcusenottodoit.Wegaveitatry.Andguesswhat?ItworkedOK.Towhichsomeonereplied, “Well I can see how it would work on THAT kind of infrastructureproject,but itwouldn’twork ifhalfyourproject teamwas in India.”andso itcontinued.

Yes, but is a very commondefault response to aproblemor change.Yes, butcomments can be incredibly valuable, if used in the rightway (i.e. to look atalternatives and to raise risks). So a good ScrumMasterwill help teach teamshowtouseyes,buteffectivelyintheirprocessofself-organisation.Atthesametime, yes, but responses can also stop a team from trying something new orcontributing new ideas. That’s why great ScrumMasters help agile teamspurposefullyturntheiryes,butthoughtsintoanofferorayes,andresponse.

To see the difference betweenyes, but, an offer, and yes, and responses, let’sfollowtheBulletDodgersduringadailyscrum.ThemainplayersareDonna,theScrumMaster, and Jim, a teammemberwith aproblemhe feels is unsolvable.Watching and taking notes is a consulting coach they’ve brought in for someadvice.HernameisSarah.

DuringJim’sturntosharehisprogress,hesaid,“asyouknowI’vebeenworkingonthedownloadcarouseltaskforthelastdayortwoandI’mprettymuchthere

butIcan’tfullytestitsoI’mgoingtomoveontothenextitemontheboard.”

“Whycan’tyoutestitfully?”askedDonna.

“Becausewecan’tuploadtheassetstothetestenvironment.Ittakestoolong,”explainedJim.“It’sbeenlikethisforweeksnow.Ittakesfourhourstorunandwecan’tdoanythingwhileit’srunning.”

“Yeah,Iknowit’sapain.I’vebeenhasslingtheguysinOpstosortitoutforusandbringthetimedown.I’dreallyliketofindawayarounditthough,inordertomeetourcommitmenttoourdefinitionofdone,“saidDonna.“CouldwegetDavetoknockupamirrorenvironmentforus?”

“Yes,butI’mnotsurehowlongitwouldtakeanditwouldn’treallysolve theproblemforus.Infact,itmightmakethingsevenmorecomplicated,”saidJimas he moved to grab the next item on the board and move it into the “inprogress”column,signallingthattheconversationwasclosed.

Sarah,whowasquietlytakingnotesforfuturediscussion,wrote,“Jim:yes,but.Blocks the constructive suggestion without offering another.” Sarah remainedsilentasthediscussioncontinued.

Donna turned to the rest of the team and asked, “What does everyone elsethink?”

“Well,Iagreethatamirrorenvironmentwon’tsolveallofourproblems,butitwouldbean improvementonourcurrent situation.Plus, itwould freeusupalittletoperhapslookintotheautomationofthebuildprocess,”suggestedMartin.

Sarahagainmadeanote:“Offer.AgreeswithJim,butsuggestsanotherpointofviewthatcouldmovetheteamforward.”

“Automationisaniceidea,Martin,”saidJim.“ButIcan’tseehowwecangetitdowntoaworkableturnaroundtime.Youaretheonlypersonwhoknowshowtodothatandyouhavealoadofothercommitmentsforthissprint,”saidJim.

Donna looked at Sarah, who smiled but remained stubbornly silent. “Anotheryes,butreplyfromJim,”shewrote.“Remindthemthatyes,butrepliesnotonlyblocktheteambutalsoreducemoraleandteamwork.Knockingdownaperson’s

suggestionmakesthemlesslikelytoofferoneinthefuture.”

Donna sighed inwardly but kept stubbornly pushing the conversation forward.“Yes,itwillbetough,andIknowMartinistheonlypersonwefeelcomfortabletouchingthatpartofthecodebase,”sheacknowledged.“ButIthinkit’sbecomesuchabigissueforusthatI thinkIcouldmakeacaseforusto tackleitheadon.”

Sarahwrote,“Donnacounterswithoffer.”

“Yes, thatwouldbehelpful,Donna,” saidSean enthusiastically. “And I couldprobablytakeonsomeofMartin’sremainingtasksinthesprint,ifhecanhelpmeabit.”

Sarahmadeamentalfistpumpandwrote,“Seanoffersfirstyes,andresponse.”

“Icandefinitelyhelpyouout,Sean,andifwepairup,Ithinkitwouldalsobeanopportunityforyoutolearnaboutthebuildprocessaswell,”repliedMartin.“Iknowit’sabigjobbutIthinkit’sreasonabletoexpectthatwecangetthebuildrunningautomaticallyovernightwithinafewdaystime.”Sarahsmiledasshewrote,“yes,andresponsefromMartin.TakesSean’sofferandaddsextravaluetoit.”

After the team left the meeting to start the day, Sarah stayed behind for amomenttotalktoDonna.“Donna,youandtherestoftheBulletDodgersteamaddressed a big issue here and, in the process, managed to exemplify animportantbehaviourofasuccessful,collaborativeteam:Yes,and.”

SarahbrieflyexplainedthedifferencebetweenYes,but,offersandYes,andtoDonna.Shethensaid,“Itooksomenotesabouthoweachpersoneitherblockedorhelped theproblem-solvingprocess,whether intentionallyornot. I’d like tobring this up at the retrospective and suggest somewayswe can all bemoreawareofhavingaYes,andmindset.”

“Soundslikeagreatplan,”saidDonna.“Let’sdoit!”

Thepowerofcollaboration

What reallysets thegreat teamsapart fromthegood teams is that theyalluse

yes, and frequently. When teams adopt a yes, and mindset, they quicklyrecognise an offer from one of their teammates and build on it—this is theessence of collaboration and creativity.They find solutions to problems,waysaroundimpassesandtakesolutionstoanotherlevel.

A“yes,and…”mindset is thebasicbuildingblockofcollaborationand,aswediscussed in the previous story, improvisational theatre. Improv actors don’tknowwhatisgoingtocomeup,butwhateverdoescomeup,theyaredeterminedtoaccept,respect,andaddtoit.Surprisingresultsemergewhenwehaveayes,andmindset in the team; nothing is impossible, nothing can stop us, and thecreativityandenergyisimmense.

Developingayes,andmindsetcanjustbeassimpleaspracticingtheconceptbystarting the daily scrumwith an improvgame such as “one-word storytelling”[50] to get the team into the habit. You can also try taking on an alternativephrasesuchas“whatIlikeaboutyoursuggestionis...Iwouldaddtoitby...”

Disruptive“Butnobodyelseisgonnaputitrightforme.Nobodybutmeisgonnachangemystory.Sometimesyouhavetobealittlebitnaughty.”

Lyricsfrom“Naughty”inMatildathemusical

This attribute is somewhat of a controversial one – as is the quote on thepreviouspage–sobear inmindourothercharacteristicof tactful!IrememberbacktowhenIfirststartedintheroleofScrumMaster.Afterawhile,mybosstoldmethatheknewthatIwasdoingagoodjobbecauseIwasbeing“arightpainintheneck.”(OK,heusedastrongerwordthanneck!)WhenIaskedhimwhathemeant,he toldmethatIconstantlychallengedthereasonswhywedothingsthewaywedothemandneveracceptedtheanswer,“Wellthat’sjustthewaywedothingsaroundhere.”

ChallengingthestatusquoisabigpartoftheScrumMasterrole.AnyfledglingScrumteamwillinitiallybeoperatinginalegacyenvironment—onethatwasn’tsetupforScrumteams.Soonerrather thanlater theywillbumpupagainst therough,non-agileedgesoftheorganisation.ItisherethattheScrumMasterwillneedtoask,“Whydowedothis?Isthereanotherway?”

