HELP!!! THE SCRUM MASTER IS THE IMPEDIMENT!

@ryanripley PMI-ACP, PSM I, PSM II, PSE, PSPO I, PSD I, CSM, and CSPO

SCRUM IN ONE SLIDE ROLES: Scrum Master, Product Owner, Developer ARTIFACTS: Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, Product Increment Sprint Retrospective Development Sprint Planning Sprint Review Sprint

A project manager could maybe become a tester...maybe. --Ken Schwaber

The PMP to ScrumMaster pipeline 500 YARDS OF FOUL-SMELLING MUCK --Red The Shawshank Redemption

What is Agile?

We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

THE 12 AGILE PRINCIPLES Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation. Working software is the primary measure of progress. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility. Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly. www.agilemanifesto.org

SCRUM IN ONE SLIDE ROLES: Scrum Master, Product Owner, Developer ARTIFACTS: Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, Product Increment Sprint Retrospective Development Sprint Planning Sprint Review Sprint

What is a Scrum Master?

The Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring Scrum is understood and enacted. Scrum Masters do this by ensuring that the Scrum Team adheres to Scrum theory, practices, and rules. --The Scrum Guide

Where is the Project Manager?

LEADING CAUSES OF FAILED AGILE PROJECTS From the 9 th Annual VersionOne State of Agile Report 42% Company philosophy or culture at odds with core agile values 37% External pressure to follow traditional waterfall processes 38% Lack of management support 30% Insufficient training 33% A broader organizational or communications problem 33% Unwillingness of team to follow agile 2015 VersionOne, Inc. - State of Agile is a trademark of VersionOne, Inc. and VersionOne is a registered trademark of VersionOne, Inc.

BARRIERS TO FURTHER AGILE ADOPTION From the 9 th Annual VersionOne State of Agile Report 22% Concerns about a loss of management control 24% Management concerns about lack of upfront planning 29% Management support 44% Ability to change organizational culture 34% General organizational resistance to change 35% Not enough personnel with necessary agile experience 2015 VersionOne, Inc. - State of Agile is a trademark of VersionOne, Inc. and VersionOne is a registered trademark of VersionOne, Inc.

Scrum Masters have their hands full, but not with software development

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

Common Scrum Master Impediments: Agile Expert one true way to be agile Project Manager assigning tasks Technical Lead dictating solutions to the dev team

SUPER HERO

I will solve all of your problems.

ARE YOU A HERO?: Team seeks your approval before acting Team asks about the right way to do Agile Are you insisting on correct solutions?

THINGS TO CONSIDER: Resist the urge to solve the teams problems Get comfortable with awkward silence Focus on relationships

BEWARE LEARNED HELPLESSNESS Helplessness can lead to overlooking opportunities to improve

A dead scrum master is a useless scrum master. --Ken Schwaber

1 It s Important to Try New Things

Three pillars uphold every implementation of empirical process control: transparency, inspection, and adaptation. --The Scrum Guide

At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly. --Agile Manifesto

Experimentation is at the heart of Agile

Are experiments safe?

Your teams velocity is worse than the other scrums teams. Find a way to get your velocity up, or we may have to reassign resources.

2 Embrace Learning Opportunities (Failure)

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

Happy Accidents Thomas Edison failed thousands of times until he found the correct filament for the light bulb. Post-It notes were invented to replace bookmarks. Kleenex tissues were originally made to remove make-up. WD40 is named after the number of attempts to get the water displacement formula correct. These ideas were at one point failures

Not every experiment is a winner and not every failure is a loser.

SCRUM IN ONE SLIDE ROLES: Scrum Master, Product Owner, Developer ARTIFACTS: Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, Product Increment Sprint Retrospective Development Sprint Planning Sprint Review Sprint

Is it safe to fail (learn)?

That developer is slacking. When is the scrum master going to take care of the poor performer?

3 Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

What is the 5 Why s technique?

