sdec15: help the scrum master is the impediment

Ryan RipleyHelp!!! The ScrumMaster *IS* the Impediment

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#SDEC15

“500 YARDS OF FOUL-SMELLING MUCK”--Red “The Shawshank Redemption”

The Project Manager to ScrumMaster ® pipeline…

What is Agile?

We are uncovering better ways of developingsoftware by doing it and helping others do it.

Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over processes and toolsWorking software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiationResponding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items onthe right, we value the items on the left more.

THE 12 AGILE PRINCIPLES

www.AgileManifesto.org

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.

SCRUM IN ONE SLIDE

Development

Sprint Planning Sprint Review

Sprint Retrospective

Sprint

ROLES: Scrum Master, Product Owner, DeveloperARTIFACTS: Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, Product Increment

Where is the Project Manager?

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

--Ken Schwaber

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

PRODUCT OWNER

SCRUM MASTER

STAKEHOLDERSDEVELOPMENT TEAM

WHAT?WHY?

IMPEDIMENTSSYSTEM

IMPEDIMENTS

FEEDBACK

(HOW)

LEADING CAUSES OF FAILED AGILE PROJECTSFrom the 9th Annual VersionOne State of Agile Report

©2015 VersionOne, Inc. - State of Agile is a trademark of VersionOne, Inc. and VersionOne is a registered trademark of VersionOne, Inc.

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

BARRIERS TO FURTHER AGILE ADOPTIONFrom the 9th Annual VersionOne State of Agile Report

©2015 VersionOne, Inc. - State of Agile is a trademark of VersionOne, Inc. and VersionOne is a registered trademark of VersionOne, Inc.

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

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(SM != Super Man)

“I will solve all of your problems.”

ARE YOU A SUPER 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 HELPLESSNESSHelplessness can lead to overlooking opportunities to improve

“A dead scrum masteris a useless scrum master.”

--Ken Schwaber

It’s Important to Try New Things

1

“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.”

Embrace Learning Opportunities(Failure)

2

“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

Development



Sprint


Is it safe to fail (learn)?

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

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

3

What is the 5 Why’s technique?

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

People do not fail, systems do

Learn Gradually

4

“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

Words Matter

5

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.”

Sustainable Pace Is Important

6

“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 refuses to work weekends. Why don’t they have a sense of urgency?”

Play Well With Others

7

“How inclusive is your team?”

Temper dominant personalities

Draw out the introverts

Time Box Events

8

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

SCRUM IN ONE SLIDE

Development



Sprint


Prevents over-investment in activities(Risk Mitigation)

Promotes a focus on value(Risk Mitigation)

Minimizes cost and impact of errors(Risk Mitigation)

Limits WIP(Risk Mitigation)

Be Kind

9

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 INVALUABLEWhat 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?

Focus on Management

10

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 • 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

Vision – Direction – Goals

“I finally have time to do my job.”

“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

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sdec15: help the scrum master *is* the impediment

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sdec15: help the scrum master is the impediment