Alexandre CostaScrum Master| Integer Consulting - Pictet technologiesLoures, Portugal
Jan 31, 2020 9:43 AM
Replying to Eduard Hernandez
...
Never heard that term. At first I thought I read Soccer Mom.
Eduard,
Thank you for sharing your joke, I was expecting by the community a little bit more of discussion, taking in account that Scrum is a topic of this social network, and the topic mention by me is well known in the scrum community.
Alexandre
...
1 reply by Eduard Hernandez
Jan 31, 2020 3:57 PM
Eduard Hernandez
...
Alexandre,
my name is Eduard, not Eduardo.
Apologies if my comment was out of line, was not meant that way.
Saving Changes...
Alexandre CostaScrum Master| Integer Consulting - Pictet technologiesLoures, Portugal
Jan 31, 2020 9:30 AM
Replying to Luis Branco
...
Dear Alexandre
Who are (are) the owners of the process?
If you want to teach team members all the time to do their job, how do you think they will feel?
LuÃs , Scrum Master doesn't teach the members how to do their job, is a facilitator and a servant leadership. The problem is that is not doing a good job when:
1 - Scrum mom deals with all impediments personally, although practically any other team member could act, too. 2 - Scrum mom filters feedback from stakeholders, particularly any negative feedback. Often, she does so by not merely restricting access to the team, but basically shutting it off. 3 - Scrum mom is pampering the team, for example by running errands, or being the team secretary, sometimes bordering on the helper syndrome. 4 - Scrum mom is also preventing the team from failure whenever possible. This even applies, if failing would be easily fixable and wouldn’t be really damaging. (Remember: If you’re not failing, you’re not pushing hard enough…) 5 - Scrum mom is not really challenging the team. She seems to be content, once a certain level of proficiency is achieved. 6 - Scrum mom maybe setting boundaries but is rarely enforcing them. She tends to tolerate damaging behavior from team member in the (futile) hope, the culprit will be insightful and improve over time. 7 - Scrum mom likes all her team members, but there will be often a favorite among them. Etc...
A Scrum master’s good intentions can become an impediment for the Scrum team’s progress. This is particularly true in the case of the Scrum mom, when her shielding of the team prevents its members from learning by failing.
In the end, failure is not the opposite of success, but a necessary stepping stone towards success. Like parents, I believe, Scrum masters need to let go. They need to challenge and support their teams when those are venturing out into the big world on their own.
How is a Scrum team otherwise supposed to become self-organized?
Alexandre
...
2 replies by Adrian Carlogea and Luis Branco
Jan 31, 2020 5:26 PM
Adrian Carlogea
...
If that's a Scrum Mom then I think she is a really benefit for the team and with a Scrum Mon the team can really deliver faster.
"1 - Scrum mom deals with all impediments personally, although practically any other team member could act, too."
If the impediment is technical in nature then I don't think the Scrum Mom can help unless she is a developer or a business analyst or a tester (she might be one of those).
If the impediments are not technical then the Scrum Mom saves a lot of the time of the team members and allows them to focus on their work.
Let's assume a developer can't progress because he needs a new server to test something, but getting the new server requires a lot of work in requesting it getting the required approvals, getting the right resources to install it, etc. It would be a complete waste of the developer's time to deal with all of this, instead of doing this he could work on another task. More impediments are dealt by a non-productive member of the team (such as the SM) better is for the team's progress.
"2 - Scrum mom filters feedback from stakeholders, particularly any negative feedback. Often, she does so by not merely restricting access to the team, but basically shutting it off."
In practice I don't think a SM can shut the access to the team but assuming this was possible in my opinion it would be a very good thing as it would allow the team to progress without being disrupted. It would be the developer's dream :P
"3 - Scrum mom is pampering the team, for example by running errands, or being the team secretary, sometimes bordering on the helper syndrome."
