Advice Report Scrum Master Example. <Name> <Organisation>

Transcription

1 Advice Report Scrum Master Example <Name> <Organisation>

2 Introduction This graph shows the evolution of the Scrum Master role. As you can see the role is based on six different stages. One stage is not better than the other, it simply has different mindset focus, pitfalls and learnings. In each stage it shows you also how you can grow towards the next stage; what books to read, which videos to watch and the trainings that can be useful in the specific stage. According to the results of your assessment, we created an advisory report that gives you more information on your current stage as a Scrum Master and how to grow to the next. Lets see what your results are and how your colleagues think you act in your role as a Scrum Master.

3 Results Your average score is a: 3,6 You are at the stage of an Organizer in the role of Scrum Master. The average scrore of an Organizer is between the 3,5 and 4,1.

4 Compared to the Clerk and the Puppet Master, the Organizer has managed to make his team aware of the Scrum Values (Commitment, Focus, Openness, Respect & Courage). He has realized that by doing all the complex technical work himself, he actually prevents his team to learn (there is no need for other heroes when you already have Superman). So instead of being Superman, he steps aside and facilitates the team to do it themselves. As a result, he can focus on teaching people about Scrum and making sure they live the values. The Organizer is focused on making sure that all Scrum events have an optimal result. He also has made time to provide data, so people can start acting on facts instead of gut feeling. Although the Organizer himself acts with the Scrum Values in mind, his team is still learning and needs his full attention.

5 From Organizer to Coach Mindset focus The Puppet Master and the Clerk have two things in common. They are both occupied in getting the basic stuff in place. They do a lot of work themselves. The Organizer has managed to delegate a lot of these operational tasks. The Development Team is now fixing all technical challenges. Although they are still learning and sometimes need help, they feel accountable themselves. As a result, the Organizer can start working on developing his coaching skills. His focus shifts from how to do it towards how to teach others to do it. The Organizer also has more time to really facilitate people without having to give the answers all himself. Questions that the organizer typically deals with: How can I make my Product Owner more successful? How can I make my Development Team more successful? How can I remove waste from our process? How can I provide correct and usable data to drive change? The Organizer has enough mental space to go into helicopter mode. During the Sprint and all Scrum events he helps the Development Team and the Product Owner to act towards the optimal result for each event: He facilitates that the Product Owner, Development Team and stakeholders work towards good feedback during the Sprint Review. Instead of running the event himself the Product Owner and Development Team run the show. He no longer needs to be present during the Daily Scrum, because the Development Team is capable of having effective Daily Scrums themselves. He no longer needs to be present during the Backlog Refinement sessions, because the Development Team and the Product Owner are capable of maintaining the Product Backlog themselves.

6 Pitfalls Letting go to soon The Organizer is capable of delegating stuff to his team. As a result, teams will start a similar search as the Scrum Master has gone through. In this search they need guidance, so they can learn from the Scrum Master. It is like teaching a person to learn to swim. You need to show them first and then they need to practice. But make sure that while they are practicing you are watching them, so they will not drown. A pitfall is to drop them in the water without supervision. There are a lot of bad Scrum implementations, because the Scrum Master lost track of his team while they were learning. Confusing teaching with coaching The focus of the Organizer is on knowledge transfer and creation of ownership. Many Scrum Masters have a natural gift of transferring knowledge by teaching people. A lot of those Scrum Masters often think that creating ownership can be accomplished in the same way. Telling people how you would do it or providing them with practices\kpi s will not change the way people act. You will not create self-organization by teaching people how to do it. You will need to develop some coaching skills. Scratching the surface Now that the team is fixing impediments by themselves, the Scrum Master can focus on the creation of a high performing team that continuously improves itself. But, what are the characteristics of a high performing team? What is the reason that many teams with highly skilled professionals are not able to become high performing as one coherent team? Many teams often discuss tangible impediments that popped during the Sprint, but if there are trust or personal issues underneath they often are not addressed. And what are the actionable steps a Scrum Master can take? How to turn a team of individuals into a real team that is self-organizing and able to address personal issue as well? In this phase of development, a Scrum Master will typically be struggling with these kind of questions. He often only scratches the surface, instead of tackling the real problem. Small circle of influence Until this development stage the main focus of the Scrum Master was on the Scrum team. A lot of stuff needed to be put in place to prove that the team was capable of handling complex situations themselves. This often results in a small circle of influence that doesn t go further than the team scope and perhaps a few of the stakeholders that were involved. From his helicopter-view the Organizer often realizes that he needs to widen his circle of influence. By doing this he can help to fix impediments that are more complex and often reside outside the team scope. Creating motion Organizers are often busy setting things in motion. Especially in large organizations this is often hard due to institutionalized processes and customs. In this phase Scrum Masters are often experimenting with finding the right buttons for increasing the speed of change.

7 Tips & Tricks Learn about Professional Coaching The Organizer needs to shift his style from teaching people to really coaching people. And coaching is hard. It all starts with the belief that people have an inherent desire to strive toward meaningful and fulfilling goals and will perform at their best when challenged. It is easy to give people a coach -label. It is much more difficult to actually learn the skills of a Professional Coach. It takes years of practice and persistence Help people with Discovery & Self-organization One of the improvement suggestions for the Scribe was to become a Master in Discovery & Self-organization. In the Scribe stage, the Scrum Master has probably learned how to discover who he is, what makes him tick, what his goals are in life and how to accomplish them. Once he has been through these learnings, an Organizer should be capable of helping his team members, team and organization in doing the same. An organizer should help his environment in discovering values, capturing a vision and translating this into small achievable goals. Discover the influence of the environment Little things can make a big difference. If you want to get things in motion you need to discover the factors that catalyze motion: Which people can help spreading the message you are trying to send? What changes can you make in the environment in order to make people behave differently? How to communicate to make a message stick? Skills to learn Personal coaching Empathic listening Workshop & training facilitation Suggested readings Five dysfunctions of a team Patrick Lencioni Coaching Agile Teams Lyssa Adkins Coactive Coaching CTI Nederland Yes! a crisis Marc Lammers Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point Mary & Tom Poppendieck Blink Malcolm Gladwell I wish I worked there! Kursty Groves, Will Knight, Edward Denison Fish! Lundin, Paul & Christensen Suggested courses\workshops Scrum Master II (incl. PSM II exam) Agile Personal Development Coaching Agile teams 3.0 Scrum Master advanced