In theearlystages, theScrumMaster’sfocus is tohelp the“alien”Scrumteamsurviveinthehostorganisation.Soon,though,theScrumMaster’sattentionmustshift tochangingthehostorganisationso that itnot just toleratesScrumteamsbutactivelysupportsthem.TheScrumMaster,ineffect,musthelpcreateanew“waywedothingsaroundhere;”onethatisspecificallydesignedtocomplementScrumteamsratherthantheoldwayofworking.

Thereisafinelinebetweendisruptiveandannoying.Tobeeffectiveyoumustfindwaystodefendtheteamwithoutalienatingthoseoutsidetheteam.Respectandtactareveryhelpfulinmakingapointwithoutgettingpeople’sbacksup.

TIP:WorkwithanotherScrumMaster topracticemakingacase forchangeonsomethingsmallandrelativelyinconsequential.Taketimetoprepare.Whatare the facts of the situation?How does it impact you?How does it impactothers? Empathise with, and practice the position of, someone who mightresist the change.How could youmake this an attractive change for them?Then, when you are prepared, make the case and get feedback on yourapproach. What would have made you more persuasive and ultimatelysuccessful?

Forgiveness&Permission

AgoodScrumMasterwillpushforpermissiontoremoveimpedimentstoteamproductivity.AgreatScrumMasterwillbepreparedtoaskfor

forgiveness.Scrumteamswillcomeupagainstmanyimpedimentsthatrequiresomecreativeand/or courageous approaches. Perhaps it’s saying no to overtime, hosting theretrospective in the pub ormaybe it’s buying an ad-hoc server from the localcomputershoponthecorporatecreditcardbecauseleadtimesaresohighwithintheinternalprocesses.GreatScrumMasterstaketheapproachthat,solongasitislegal,ethicalanddefensibleinthepursuitofqualitydelivery,iftheteamneedsomethingthenitistheirjobtogiveittothem.

To help illustrate this point, I want to share the story of Shelley, a newScrumMasterwhowashelpingher teamdealwith thevery real pain involvedwithworkinginanewwaywhilesatisfyingoldrequirements.

“I’msorry,Shelley,”Nickbegan.“IknowyouarefedupwithhearingthisbutIthink we have to talk about the tool again. It’s such a pain having to updateScrumLogaswellasourboardandit’snotgettinganyeasier.”

Shelley knew that thiswas going to come up in the retrospective because theteam had been gettingmore andmore frustrated about the dual-entry and theclunkynatureofthetool.

“There’s no need to apologise, Nick,” Shelley responded. “I feel your pain. Idon’tlikeusingiteither.”

“Whydoweneedtouseitatall?Wehaveeverythingweneedtoknowonthiswall.”Nickasked

“IthinkyouarerightandIcanseehowusingthetoolseemslikedouble-entry,especiallywhenit’snotveryintuitive,andyouhaveallthosefieldstocompletejust to add a task,”Shelley replied sympathetically. “Is there anything you dolikeaboutthetool?”

“Sure. Itdoesnice,prettygraphsand Icansee thestateof thewallwhen I’mworkingathomeorintheotheroffice,”Nickadmitted.

“Andit’snicetohaveallofthestoriesbackedupelectronicallyforposterityandsafekeeping,”Suziesuggested.

“OK.SowhatcouldIdotohelp?”Shelleyasked.

“Couldwetrialanothertool,sayESB,toseeifit’sanybetter?“Nickasked.

“PersonallyIdon’tmindwhattoolyoutryout.Myonlyissueisthat,ifyoulikeit, then it’s bound to cost money and the company have decided to invest inScrumLog,” Shelley said. She paused for amoment to think about how theirproductownerKarenmightreact.“IcouldhaveawordwithKarentoseeifshecouldfindsomebudgetbutIcan’tmakeanypromises.”

“Fair enough,” saidNick. “So canwe have a playwith the free versions of acoupleoftoolsthissprinttoseeiftheyareanygoodthen?”

“So long as it doesn’t affect the velocity toomuch I’m sure it wouldn’t be aproblem.IthinkweshouldjustclearitwithKaren,though,tobesure,”Shelleysaid.

After the retrospective, Shelleywent to Karen’s office and explained that theissueofalesscumbersometoolhadcomeupat theretrospectiveoverthepastfewsprints.Shebroachedthetopicofsettingasidesomesprinttimetoresearchbetter tool options.WhileKarenwas open to the teams trying out one of thetoolsthissprint,shecautionedthatshedidnothaveanysparebudgettopayforthelicencesafterthetrialperiodexpired.

Shelleybroughtthenewsbacktotheteam:ItlookedliketheywerestuckwithScrumLogforthetimebeingatleast.

At thenext retrospective, the teambrought the issueuponceagain.This time,Shelleysaid,“OK,Igetit.Let’sthinkaboutwhatoptionswehave.Wecan’tpayfor another tool while we have corporate licences for ScrumLog but there’snothingstoppingusfromcreatingourown.”

Nicklookedquiteexcitedaboutthisidea.“Ididn’tthinkofthat.Itwouldn’ttakemuch toknockupavirtualScrumboard inHTMLwitha littledraganddropinterface, some logging and archiving functionality. We don’t need anythingcomplicated and I’m pretty sure we can find a chart creation plug-in for theburndown.”

“Wecouldprobablyknocksomethingbasicupinthenextcoupleofdaysduringlunchandafter-hours,”Suziesuggested.

“Butisn’tthereacorporatedirectiverequiringallteamstousethesametoolforstandardisationpurposes?”AJasked.

Shelley lookedatAJandnodded.“Yes.That is the rule,but let’sworryaboutthat if and when that problem comes up. I’m pretty sure I could defend thedecision we are taking to those involved. Especially if we see a boost inproductivityasaresult,”shesaid.

Followyourinstincts

ThefirstinstinctofanygoodScrumMasteristoremovetheimpediment.Iftheteam are coming up with suggestions for how to solve a problem, then goodScrumMastersgenerallyencouragetheseideasandhelpmakethemhappen.

Inthisstory,Shelleyisinadifficultposition.Shereallywantstohelpherteambe effective and remove a big impediment to their productivity. It just sohappens that this particular impediment is an organisationally sponsored andmandatedtool.

Shelley’sfirststepwastohelpclearthepathfortheteamtotrialnewtoolsandto ask the product owner, Karen, for the necessary budget.When that didn’twork,Shelleygotmorecreativeandstartedtoexplorewaysshecouldhelptheteam avoid the use of the company-mandated tool while still fulfilling thecompany’s reporting requirements. Her solution was to ask the team if theywouldliketocreatetheirown.

ShesharedAJ’sconcernthattherewerelikelytobeissuesdownthelinebutshewasconfident that theywerebreakingprotocol for the right reasonsandcouldjustifytheteam’sactionsifitbecamenecessary.

Valueprinciplesoverrules

Shelley isn’t thefirstScrumMaster tobend therules tohelpher team,andshewon’tbethelast.IonceworkedwithacompanythattriedtostandardiseScrumallthewaydowntothesprintlength.Oneoftheteamsfeltstronglythatatwo-weeksprintworkedmuchbetter than thecompany-mandatedfour-weeksprint.InitiallytheirScrumMastertriedtomakethecaseforeveryteambeingallowedto pick the Sprint length that was appropriate for their circumstances but theargumentsfellondeafears.