Again this is very good as it allows the team to focus on the actual work and not deal with non-effective work. While the team members are doing things that the SM could do they are not working on their tasks and are not progressing.
Also there is no benefit for the team and team members if they are doing non-effective work.
"4 - Scrum mom is also preventing the team from failure whenever possible. This even applies, if failing would be easily fixable and wouldn’t be really damaging. (Remember: If you’re not failing, you’re not pushing hard enough…)"
I don't think this would be possible. The success or failure depends entirely on the team members, there is nothing the SM can do to prevent failure. She can just help the team to focus on their tasks.
"5 - Scrum mom is not really challenging the team. She seems to be content, once a certain level of proficiency is achieved."
The SM is not a team leader or line manager, the development of the employees is not her responsibility. The SM is or should be jut a facilitator not a boss.
"6 - Scrum mom maybe setting boundaries but is rarely enforcing them. She tends to tolerate damaging behavior from team member in the (futile) hope, the culprit will be insightful and improve over time."
Again that's a line manager/HR problem, the SM is not a boss she is a peer of the team members.She can't set boundaries.
"7 - Scrum mom likes all her team members, but there will be often a favorite among them."
That's life you can't argue with that. But again the SM is not a boss and many times she is much younger and less experienced than all the other team members. Whoever she likes has no influence on the work as she is not the boss. :)
Feb 01, 2020 4:17 AM
Luis Branco
...
Dear Alexandre
Thanks for this comment
Honestly, I never really understood the role of the scrum master
Is he a member of the team?
Does he do work like the rest of the team?
Does he know as much or more than the rest of the team members about the work (content and work methods) they do?
What is this person's path? (Team member and then scrum master)
Product Operations Program ManagerBarcelona, Cataluña, Spain
Jan 31, 2020 2:47 PM
Replying to Alexandre Costa
...
Eduard,
Thank you for sharing your joke, I was expecting by the community a little bit more of discussion, taking in account that Scrum is a topic of this social network, and the topic mention by me is well known in the scrum community.
Alexandre
Alexandre,
my name is Eduard, not Eduardo.
Apologies if my comment was out of line, was not meant that way.
...
1 reply by Alexandre Costa
Jan 31, 2020 4:08 PM
Alexandre Costa
...
No problem about it. Sorry by the wrong name, it was the spell checker, as i have this in portuguese,it changed the name to my native idiom i didn't notice i apologize for that. At least you become to know that your name translated to Portuguese is Eduardo. I will correct right now.
Alexandre
Saving Changes...
Alexandre CostaScrum Master| Integer Consulting - Pictet technologiesLoures, Portugal
Jan 31, 2020 3:57 PM
Replying to Eduard Hernandez
...
Alexandre,
my name is Eduard, not Eduardo.
Apologies if my comment was out of line, was not meant that way.
No problem about it. Sorry by the wrong name, it was the spell checker, as i have this in portuguese,it changed the name to my native idiom i didn't notice i apologize for that. At least you become to know that your name translated to Portuguese is Eduardo. I will correct right now.
LuÃs , Scrum Master doesn't teach the members how to do their job, is a facilitator and a servant leadership. The problem is that is not doing a good job when:
1 - Scrum mom deals with all impediments personally, although practically any other team member could act, too. 2 - Scrum mom filters feedback from stakeholders, particularly any negative feedback. Often, she does so by not merely restricting access to the team, but basically shutting it off. 3 - Scrum mom is pampering the team, for example by running errands, or being the team secretary, sometimes bordering on the helper syndrome. 4 - Scrum mom is also preventing the team from failure whenever possible. This even applies, if failing would be easily fixable and wouldn’t be really damaging. (Remember: If you’re not failing, you’re not pushing hard enough…) 5 - Scrum mom is not really challenging the team. She seems to be content, once a certain level of proficiency is achieved. 6 - Scrum mom maybe setting boundaries but is rarely enforcing them. She tends to tolerate damaging behavior from team member in the (futile) hope, the culprit will be insightful and improve over time. 7 - Scrum mom likes all her team members, but there will be often a favorite among them. Etc...
