ScrumMaster Certification: Answering Crucial Questions – What's A Self-Organizing Team?
In the first two parts of this four-part series, we addressed the broad question of “Why Get Certified?” and how a Certified Scrum Master (CSM) can help an organization transition from a project-based to a product-based organization. In this post, we examine a unique aspect of the Scrum Framework – a self-organizing team and the role that a ScrumMaster can play in helping the Team become self-organizing.
In the first two parts of this four-part series, we addressed the broad question of “Why Get Certified?” and how a Certified Scrum Master (CSM) can help an organization transition from a project-based to a product-based organization. In this post, we examine a unique aspect of the Scrum Framework – a self-organizing team and the role that a ScrumMaster can play in helping the team become self-organizing.
Before outlining the ScrumMaster’s responsibilities in this regard, it’s important to establish what “self-organization” means or more importantly what it does not mean. Self-organization is providing the team with a goal to achieve, constraints to which they must adhere and then getting out of their way as they determine the best way to achieve this goal. Note that this definition does not state the team gets to decide the goal, change the goal or generally decide on a day-to-day basis what work it would like to do or not do. A team that follows this approach is practicing Scrum or any other Framework, it is engaging in a method known as “Chaos”.
This is the first responsibility that a ScrumMaster has in regards to self-organization – teach its definition and highlight to both the team and the organization’s broader leadership the implication of this definition.
Beyond teaching this definition, the ScrumMaster must also encourage the team to practice self-organization. This means not letting the team wait for direction from management before taking action. Whether it’s something as simple as gaining access to a server or something as complicated as identifying the source of an intermittent defect, the onus needs to be on the team to take action. In organizations with a high-degree of “command and control” leadership, a ScrumMaster’s needs to be both persistent and patient with the team. Part of this patience involves the ScrumMaster advocating for action, but not taking that action on the team’s behalf. If the ScrumMaster becomes impatient and acts on the team’s behalf, they have simply replaced management in their former role and the next time the team needs to take action they will wait for the ScrumMaster to act.
Of course, the ScrumMaster also has to protect the team while it learns what it means to be self-organizing. Often times, management will understand the definition of self-organization and will give the team the opportunity to self-organize only to quickly become impatient and fall back to a “command and control” mentality when the team struggles to put the principle into action. A ScrumMaster in this situation needs to coach management regarding the time it takes for a team to adopt a new way of working and preach patience as the team works through this timeline.
In our next post, we will address another crucial question related to the ScrumMaster role – “Isn’t a ScrumMaster just a project manager by another name?” If you are interested in learning more and becoming a Certified Scrum Master (CSM)., click here to view our upcoming classes and register for our next CSM or CSPO course.
Author: Collaborative Leadership Team. Learn more about our coaches and offerings here.
ScrumMaster Certification: Answering Crucial Questions – What's a Product?
In the first part of this four-part series, we addressed the broad question of “Why Get Scrum Certified?” However, there are benefits to obtaining your CertifiedScrum Master (CSM) certification beyond just learning the rules of the game. It also allows you to answer crucial questions using the Scrum Framework.
In the first part of this four-part series, we addressed the broad question of, “Why Get Scrum Certified?” However, there are benefits to obtaining your CertifiedScrum Master (CSM) certification beyond just learning the rules of the game. It also allows you to answer crucial questions using the Scrum Framework.
One of these questions is “What is a product and how does it differ from a project?” Projects, as defined within the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) by the Project Management Institute (PMI) are temporary in nature. People are given an objective, a start and end date and, once the objective is achieved, the team is disbanded and the project is considered “complete”. While this general definition works at some level, it leaves open the issue of who is responsible for the product created by the project once that project is complete. Anyone who works in developing software understands the inevitable struggle that occurs in attempting to hand-off the product from the development team to a support organization. Even if the development team is earnest in planning and executing this transition, this approach of handing off work from one team to another is risky and creates the opportunity for lower quality and decreased customer service.
The Scrum Framework addresses this risk by advocating product-focused thinking and product-focused teams. These teams focus on the entire product. This singular focus eliminates the hand-off described above. Moreover, it connects the development team to the end product and to the customer. If the team produces a poor quality product, they will be the ones that need to deal with the consequences of that poor quality, not another team who had a limited role at best in the development of the product.
A ScrumMaster has a unique role in helping organizations adopting the Framework. While the ScrumMaster serves the Team itself, he or she has a broader responsibility to advocate for change in organization as a whole. With this goal in mind, a ScrumMaster can take the following actions to help the organization transition from a project-focused to a product-focused organization:
- Ask Organizations to be honest about their current state – A ScrumMaster will help reveal the organization to itself. While this statement sounds deeply philosophical, what it is really driving at is the ScrumMaster patiently, respectfully, and courageously asking open-ended questions at all organizational levels in an effort to get the organization to be honest about how a project-based model is working for them. What do our customers say about our releases? What do our support call patterns look like? What is our turnover rate in our Support Center? Each of these questions will help drive the honesty that a ScrumMaster seeks from an organization looking to transition to a product-based model.
- Educate Teams and Executives on the Stages of Team Growth – A ScrumMaster can teach the organization how all teams progress from forming to storming, norming, and finally performing (see Tuckman model). By teaching this progression, ScrumMasters can help the organizations they serve understand that by breaking up a team at the end of each project they are setting any new teams that re-form back to the “forming” stage of team development.