So,likeShelley,theScrumMasterdecidedtoworkaroundtheexistingrulestobestservetheteam.Theonlythingstoppingtheteamfromgoingtotwo-weeksprintswas the fact that theywould have to hold a review, retrospective, andsecond sprint planningveryquietly.TheScrumMaster talked to the team, andtheyagreed that thebenefitsof shorter sprintsoutweighed the riskofworkingoutside guidelines. The team shifted to two-week sprints, but continued tomaintaintheillusionthattheywereusingfour-weeksprints.Theyalsoagreedtocollectsomedata,so that theScrumMastercould latermakeacase—basedonempiricalevidence—thattheteamweremuchmoreproductivewhenworkinginshortersprints.

I know this sounds like I am encouraging insubordination and, to a degree, Isuppose I am. The transition to an agile organisation is bound to see a fewconflicts arisewhen the teamswho are trying tobe agile comeup against theless-than-agileprocessesofthetraditionalorganisation.Sometimestheonlywaytopushchangeistobedisobedient.However,asI’veremindedyouacoupleoftimesnow,adeadScrumMasterisauselessScrumMaster.

Think these things throughcarefully.Youmightbesurprisedhoweasy it is tomake a case for a trial of an alternative process when using Scrum. Thetimeboxed nature of sprints and the opportunity to gather data quickly are inyourfavour.

Anoteontools

I get asked about tools all the time.My response has always been the same.TherearemanytoolsoutthereaimedatScrumteamsandtheyareall100timesbetterthanthetoolswehadtenyearsago.Thefunctionalityandtheoptionstheyhaveareamazing.Thegoodnews,then,isthatalmostnomatterwhattheteam

want to do, the latest tools have an option to do it, even when their processchangesovertime.Unfortunatelyhavingallthatfunctionalityisalsoabadthingbecause there is a risk that someone will find a reason for using thatfunctionality.

Forexample,ifthereisthepossibilityofhavinganextralineontheburndownthatcalculatesestimateaccuracythenyoucanbesurethatamanagersomewherewillbeinterestedinthatdata.Prettysoon,thetoolstartsdrivingtheprocessandbecomesaburdenontheteamratherthanenablingthemtobeeffective.Thisiswhy almost all of the great Scrum teams that I have seen either use physicaltools (cards, stickies etc)or themostminimalistic tool theycan find—and it’softenonethattheyhavecreatedthemselves!

EliminatingDistractions

AgoodScrumMasterprotectstheteamfromdistractions.Agreat

ScrumMasterfindstherootcauseofthosedistractionsandeliminatesthem.

Ibelievethatteamscancopewithacoupleofnon-dedicatedpeopleontheteam,eventhoughitisnotideal.Inhisbook,SucceedingwithAgile[51],MikeCohnsaysthatorganisationsshould“minimisethenumberofpeoplerequiredtobeontwo teams and avoid having anyone on three.” If nothing else, having peoplewhoare49percentorlessallocatedtoaprojectsendsthemessagethatthereissomethingelsemoreimportantsomewhereelseand,bydefinition,xpercentofyourtimeisbeingspentonsomethinglessimportant.

In my experience, any organisation that refers to its people as resources andbelievestheyarefungibleisgoingtoreallystrugglewithScrum.WhileScrumdoesn’tmandatethatnobodyshouldworkonmorethanoneteamorproject,itsvaluesoffocusandcommitmentanditsdependenceuponteamworkdoseemtocallforit.Iwouldfindithardtodescribethepeopleinthefollowingstoryasatrueteam.

The Wizard Sleeves were a team of seven people—Alistair, Dave, Gordon,Margaret,Nicola,Olivier,andPeter—pulledtogetherfromvariousprojectteamswithinthedepartmenttotackleapieceofworkthathadbeenhangingaroundforabout a year. At sprint planning tony, the Scrum-master (and also one of themanagementteaminthedepartment),broughtalongaresourceplanningtabletoshowhowmuchtimeeachoftheteammembershadavailabletospendonthisproject.

Notonlywaseverymemberoftheteamassignedtootherprojects,thiswasnoteventheprimaryprojectforoverhalftheteam.OnlyOliviercouldsaythatthiswashispriorityoneproject.

Sprint planning was tough for the team. The resource planner didn’t indicatewheneachpersonwas available—wasDave available for the first thirdof thesprint?The last third?33percentofeveryday?The first thirdofeveryweek?

Howwasthatgoingtosynchronisewiththeotherteammembers’availability?

The team ended up committing to a lot less than they would have liked tobecauseoftheuncertainty,whichdidnotpleasetony,butatleasttheywereontheirway.

Unfortunately, the sprintdidn’tgomuchbetter than sprintplanning.The teamneverseemedtoreallybetogether.Somedaysonlytwoorthreeteammemberswereat thedailyscrum;therestwerebusywithothercommitments.Theteammembersaskedtonytodealwithanassortmentofimpediments,mostofwhichrevolved around not having access to the teammates they needed when theyneeded them.WhileTonywasbusy trying tohelp, theblocked teammemberswouldjustmoveon—afteralltheyhadplentytoworkon,itwasjustallonotherprojects!Bythetimetonytrackeddownthenecessaryteammateorinformation,the blocked teammate was busy with something else. As a result, the sprintburndownstartedoffbadlyandgotprogressivelyworse,ultimatelyendinginafailedsprintademoralisedteam.

Bytheendofthesprint,itwascleartoTonythattheteamneededtofindwaystocoordinatetheiravailabletimeduringthesprintmoreeffectively.Hecraftedthegoaloftheretrospectivetoasktheteam:

“Howwould you ideally organise your availability in this sprint tomaximiseyourabilitytodeliver?”

Tony led the team through the identificationandevaluationofvariousoptionsfororganisingthemselvesincluding:

• Identifying dependencies andworking outmini critical-paths throughout the

team•PuttingofftheirothercommitmentsforonesprinttojustfocusontheWizardSleevesandthengobacktotheirotherprojectsforafewmonths• Identifying certain “Wizard Sleeves hours” each day where the team couldcommittocomingtogetherandworkingonthisproject•IdentifyinganumberofcontiguousdayswheretheteamcouldjustfocusontheWizardSleeves’productbacklog(e.g.Mondays&Tuesdays)•Alteringthesprintlengtheitherupordowntoseeifthathelped

Ofalltheseoptions,theteamthoughtthathavingashorter,focussedsprintjustconcentratingontheWizardSleeves’productbacklogwouldbetheirpreferredchoiceasthiswouldreducetheircontextswitching.

After the meeting, Tony spoke to the other various product owners andmanagement andmanaged to secure a trial period. In the trial sprint the teamactuallydeliveredmore in twoweeks than theyhad in theprevious four-weeksprint,mainlybecauseofagreaterfocus.Tonythenusedtheempiricaldata tomake a case to management for a change to how people were assigned toprojectsandteams.

Theparallelapproach

Let’stakeaverysimplisticmodel,whereoneindividualhasthreetasksthatareeachone-week’sworthofwork: taska, taskBandtaskc.Theydecideto takethemallonsimultaneously.Inthefirstweek,theywilldoalittlebitoftaska,alittlebitoftaskBandalittlebitoftaskc:

The first thing that youwill notice is that, by taking on three one-week tasksconcurrently,itwilllikelytakefourweekstocompletethemall.Thisisbecauseof the cost of context switching. The inefficiencies of context switching arewidelyknownsoIwon’tdelveintothesciencebehindit.

