What to do if the senior managing is kind of hijacking all the meetings - In backlog refinment meeting, he diverted topic to release plan of next 3 months which was not the agenda.
In review and retrospective meetings, he start discussion on many different to do items or sometimes technical discussion which is completely irrelevant.
PO and I created a release plan but he has not accepted it. Strategies we build together are also not followed by him.
How to tackle the situation without opposing the senior? Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
My initial question is why is a senior manager in the backlog refinement session and retrospective?
Aside from that, this is when the misaligned mindsets thwart the 'transformation' efforts.
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1 reply by Sonali Malu
Jun 24, 2018 2:45 AM
Sonali Malu
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He was a part of the project since project was initiated. So, he join every meeting.
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Eric SimmsSenior Program ManagerBaltimore, Maryland, United States
Don't oppose the senior - instead, 'adjust' his thinking. Talk to him privately and explain the importance of sticking to the agenda, and explain that discussing topics not on the agenda harms the team's performance.
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1 reply by Sonali Malu
Jun 24, 2018 2:50 AM
Sonali Malu
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Yes, will definitely talk to him. Thanks Eric.
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Anish AbrahamPrivacy Program Manager| University of WashingtonAuburn, Wa, United States
I concur with Eric on this.
Try to understand his needs or maybe participate him in the agenda creation, talk to him privately and try to influence his behavior.
Help him understand that he is an observer in normal Scrum ceremonies and not an active participant and if he has concerns to raise then he should bring those to you outside of those ceremonies.
I don't understand why a manager should not directly participate in the work of a Scrum Team, especially if he is ultimately responsible for the outcome of the work being performed.
I mean when you are responsible for the work of a group of people who report to you would you let them alone to do whatever they want and maybe pray for them to succeed? I certainly wouldn't do that.
When you are in charge and you feel that your team is not doing what you think is right to do in order to achieve success you must take action. Of course you may be wrong and your actions could do more damage than good but when you are a manager you must take decisions. If things go wrong at least you know that you have failed on your decisions and not on decisions of other people.
I worked in the past on Scrum Teams and the functional manager was supervising the team from time to time. I believe that this is the right thing to do. Saving Changes...
It may be the "right" thing to do in their eyes, but it isn't Scrum, nor is it Agile. The senior manager is a stakeholder, and there are several avenues for knowing if the team is doing the right job, not least being the initial requirements analysis, prioritizing the backlog, observing daily Scrums, participating in the Sprint Reviews, staying the hell out of Retrospectives, walking past and asking questions of the Agile/Kanban board, viewing/requesting the status reports, speaking/meeting with the PO on project/product matters, speaking/meeting with the Scrum Master on project/process matters, and the list goes on. You can't have a self-empowered autonomous team who are responsible for the the way they work, being told how to do that work by someone not on the team. In that case you might have waterfall wrapped up in a tin-foil Agile veneer with iterations to lend it credibility.
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2 replies by Drew Craig and Sonali Malu
Jun 23, 2018 6:43 AM
Drew Craig
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Sante, this is what I was leading into. There is just so much wrong with the OP statement (not Sonali's fault). From a leadership and organizational perspective, the core fundamentals of what they are 'trying' to do are broken.
Sonali, there is an education and trust gap here. If you have any leverage, try to work on those with leadership - training, discussions, coaching, introduction to leaders from other organizations that were successful, etc. What you describe is micro-management and an anti-pattern in an 'Agile' environment, or anywhere for that matter
Jun 24, 2018 2:49 AM
Sonali Malu
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Thanks Sante for your inputs.
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Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Leave the job. Go for other place. Just in case you can not do that then use some selling methods to be prepare to talk and work with her/him. The method I used with success in this type of situations is "solution selling" or "SPIN" selling selling method. It helped me to understand the pain and to talk with this type of people. You need a change and to produce a change you have to remember the Newton´s Laws of Universal Movement. Perhaps this article could help you on taking other point of view: projectmanagement.com: https://www.projectmanagement.com/blog-pos...zational-change
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1 reply by Sonali Malu
Jun 24, 2018 2:46 AM
Sonali Malu
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Thanks Sergio.
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Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Jun 22, 2018 10:28 PM
Replying to Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD
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It may be the "right" thing to do in their eyes, but it isn't Scrum, nor is it Agile. The senior manager is a stakeholder, and there are several avenues for knowing if the team is doing the right job, not least being the initial requirements analysis, prioritizing the backlog, observing daily Scrums, participating in the Sprint Reviews, staying the hell out of Retrospectives, walking past and asking questions of the Agile/Kanban board, viewing/requesting the status reports, speaking/meeting with the PO on project/product matters, speaking/meeting with the Scrum Master on project/process matters, and the list goes on. You can't have a self-empowered autonomous team who are responsible for the the way they work, being told how to do that work by someone not on the team. In that case you might have waterfall wrapped up in a tin-foil Agile veneer with iterations to lend it credibility.
Sante, this is what I was leading into. There is just so much wrong with the OP statement (not Sonali's fault). From a leadership and organizational perspective, the core fundamentals of what they are 'trying' to do are broken.
Sonali, there is an education and trust gap here. If you have any leverage, try to work on those with leadership - training, discussions, coaching, introduction to leaders from other organizations that were successful, etc. What you describe is micro-management and an anti-pattern in an 'Agile' environment, or anywhere for that matter
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2 replies by Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD and Sonali Malu
Jun 23, 2018 9:18 AM
Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD
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Andrew, agreed.
Jun 24, 2018 2:46 AM
Sonali Malu
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Yeah... I agree with you.
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Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Sante, this is what I was leading into. There is just so much wrong with the OP statement (not Sonali's fault). From a leadership and organizational perspective, the core fundamentals of what they are 'trying' to do are broken.
Sonali, there is an education and trust gap here. If you have any leverage, try to work on those with leadership - training, discussions, coaching, introduction to leaders from other organizations that were successful, etc. What you describe is micro-management and an anti-pattern in an 'Agile' environment, or anywhere for that matter