- Facilitate Prioritization of the Product Portfolio – As a neutral coach to the organization, a ScrumMaster can help the organization prioritize the product portfolios that often grow rather large in project-based organizations. While it is up to leadership and the owners of the individual products to determine how the organization will prioritize its product investments, the ScrumMaster, based on his or her neutrality, can facilitate these important discussions.
In our next post, we will address another crucial question related to the ScrumMaster role – “what is a self-organizing team and how does a ScrumMaster help one?” If you are interested in learning more and becoming a Certified Scrum Master (CSM), check out our team offerings here.
Author: Collaborative Leadership Team. Learn more about our coaches and offerings here.
A New Definition of Insanity – Why Certified ScrumMaster Training?
In Certified ScrumMaster courses I find myself using the old saying “The Definition of Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”. Agile approaches such as Scrum are completely different ways of doing work. Yet so many organizations today do not understand this.
In Certified ScrumMaster courses, I find myself using the old saying “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”. Agile approaches such as Scrum are completely different ways of doing work. Yet so many organizations today do not understand this.
Jeff Sutherland created Scrum largely because the traditional way of doing work, or “Waterfall”, physically delays any business value to the customer. Scrum and other Agile methods deliver value faster if used as directed.
So why do organizations insist on continuing to follow the same, old system development life cycles or build cycles that they were using 20-30 years ago? I call this the New Definition of Insanity since all they have changed is their vocabulary. They say things like Daily Scrum or Product Owner, ScrumMaster, Sprint but in reality they have not gotten something shippable into a customer’s hands any faster than the way they had been working.
If work is not done during a Sprint, there are constructs in Scrum to get to the root cause of this and to prevent this from happening again. Yet so many organizations report they simply “carry work over” to the next Sprint. Working in their old Waterfall ways.
In this day and age of Google, Amazon and Zappos, delighting the customer is key. If organizations cannot deliver value to their customers, someone else will. Are you working the same old way, but using new words to describe it?
Want to learn how Scrum delivers business value more quickly? Click here to view our upcoming classes and register for our next CSM or CSPO course.
Author: Collaborative Leadership Team. Learn more about our coaches and offerings here.
Accountability Layers
In the ocean (as marine biologist and Tom Clancy fans well know) there is a point where warm surface water and cold water from below meet. It’s called the Thermocline layer. It’s where the heat from the sun can’t sufficiently heat the water relative to the cooling currents from below.
Do you know where your accountability layer is?
In the ocean (as marine biologist and Tom Clancy fans well know) there is a point where warm surface water and cold water from below meet. It’s called the Thermocline layer. It’s where the heat from the sun can’t sufficiently heat the water relative to the cooling currents from below.
How does this relate to Agile or Scrum? In a couple of ways, but the one we will focus on in this post is, “Where is your Accountability Layer”?
I’m talking about the level in an organization actually tasked with TCB (Taking Care of Business). In a waterfall project this are usually Project Managers, Resource Managers, Team Leads, etc. These roles use words like “driving” and “managing” staff. Accountability for the success or failure rests here. Sure the QA team missed a bunch of bugs but those were just missed requirements, right? If only we’d have just planned more time to get the right answers first.
Agile approaches, such as Scrum, push this layer down to the team level. The TEAM is accountable for their work. The TEAM plans and executes. The TEAM decides the best way (within the boundaries set by the organization) to achieve the goal and deliver the value.
We still need the folks at the old layer level because the Team will need help, guidance, and organization changes that they can’t manage in addition to their new TCB focus. That assistance has to come from the folks that are best at providing it – the old layer.
I really feel this isn’t often addressed in current thinking about change. Moving this layer is a huge cultural shift in addition to the obvious, practical one. Most species in the ocean live above or below the Thermocline layer- and they don’t usually cross it willingly.
Want to learn more about cultural shifts with Agile and Scrum?
Click here to view our upcoming classes and register for our next CSM or CSPO course.
Author: Collaborative Leadership Team. Learn more about our coaches and offerings here.
Consistency vs. Accuracy – Certified ScrumMaster Training
In Certified Scrum Master Training (CSM), participants learn consistent and frequent delivery of value is an outcome when Agile Scrum is used as directed. Accuracy is not the goal, consistency is. Seeking accuracy is the same as trying to be ‘perfect’.
In Certified Scrum Master Training (CSM), participants learn that consistent and frequent delivery of value is an outcome when Agile or Scrum is used as directed. Accuracy is not the goal, consistency is. Seeking accuracy is not the same as trying to be ‘perfect’.
“It is better to be vaguely right than exactly wrong.”
~Carveth Read (1848-1931) Logic Deductive and Inductive
Perfection is unobtainable and creates undo pressure. Consistency is obtainable, allows predictability, and better planning. The best status report is to hand the customer a product. When customers consistently see progress and receive value, conversations focus on the product and what the right thing to do is. Not the politics of where we are and how we get there.
Agile and Scrum teams allow the Scrum framework to work for them and produce their consistency. Teams trying to force consistency in how they use the Scrum framework are trying to be perfect at the cost of delivering value.
Want to learn more?
Click here to view our upcoming classes and register for our next CSM or CSPO course.
Author: Collaborative Leadership Team. Learn more about our coaches and offerings here.