Evenifweassumethattherearenocostsofcontextswitching—andthatthesetasksdoactuallygetcompletedinthreeweeks—thiswouldstillbeabadwayof

workingcomparedtotheserialapproachdescribedbelow.

Theserialapproach

Inaserialapproach,wewouldworkonandfinishtaskainweekone,thenworkonandfinishtaskBinweektwo,thenfocussolelyontaskcinweekthree.Wefinishallthreetasksinthreeweeks,andwehavetheextrabenefitofbeingabletobenefitfromfinishedtasksafterweeksoneandtwo.

Thoughaparallelapproachmaymakeusfeellikewearemakingmoreprogress,we are actually in a worse position. In most cases, the reality of contextswitchingmeansthethreetaskswilltakelongeroverall.Evenifyoumanagetosomehowbuckallthescienceandbringyourtasksinwithazerocostofcontextswitching,youwouldstillnothaveanythingcompletedattheendofweekone,ortheendofweektwo.Theserialapproachissimplymoreefficient.

Respondingtochange

The serial approach, besides giving us a shorter time from task start to taskcompletion, has another distinct advantage over a parallel approach: increasedadaptability.Whatif,attheendofweekone,anew,reallyimportanttaskcomesup—taskX—thatisconvenientlyenoughaweek’sworthofeffortagain?Whatdowedo?Well, if it’s really important,wedropwhatweareworkingonandstart work on it. However, the parallel versus serial approaches give usdrasticallydifferentresults.Ifweareworkingontasksa,B&cconcurrently,wehavetodropworkonallthreetasksinordertopickupX(unlesswejustaddXintothemixandnowworkonfouritemssimultaneously!).However,ifwehavealready finished task a, then we have a clean slate and can pick the mostimportantthingtoworkonnext,whichinthiscasewouldbetaskX.

Projectrealities

Having every team member solely focused on one project is a laudable, ifsomewhatimpossible,aim.Sometimesitwillactuallymakesenseforpeopletobe shared across projects, as itwould be a completewaste of their time to beentirelyfocussedononeprojectiftheirskillsjustwon’tbeneededforthewholesprint.

Teamscanadoptsimplerulestoincreasetheireffectiveness,suchas,“everyoneontheteammustbeatleast60percentallocatedtotheteam”or“Nomorethanfourpeoplecanbeontwoprojects.”

Mostorganisationsfool themselvesintobelievingthathavingmultipleprojectsonthegoatonetimewillactuallyincreasetheirproductivity—andthehappiness—of their people.The truth is, if they actually cut a number of their projects,theywouldseeproductivityandhappinessrise.IwouldmuchratherwaituntiltheROIofoneprojectfallslowenoughtoallowustofocusonanewoneandstaff itproperly than toworkonmultipleprojects.ScrumMastersshouldstrivefor this focus, as it directly affects both team productivity and organisationalROI.

Good ScrumMasters will find ways to help teams make the best of theirsituationsandminimisedisturbances,whetherthatmeansre-organisingtheteamso that they are able to focus for the sprint or running interference againstanyonewhoislookingtotalktotheteamaboutsomethingotherthantheirsprintcommitments.GreatScrumMastersdothisatfirstbutalsotendtodivedeepandfind the root cause of team distractions, in this case pushing the problem ofmulti-tasking at a project level back up the management chain rather thanmaking teammemberscopewith it.Making thecase formore focussed teamsand more focussed individuals is something that will be appreciated by theindividualsandteamsinvolvedbutalso,inthemediumtolong-term,thewholeorganisation.

KeepingThePeace?

AgoodScrumMasterwillhelpmaintainteamharmony.Agreat

ScrumMasterwillguideateamthroughdisharmonytoreachanewlevelofteamwork.

InPatrickLencioni’s leadership fableTheFiveDysfunctionsOfATeam [52]Kathryn, the new CEO of DecisionTech, gathers her team and explains thesimplereasonsthatteamstypicallyfail,thefirstofwhichisaroundtrust:

“Great teamsdonotholdback fromoneanother. [...]Theyareunafraid toairtheir dirty laundry. They admit their mistakes, their weaknesses, and theirconcernswithoutfearofreprisal.”

AmajorpatternthatIhaveseenwithgreatScrumMastersisthattheyhelptheirteamsdevelopasenseofsafetywheretheycanbepassionatelyhonestandopenwithoneanotherwhileremainingwithintheboundsofrespect.

TheJedisareagoodexampleofateaminneedofsafety.TheJediswereateamabout halfway through their first sprint andhaving their first experienceswithScrum.Thiswastheirfirstprojecttogetherasateamand,assuch,theywerejustgettingusedtoeachotherandestablishingaworkingrhythm.TheScrumMaster,Darryl,wasalsonewtoScrumbutwaschosentobetheScrumMasterbecauseof his people skills. His history showed he had the ability to bring peopletogethertoworkeffectivelyasateam.

Sprint planningwent relativelywell.Everyonewas relatively comfortable thatwhattheteamhadcommittedtowasachievable,andtheteamseemedmotivatedbytheproject.DuringthesprintDarrylnotedthatpeoplewerefocussingonthetasksthattheysignedupforandweremakinggoodprogressonthembutwerestill acting fairly independently of one another; there wasn’t a great deal ofcollaborationorteamworkbutatleastprogresswasbeingmade.Unfortunatelyitseemed thatAvis, thebusinessanalyston the team,was strugglingwitha fewthings.Hewasoftenlatetothedailyscrumsandwashardtofindduringthedaywhen team members had questions about the business process to beimplemented.

The team didn’t use this as an excuse though and, as was suggested in thetraining,hadself-organisedtocopewithoutAvis.Theyhadbypassedhimonanumber of occasions and had contacted someof his colleagues or the productowneror,insomecases,justworkedthingsoutforthemselves.Thedailyscrum,however,wasadifferentmatter.Asthedayspassed,Darrylcouldsensestrongfrustration growing. Not quite every day, but very often, Avis would turn upfive-to-tenminutes late,forcingtheteamtostopandrecapwhathadbeensaidforAvis’benefit.

Whatwas interesting, fromDarryl’spointofview,was that the teamwerenotraising this frustration publicly but were keeping their annoyance inside. Hecould sense a growing resentment towardAvis but didn’t think thatAviswasawareofit.Darrylknewthiswasateamissueandonethatneededtobesolvedbytheteamandso,attheendofthesprint,raiseditattheretrospective.

“Howdidyouthinkthedailyscrumsworkedforyouthissprint?”heasked.

Aviswasthefirsttospeakout:

“I thought theywere really useful.Theywere a greatway forme to catch upwithwhatwasgoingonwiththerestoftheteam.Ifitwasn’tforthosemeetingsIwouldnothavehadacluewhateveryoneelsewasdoing.”

“That’s good. What about everyone else? Were they useful for everyone?”Darrylasked.

Therestoftheteamweresilent.Perhapsthiswasstilltooearlyfortheteamtofeelsafewitheachother,orperhapsAvis’commentsmadeitharderfortherestoftheteamtocontradicthimbutnobodysaidanything.DarrylthendisplayedareallyusefulskillofaScrumMaster—uncomfortablesilence.Hewaited,andhewaited, and when he thought he should say something to move the topicforward,hewaitedalittlelonger.EventuallyAmiespokeup:

“WellIdidthinkthatperhapsweweren’tholdingthemattherighttimeastheyseemedtobeabitawkwardforAvis.Hewasoftensomewhereelseatthestarttime.”