Often we push past the surface issues and find more complex system and relationship issues at the 5 th why

People do not fail, systems do

4 Learn Gradually

I don t think that design will work. You should code the story like this

THINGS TO LOOK FOR: Is design/architecture emergent? Are the developers disengaged? How does the team decide the best way to do their work? Is pair programming, #mobprogramming, or swarming happening?

ADJUSTMENTS: Leave the developers alone Step down as scrum master and resume a coding role Focus on guiding rather than directing Ask for permission to help

5 Words Matter

Your words are winning hearts and changing minds.

Be consistent.

Following through isn t optional.

Communication is your greatest tool. How you frame discussions WILL make or break your agile transformations and projects.

Teams ship working software at the end of each sprint. That s why we implemented scrum. Work the weekends if you re behind. The team needs to deliver on their commitments.

6 Sustainable Pace Is Important

Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely. --Agile Manifesto

Sustainable pace is a quality play Burned out developers deliver bad code They also find better jobs

Sustainable pace is a productivity play Continuous integration, automated testing, skill building, and whole team understanding become important when long hours are not an option

Sustainable pace is predictable Over a period of time, the amount of work that a scrum team - working at a sustainable pace - can accomplish will become consistent

Sustainable pace is humane

Your team leaves at 5:00pm and refuse to work weekends. Why don t they have a sense of urgency?

7 Play Well With Others

How inclusive is your team?

Temper dominant personalities

Draw out the introverts

8 Time Box Events

A time box is a fixed period of time to perform an action or to achieve a goal.

SCRUM IN ONE SLIDE ROLES: Scrum Master, Product Owner, Developer ARTIFACTS: Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, Product Increment Sprint Retrospective Development Sprint Planning Sprint Review Sprint

Prevents over-investment in activities (Risk Mitigation)

Promotes a focus on value (Risk Mitigation)

Minimizes cost and impact of errors (Risk Mitigation)

9 Be Kind

Make sure people are ready to hear what you have to say.

AGILE IMPACTS EVERYONE?????? Organizational Change Leadership Change Team Change Status Change Job Description Change Role Change Culture Change

People who ask others to change may not understand what value they are asking people to give up. And in fact, they may not appreciate or even notice what s valuable to the people they expect to change. --Esther Derby

We are telling people to give up the tools, methods, processes, and behaviors that have made them successful.

WARNING SIGNS: Arguments What has to be true? Emotional outbursts Am I talking to the team or at the team? Your feelings Am I enjoying my role?

ARE YOU BEING KIND? Take time to reflect on difficult exchanges What is motivating you? Anxiety, fear, or frustration Address the friction in the retrospective Ask the team for feedback and support

RESPONSES TO CHANGE ARE INVALUABLE What is the source of their resistance? Do people know how to do what they are being asked to do? Is there a personal conflict that is causing resistance? Is someone a champion of the old process? Are there systems in place that reward disruptive behavior? Is the path to success unclear to them? What does someone lose due to the change?

10 Focus on Management

You are going to face a lot of wrong premises about what makes safety and speed possible.

What does it matter how many times I reassign team members, isn t that what self-organization is for?

Self-organization does not initially feel safe or fast.

SCRUM MANAGEMENT Vision Direction Goals I finally have time to do my job. Manage the boundaries Build Stable Teams Hire people Grow skills Act transparently Examine systems & correct faulty ones Give guidance when asked/needed Reach across org charts Definition of Done Continuous improvement Expect working software every sprint

A scrum teams job is to self-organize around the challenges, and within the boundaries and constraints, put in place by management. --Mike Cohn, Succeeding with Agile

What must be true for a person to ask that question?

Agile is for IT. Why are you talking to HR and finance?"

What must be true for a person to say that?

You can t coach if you ve never developed software. Pick another scrum master for this team."

Managers are still needed. Not so much for their planning and controlling ability, but for that important job of interfacing on the teams behalf with the rest of the organization. --Diana Larsen

FEEDBACK

http://ryanripley.com ryan@ryanripley.com @ryanripley Podcast available on itunes, Stitcher, and ryanripley.com