“ThanksAmie.I thinkitwouldbeusefulforustohaveadiscussionaboutthe

start timeof thedaily scrum inparticular andhow flexibleyouwant tobeonmeetingstarttimesingeneral,”Darrylresponded.

The team eagerly jumped on that conversation, as it seemed to be a way tochangeAvis’behaviourwithoutdirectlyconfrontinghim.Unfortunately,Avis’late behaviour continued during the next sprint. At the next retrospective, theproblemoflatecomerstothedailyscrumswasbroughtupyetagain.Thistime,theteamdecidedtheywouldputafinesysteminplacesoanyonewhowaslateforthedailyscrumwouldpayanominal(£1)fine.Again,Aviscontinuedtoturnuplate;onedayheeventurnedupwitha£20notetopayhisfinesinadvance!The teamhadmade itspoint that theyexpectedpromptattendance,butmissedthemarkonencouragingcollaboration.Whathappened?

Surfacetheissue

Atthefirstsprintretrospective,Darrylaskedtheteamaboutthedailyscrumandtried to get the team to bring to the surface howAvis’ erratic attendancewasaffectingthem.IfDarrylhadallowedtheproblemtofester,theteamwouldhaveincreasedtheirworkingaroundofAvis,theassumptionstheteamweremakingwould probably have got worse and ultimately the resentment of the teamtowardsAviswouldhavegrown,toapotentiallydamaginglevel.

Darrylhandled the first retrospectivewell,managing todraw the issuesoutoftheteamratherthanpushinghisideasontotheteam.Allowingtheteamtovoicethe issue is far more powerful; letting the silence become uncomfortable is agreattacticforbringingpeopleintotheconversation.Darrylalsorecognisedthediscomfort of the team members and publicly displayed gratitude for theircontribution (thanking Amie and Avis), which is very helpful in encouragingfurtherinputfromthoseteammembersandothers.

Darryl didn’t have to wait until the retrospective to raise this with the team,though. Scrum actively encourages a team to make daily inspections andadaptationstotheirworkingprocesswherenecessary.Sometimesteamswillfallintothetrapofwaitinguntiltheendofthesprinttomakechangesjustbecausethey know there is a formal opportunity. Setting the expectation that changeswill only occur at the retrospective, although not consciously in this example,canhavefar-reachingconsequences.

Inourstory,Aviswasexhibitingseveralsymptomsofdisengagement;comingto

thedailyscrumslatewasonlyoneexample.Evenwhenthiscontinuedintothesecondsprint,Darryland the teamdidnot reallyaddress theproblemuntil thesecondretrospective.Additionally,duringthefirstretrospective,Darrylgraspedontothefirstsuggestionthatcameup,whichistypicalofanewScrumMaster.This enabled the team to surface one issue, but it didn’t really allow them toexploreallof thesymptomsorwork tosolve therootproblem.Anothermajorsymptomwaseither ignoredormissed—thatofAvisbeinghardtofindduringthesprint.Wherewashe?Whatwasheworkingon?Isheactuallyactingasifhewereapartofthisteam?Doeshehaveotherdistractions?Isuspectthereweredeeperissuesatplaythatwouldhavebeengoodtodiveinto.

Knowingwhenyou’vetrulyreachedthecoreofaproblemandwhenyouneedtodelvedeepercomeswithexperience.Severaltechniques,suchasthe“5Whys”[53],existtohelpyouandyourteammovebeyondthesurfacetotherealissue.One note of caution, though, these techniqueswill expose root causes but, indoingso,maycausesomeonetofeeldefensive.Usethesewithcare.

Teamformationstages

Inthisstory,inthetermsoftheTuckmanmodel[54],theJediswerestillinthe“forming”stage,atimewhenmostteammemberswanttobeacceptedandavoidconfrontation and conflict wherever possible. The forming stage is both acomfortable and frustrating phase of team development. It is comfortablebecausethereislittleconflictandbecauseitoftenoccursintheearlystagesofthe project with little immediate concern over the delivery deadline and thusstress levels are low. It is also frustratingbecause, due to the lackof conflict,thereisactuallyverylittleprogressorteamwork.Teammembersaresaidtobewalkingoneggshellsatthisstage,tryinghardertonotupseteachotherthantodeliverresults.

Scrumteamsfindthemselvesfacingthechallengesofworkingthroughtheteamformation stages at a much faster pace and with greater volatility than manytraditional teams. This happens because Scrum teams are cross-functional andself-organisingandalsobecauseofthenatureofiterative,incrementaldelivery.TheScrumMastershouldbeawareofthisandbepreparedtohelpguideateamthrough these phases of team development quickly. The most successfulScrumMaster interventions that I have seen here have focussed around thefacilitation of team norms. For example, clarifying what behaviours the teamagree upon and how theywish to handle exceptions. If the teamworks these

agreements out for themselves, they aremore likely to stick to themand theywillthereforeavoidmanypainfulsituations(Formoreonthisseethe“HoldingToAccount”chapter).

Aharmoniousteamfeelsgood.Thereislittlestressortension,nobody’sfeelingsarebeinghurt,thereislittlecontroversyorconflictandpeoplearegettingalong—atleastonthesurface.Almostallteamsstartoutlikethisbut,atsomepoint,willmovepastthisinto“storming.”

Whenateamis“storming,”thereisconflict.Conflictingideas,values,principlesand practiceswill surface as the team attempt to rationalise their identity andeachperson’splacewithintheteam.ThisisoftenwherethegoodScrumMastersseparatefromthegreatScrumMasters.GoodScrumMastersresolvethatconflictaseasilyandquicklyaspossible,gettingateambacktoharmonyagain.Thisisgoodbecausetheteamcannotfunctionwelliftheyareactivelyinconflict.

However, great ScrumMasters will use the conflict within the team to movethemforwardrather thanbackwards,even thoughit isalmostalwaysapainfulprocess.Workingthroughtheconflicttoadeepandmeaningfulresolutiontakestimeand involvescarefulnavigation. Itoften involveshelping the teamreflecton the values of each individualwithin the teamand settling onormodifyingsometeamvalues.

Donutsandpushups

Ihaveseenmanytechniquesandtacticsfromteamsastheyattempttodealwiththe specific example of a latecomer to the daily scrum. Examples includelockingthedooratthescheduledstarttime(SeeDonin“SexUpYourScrum”)orbuyingonelessdonutthantherearemembersoftheteam.Thentherearetheforfeits that the latecomerhas topay, things likewearingacowboyhat,doingpushupsor, inthespiritofsomeofthearmedservices,makingtherestof theteamdothepushupswhilethelateattendeewatches!

Team formation activities and the establishment of team norms are crucialScrumMaster’sduties.Youshouldn’tnecessarilywaituntil theretrospective toraiseissuestotheteamifyoufeeltheyareaffectingtheteam.Youshouldalsoavoidtakingthefirstsuggestiontheteamcomesupwith;instead,keepdigginguntil you are satisfied that the team have covered the real fundamental issue.Whileit’struethatrealhonestyonlycomeswhentheteamismatureenoughto

dealwithit,teamsneedtopracticehonestreflectioninordertomaturesoitisadelicatebalancingact.Beware,however,theteamisrarelythebestjudgeofhowdeveloped they are as a team and you, as ScrumMaster, will probably findyourselfchallengingtheteamsinuncomfortablewaysintheearlystagesofteamdevelopment.

HaveBELIEFWehavetalkedalotaboutthecharacteristicsofgreatScrumMasters.GettingRE-TRAINED is hardwork; it is a personal journey and ittakesauniqueindividualtodothis.Youcan’tdothiswithoutwhatIcall BELIEF. This encompasses what I consider the key areas ofgrowthfortrulygreatScrumMasters.

BELIEVE

AgoodScrumMasterwillusescrumtohelpbringoutthebestin

everyone.AgreatScrumMasterwillusescrumtocreatea“newbest”foreveryone.

Believinginthepotentialoftheteamfirstofallrequiresbeliefinyourself.Thisisnotaneasytask.Andyetitisvital.GreatScrumMastershaveapositiveviewof human nature and the capacity for both themselves and others to do greatthings.

TheRosenthal-Jacobsonstudy(1968)showedtheexistenceofwhathasbecomeknown as the PygmalionEffect [55]. In the study, teacherswere told that theresultsoftestsshowed(arandomlyselected)20percentoftheirclasscouldbeexpectedtobe“spurters”thatyearanddobetterthanexpectedincomparisontotheirclassmates.Despitethesechildrenbeingselectedatrandom,themerefactthattheteachersexpectedthemtodobetterledtoastatisticallysignificantgainin IQ.What could your teambe capable of if you genuinely believed in yourpotentialaswellastheirs?

ENQUIRE

AgoodScrumMasteraskstounderstand.

AgreatScrumMasteraskssotheteamcanunderstand.

Youhavetobelievethatyouhavemoretolearnfromtheteamthanyouhavetotelltheteam.AllgreatScrumMastersenquireratherthanassume;theyresistthetemptationtoprovideanswersfortheteam.GreatScrumMastersareabletoletgo of the view that they have the answer to the team’s problem. Instead theybelieve that either the individual in question, or the team in general, alreadyknows the answer to their own dilemma (or at least can work it out). Theyremovetheiregosandenquiregenuinely.

Additionally,weallhaveanaturalcuriosity;itisalltooeasytoaskquestionstoindulge that side of ourselves. The great ScrumMasters enquire not to gaininformationforthemselvesbutrathertohelpprovideinformationandclarityfortheteam.

LISTEN

AgoodScrumMasterwilllistencarefullytowhatissaid.

AgreatScrumMasterwillalsolistencarefullytowhatisnotsaid.People have a tendency to be formulating their response while someone isspeaking.Theyarenottrulylistening.GreatScrumMastersworkhardonactivelistening.Theypracticewithholdingtheirresponse.Theybuildontheirpracticeof enquiry by listening for the real meaning behind the words. People knowwhen you are listening actively or simply hearing thewords. Their behaviourwill change simplybyknowing thatyouaregenuinely interested inwhat theyhavetosay.Ifyoulistenhardenough,youcanevenpickuponwhattheydon’t,orwon’t,sayaswell.

And through this hard work of listening, great ScrumMasters bring moreinformationforwardfortheteam.Listeningandreflectinghelpstheteambringnewinsightstolight.Bringingtheseinsightsforwardbeforebringingyourownishard.Butthisiswhatisrequiredtobegreat.

ILLUMINATE

AgoodScrumMasterwillguidetheteamthroughtheinevitablestagesofdevelopment.AgreatScrumMasterholdsthemirroruptotheteam

andthewiderorganisationsotheycanreflectandgrow.The great ScrumMasters are all willing and able to play back what they arehearing,offeringtheirobservationstotheteamforthemtoconsiderandreflectupon. As great ScrumMasters are carefully enquiring and listening to exactlywhatissaid(andwhatisnot),theyilluminatepotentialinterpretationsandnewinsights. They also monitor behaviours for patterns, inconsistencies anddestructivehabitsor tendencies—not to judgebut tohold themirrorupso theteamcanreflectandtheninspectandadapt.

TodothismeansthatthegreatScrumMastermustilluminateandreflectontheirown behaviours and inconsistencies first. They are prepared to face theirweaknessesandelevatetheirstrengthsthroughthisillumination.

ENCOURAGE

AgoodScrumMastercoachestheteamtosuccess.Agreat

ScrumMasteralsoallowsroomforfailureThereisnoconstant.Changeistheonlyconstant.Ifyouaren’tmovingforward,thenyou’removingbackward.You’veheardall thecatchphrases,andmanyofthemare true.Today, organisations need to be constantly adapting; and teamsneed to be constantly adapting as well. Scrum has built-in opportunities toimprove,soencourageyourteaminwhateverwayyoucantotakeadvantageofthem.Evenifit’sjustasmallchange,orasmallexperiment,neverletasprintgoby without something new being attempted. This builds habit and musclememory.

Reducingthecost,thefearandtheriskoftryingsomethingnewiskey,somakeit fun and make it OK to fail. Remember, failure is OK as long as we failquickly,wefailcheaplyandwedon’tfailthesamewaytwice.

GreatScrumMastersnotonlyactascheerleaders for the teambutalsoneed toprovidethisservicetothemselves.It isa lonelyjobat timesand, toencourageothers,greatScrumMastersmustworkontheirowninnerstrengths.

FACILITATE

AgoodScrumMasterhelpstheteamfindwaystooptimisetheirprocess.AgreatScrumMasterguidestheteampasttheneedfor

process(andaScrumMaster).Facilitation is theunderpinning skill andbehaviourof all greatScrumMasters.At all times, great ScrumMasters are of service to the goals of the team, theproductownerand theorganisation.And, if thosegoals conflict, they thinkofthe long-term implications and themessages any compromisewill send. Theyfacilitaterelationshipsbothwithintheteamandalsobetweentheteamandthoseoutside the team. They facilitate the Scrum process and the evolution of theprocess. They facilitate the integration of the Scrum team into the widerorganisationandthechangingofthatorganisationtoactivelysupportScrum.

Great ScrumMasters work relentlessly on themselves in order to becomeexcellent facilitators. They introspect, they retrospect, they seek insights fromothers about their work. And they pair with other ScrumMasters in order tocontinuetheirgrowth.However,greatScrumMastersultimatelyknowthatnoneofthisisaboutthemselves.Thisdoesnotmeanthattheyarenotambitious—farfromit.Howevertheirambitionisforthesuccessofothers.

Their ownpersonal success is judged by howwell they facilitate others to dotheirjobs,byhowmuchtheyarenotnoticedorreliedupon,andbyhowquicklyandeffectivelytheycanstepawayfromtheteamtheyhavehelpedcreate.

Eventually,youmayevenfindyourselffacilitatingyourteamawayfromScrum;oncetheyhavetheirhairyshoes(seechapter“AboveAll,EmpowerTheTeam”foranexplanationofShuHaRi).GreatScrumMastersunderstandthiscanbeagoodthing,giventhattheteamisreadyandthetimeisright,andcouldbetheultimatesignofajobwelldone.

Appendices

WhatIsScrum?

Scrumisanagileframework,whichmeansitfallsunderthelargerumbrellaoftheagilemanifesto[56]andthereforesharesthevaluesandprinciplesstatedintheagilemanifesto.TheaimofScrumistoprovideaframeworkforbeingagilein product development or on project work, i.e. discrete pieces of work thateitherhaveafixedend-dateor(sometimes)afixedscope.Scrumisusuallymostusefulinenvironmentsofcomplexity,uncertaintyand/orchangevolatility.

Scrumdefinesthreerolesforitsprojects:aproductowner,aScrumMaster,andadevelopmentteam.Together,thesethreerolesmakeuptheScrumteam.Inverybroadterms,theproductownerdetermineswhatwillbebuilt, thedevelopmentteamdecideshowtobuildit,andtheScrumMasterensuresthatthedevelopmentteamandproductownerareabletodothesethings.

TheScrumframeworkbeginswith theproductownerestablishingavision forthe product or project—a reason for this piece of work to exist and attractfunding.Scrumisanempiricalorheuristicframework,i.e.,therequirementsfortheprojectareexpected toemergeover thecourseof theproject.Assuch, thegoaloftheprojectisvitallyimportantbecausetheultimatesuccessoftheprojectwillbejudgednotbywhethertherequirementsweremetbutwhetherthevisionwasachieved.ThatisnottosaythattherearenorequirementsinScrum—thereare,andtheyarecapturedinwhatScrumcallsaproductbacklog.

During the sprint, the development team will work towards this sprintcommitment.Scrumprovides twospecific tools tohelp the teammanage theirwork:thedailyscrumandthesprintburndown.Thedailyscrumisashort,15-

minute, status-sharing and re-planning meeting for the members of thedevelopment team. The sprint burndown is a very simple graph of plannedversusoutstandingworkforthesprint.

Attheendofthesprint,Scrumcallsforanopen-invitemeetingcalledthesprintreview. During the sprint review, the Scrum team gets the opportunity toformally review the deliveries from the sprint, often with other projectstakeholderswhoaren’tinvolvedonadailybasis.Thisisalsowhentheproductownergetsanopportunitytousethefeedbackfromthestakeholdersinordertochangethedirectionoftheproductandwhenthereleaseplanisupdatedbasedon the latest empirical data. The sprint review is followed by a sprintretrospective,where thedevelopment teamgets theopportunity toevaluate theprevioussprintandidentifyopportunitiestooptimiseand/orchangetheirprocesstoimprove.

Theproductbacklogiseverchangingbut,atall times, iskept inpriorityorderbytheproductownerandestimatedbythedevelopmentteam,sothatarollingplanofworkcanbeassessed.MostScrumteamswillbeginbycreatingareleaseplantogainaninitialviewoftheviabilityoftheproject.

A release plan will take the prioritised and estimated product backlog andprovidearoughanswertoeither“howlongwillthisamountofproductbacklogtake?”or“howmuchofourproductbacklogcanweexpectbythisdate?”

Regardlessofwhether theteamcreatesareleaseplan,allScrumteamswillgothroughsprintplanning.Asprintisashorttimebox,typicallyonetofourweeks,inwhich the teamagrees toproduceapotentially shippableproduct incrementfromacertainsetofproductbacklogitems.Asprintplanningsessioninvolvestheself-organisingdevelopmentteamdeterminingwhichproductbacklogitemsthey feel able to commit to for the current sprint anddevising a plan for howtheyintendtodeliverthem.

ScrumMasterIsaFullTimeRole

One of the most common questions I get asked is, “So do you really expectsomeonetojustbeaScrumMaster?”mostpeoplefindithardtobelievethatthisrolewill takeuptheirwholeday,fivedaysaweek.Theybelievethat,becausethe team is self-organising and the product owner is more involved, all theScrumMasterneedstodoisrunthemeetings.

Manyorganisationstrytousepart-timeScrumMasters.Thishasthedualbenefitof saving money and keeping their most talented employees in their existingroles. What it also does, however, is prevent these organisations from truesuccesswithScrum,whichcosts themmoneyandsquanderspotentialover thelongterm.

Let’slookatthreecommonexamplesofthepart-timeScrumMaster,allofwhichintroduceaconflictofintereststosomedegree,andexaminetheprosandconsofeach.

TheScrumMaster&productownercombination

Let’s start with the easiest example—the ScrumMaster/product owner. Myadvicehereisquitesimple—don’tdoit!Therolesareseparateforareason.Theproduct owner is responsible for ensuring thatwe are doing the right stuff inordertomaximisethereturnoninvestmentoftheprojectorproduct.Theteamisresponsiblefordoingthestuffright;todelivervalueasquicklyaspossiblewhilemaintaininghighquality.TheScrumMasterisresponsiblefortheintegrityoftheteamandtheprocessitself.ThetensionbetweentheScrumMaster’sattentiontothe process and the product owner’s focus on the product fosters a yin-yangbalanceandmutuallybeneficialinterdependence.

Merging the ScrumMaster and product owner roles removes the balance andthustheneutralityoftherole.Therewillnolongerbeanyneutralfacilitation,noprotectionoftheteamortheprocess.Therewillalwaysbeatleastasuspicionofanulteriormotive toeveryconversationandnosenseofsafetyfor the teamtogrowandexperiment.Ihaveneverseenthesetworolescombinedsuccessfully

TheScrumMaster&teammembercombination

Byfarthemostcommonexampleofthepart-timeScrumMasteriswhenateammember takes on the extra role of ScrumMaster. This usually happens eitherbecause an organisation doesn’t yet believe that a full-time ScrumMaster isnecessary or, as is more often the case, is unwilling to pay for a full-timeScrumMaster.

Having aScrumMaster/teammember (Iwill refer to this dual role as SM/TMgoing forward) does have a few advantages. If the ScrumMaster is also amemberof thedevelopment team, then thatperson likely isalreadyoneof theteam, can speak the same language and can empathise with the developmentteam straight away. The other developers are more likely to be open andtransparentwiththeSM/TMandit’saloteasierfortheSM/TMtoreadbetweenthelinesofwhat’sgoingonintheteam.

Unfortunately, in practice, the dual role of SM/TM compromises both thedevelopmenteffortsoftheindividualandtheeffectivenessoftheScrumMasterrole,usuallyleadingtolowerteamvelocity,soIstronglydiscourageit.

Oneofthefirst,andbiggestissueswithaSM/TMshowsupinplanning.Ateammember who is not totally committed (which is effectively what a SM/TMbecomes)posesaproblemfortheteam:Justhowmuchtimeshouldbesetasidefordevelopmentwork this sprint, andhowmuch time forScrumMaster tasks?Nobodyknows.

Product backlog items are discretework items that are nonetheless difficult toestimate.Whatyouwillneed todoas aScrumMaster this sprint, on theotherhand, is impossible to predict much less account for in terms of time.ScrumMasters are often interrupted or redirected to team issues rather thanproductbacklog items. It’shard, therefore, to trustaSM/TMwithhigh-riskorhigh-priorityitems.

ManyteamssolvethisproblembyhavingtheSM/TMfocusmoreonthelowerriskitems,lettingthefull-timeteammemberstacklethehigherriskandhigherpriorityitems.Thismitigatesriskbutalsomeansthatsometimesthebestpersonisn’tworkingontherighttask.

ThetwomostcommonstrategiesteamsusetohelpalleviatetheseproblemsaretoassumetheScrumMasterrolewilloccupy100percentofthetimeortoassign

theScrumMasterroleanarbitrarypercentageoftime.

AssumeScrumMasterwillhavenotimetodevelop

Inthisscenario,theteamplantheircapacityassumingtheSM/TMisnotgoingtocontributetowardanyproductbacklogitems.IftheSM/TMdoeshavetimetohelp with a task or two, the team treats it as a bonus. This is the simplest,cleanestand,arguably,thebestwaytodealwiththisdualrolewhenitcomestoplanning capacity. The team know what they are planning for and are morelikelytomeettheircommitmentsbecauseoftheextracertainty(andthepotentialbonus contributionof theScrum-master).The teamdon’t have toworry abouttheScrumMastersigningupforimportantdevelopmenttasksandnotbeingableto finish them.SM/TMs,however, tend tomisshavingdevelopmentworkandworrythattheirdevelopmentskillswillbecomerusty.Thiscan,overtime,causeasignificantamountofresentmentintheSM/TM.

Youcould argue, and I havemany times, that if you are planning around thisperson being a ScrumMaster 100 percent of the time,wouldn’t it be better tomakeit formalandbuild it into thebudget?Eitheractuallymakethispersonafull-timeScrumMaster andbackfillwith another teammemberor hire anotherfull-timeScrumMasterandletthispersonconcentrateonbeingagreatmemberofthedevelopmentteam.

Splittheroleonanarbitrarybasis(usually50:50)In this scenario, we just make a guess about how the SM/TM will split theresponsibilitiesofthedual-role.TheSM/TMwilltypicallynotsignuptoanyofthebigger, riskier itemson the sprint backlogbecause there is amuchgreaterchanceofbeingdraggedoff tobeaScrumMaster. It’smuchmoresensibleforthemtopickupthesmaller,simplertasks,leavingtherestoftheteamtocarrythelargerload.

Whilemanyteamswillgravitatetowardsthisstrategyinorderforthedeveloperto keep their hand in, the SM/TMs still aren’t working on important orinterestingdevelopmentwork,andcannotfullycommittotheScrumMasterroleeither.Assuch,resentmentislikelytodevelopinthisscenarioaswell.

Averycommonoutcomeinthisscenarioisthat, towardstheendofthesprint,theSM/TMbecomesoverloadedandhastochoosebetweendevelopmenttasks

andScrumMaster tasks.Whenthishappens, theSM/TMwill failatoneof thedualroles,whichisbothde-motivatingandunfair.

Authorityissues

There is another subtle issue with this dual-role, which is that the SM/TM isattributedaperceivedlevelofauthorityslightlygreaterthaneveryoneelseintheteam,whichharmsself-organisationandteamharmony

Oneoption to helpwith this issue is for teams to rotate the role, so that eachmemberof thedevelopment team takeson thedual-role for a sprint at a time.Thiswouldremovetheimpliedhierarchicalchallengesandmitigatetheimpactson technical passion. It would also give every member of the team anopportunity to get some experience in removing impediments and serving theteam,almostincreasingtheself-organisationalcapabilitiesofeachteammemberinturn.

However, you are almost certain to have someone in the team who is eitherunsuitableforthisrole,ornothappyabouttakingitonandthereforearealmostguaranteedtohaveatleastonesprintwheretheteamstruggles.Also,abigpartof being an effective ScrumMaster is the networking within the organisation:knowingwhotospeaktoandwheretogowhenacertainproblemcomesup.Byonlygivingeachpersononesprint toplay the role,nobody isgoing toget theopportunitytobuilduptheirnetworkandgettheirteethintotherole.

Almostwithoutfail,thecommondenominatorinalloftheteamswhohavethisdual-roleisthelossoftheScrumMasterasanorganisationalchangeagent.

ThebestSM/TMsdomanagetokeepthingstickingoverwithintheteamwhileaddingsomevalueonthedevelopmentsideofthings.ButtheexternalfocusoftheScrumMasterroleisalmostalwaysneglectedandthisdoeskeepteams–andtheirorganisations-fromreachingtheirpotential.EventuallyteamshitaplateauandtheorganisationfailstomoveforwardintothepromisedlandthatwastalkedaboutwhenfirstsettingoffontheScrumjourney.

BeingaScrumMasterformorethanoneteam

The thirdway inwhichorganisations try toemploypart-timeScrumMasters isbydividingoneScrumMasteracross several teams. Ifyou focuspurelyon the

basic mechanics of Scrum then you can possibly get away with being aScrumMasterformorethanoneteambutthemoresubtleaspectsoftheroleareusually lost when one person tries to take on too much. The people-skillsrequiredtobeaneffectiveScrumMastertakeupalotoftime.Developingaself-organisingteamandbuildingtherelationshipsbothwithintheteamandbetweenthe team and others (such as the product owner, the stakeholders andmanagement)isnotaneasything.

Peopleoftenarguethatfocussingononerolefor twoteamsis typicallyeasier,lessconflictingandmoreproductivethanfocussingontworolesforoneteam.People in thisposition tellmehow it canbebeneficial to seeabiggerpictureoutsidethescopeofasingledevelopmentteam;theycansharelearningacrossteams easily and, quite often, resolve impediments that affect multiple teamsmoreefficiently(theoldadageofkillingtwobirdswithonestone).Ihavealsoseenpeople in this rolehavegreaterorganisational influencewhen itcomes toremoving impediments as they canmake the case onbehalf ofmore thanoneteam,thusmakingitappeartobeabiggerimpedimentthanifitwasjustcomingfromoneteam.Thesebenefitsareusuallyincreasediftheteamsareworkingonacommonprojectastheoverlapissignificantlygreaterandthebiggerpictureisthesamepieceofart.However,thesepotentialbenefitsmustbeweighedagainstanaddeddifficultyofsynchronicity.

Teams on the same project typically synchronise their sprints — it typicallymakes sense to have one integrated delivery rather than staggered bits ofdelivery—this means sprint planning and sprint retrospectives happen at thesametime.ThisrequirestheScrumMastertobeintwoplacesatonce,whichisachallenge at best. There will regularly be times during the sprint where bothteams need the ScrumMaster as well and, although some things are easier toorganise(forexampleit’snottoodifficultforteam1tohavetheirdailyscrumat9:00 and team2 to have their daily scrum at 9:15) therewill be other ad-hoccalls for theScrumMaster’s attentionand itwillbedifficult tohave tochoosewhichteamtohelpfirst.

WhenIaskpeopleinthissituationhowtheymakethatdecision,theygenerallytellme“whichever teamhas thegreatestneed.”They sensiblyprioritisebasedoncriticality.However, anyonewhohas childrenwill tell you that reacting tothe one who shouts the loudest will often just lead to increased volume allaroundandthegeneralescalationofundesiredbehaviouraseachchildcompetesfor attention. The most likely outcome here is that, even with the best of

intentions,theScrumMasterwillletbothteamsdown,puttingbothteamsatriskofnon-deliveryandsub-optimisation.

Wheneverpossible,pushforafull-timeroleIronically, if you start off as a full-time ScrumMaster, there is a significantlyhigher likelihood thatyoucouldendupasaneffectivepart-timeScrumMasterformultiple teams, as your teamwill develop their “hairy shoes”muchmorequicklyandbemoreself-sustaining.

Asabit ofpartingadvice, consider themessage that anorganisation sendsbynot supporting the teamwith the ScrumMaster that Scrum requires. This is afundamentallyimportantandfull-timerole.Itisn’treallyaquestionofwhethertheorganisationcanaffordafull-timeScrumMasterbutratherwhethertheycanaffordnottohaveone.Althoughtheoptionsaboveareallvalidwaysofcopingwiththeissue,abettersolutionwouldbetolookattheissueitself—verymuchwhataScrumMasteristheretodo.

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