A Scrum master’s good intentions can become an impediment for the Scrum team’s progress. This is particularly true in the case of the Scrum mom, when her shielding of the team prevents its members from learning by failing.
In the end, failure is not the opposite of success, but a necessary stepping stone towards success. Like parents, I believe, Scrum masters need to let go. They need to challenge and support their teams when those are venturing out into the big world on their own.
How is a Scrum team otherwise supposed to become self-organized?
Alexandre
If that's a Scrum Mom then I think she is a really benefit for the team and with a Scrum Mon the team can really deliver faster.
"1 - Scrum mom deals with all impediments personally, although practically any other team member could act, too."
If the impediment is technical in nature then I don't think the Scrum Mom can help unless she is a developer or a business analyst or a tester (she might be one of those).
If the impediments are not technical then the Scrum Mom saves a lot of the time of the team members and allows them to focus on their work.
Let's assume a developer can't progress because he needs a new server to test something, but getting the new server requires a lot of work in requesting it getting the required approvals, getting the right resources to install it, etc. It would be a complete waste of the developer's time to deal with all of this, instead of doing this he could work on another task. More impediments are dealt by a non-productive member of the team (such as the SM) better is for the team's progress.
"2 - Scrum mom filters feedback from stakeholders, particularly any negative feedback. Often, she does so by not merely restricting access to the team, but basically shutting it off."
In practice I don't think a SM can shut the access to the team but assuming this was possible in my opinion it would be a very good thing as it would allow the team to progress without being disrupted. It would be the developer's dream :P
"3 - Scrum mom is pampering the team, for example by running errands, or being the team secretary, sometimes bordering on the helper syndrome."
Again this is very good as it allows the team to focus on the actual work and not deal with non-effective work. While the team members are doing things that the SM could do they are not working on their tasks and are not progressing.
Also there is no benefit for the team and team members if they are doing non-effective work.
"4 - Scrum mom is also preventing the team from failure whenever possible. This even applies, if failing would be easily fixable and wouldn’t be really damaging. (Remember: If you’re not failing, you’re not pushing hard enough…)"
I don't think this would be possible. The success or failure depends entirely on the team members, there is nothing the SM can do to prevent failure. She can just help the team to focus on their tasks.
"5 - Scrum mom is not really challenging the team. She seems to be content, once a certain level of proficiency is achieved."
The SM is not a team leader or line manager, the development of the employees is not her responsibility. The SM is or should be jut a facilitator not a boss.
"6 - Scrum mom maybe setting boundaries but is rarely enforcing them. She tends to tolerate damaging behavior from team member in the (futile) hope, the culprit will be insightful and improve over time."
Again that's a line manager/HR problem, the SM is not a boss she is a peer of the team members.She can't set boundaries.
"7 - Scrum mom likes all her team members, but there will be often a favorite among them."
That's life you can't argue with that. But again the SM is not a boss and many times she is much younger and less experienced than all the other team members. Whoever she likes has no influence on the work as she is not the boss. :) Saving Changes...
Alexandre CostaScrum Master| Integer Consulting - Pictet technologiesLoures, Portugal
Adrian,
Interesting your arguments, you tailored all of them to contradict all points that I brought to discussion. Interesting, because the points I wrote are not mine , but from Scrum Alliance and the Scrum.org as pointed flaws of a Scrum Master becoming a Scrum Mom, so their long experience is apparently completely wrong. Seems to me that there is a little of bias toward scrum as so is hard to argue with you when you mix scrum master with line managers, I do not know how you form your teams but in my company the scrum teams do not have line managers. If you do not believe in scrum you are free to disagree.
Alexandre
...
1 reply by Adrian Carlogea
Jan 31, 2020 6:28 PM
Adrian Carlogea
...
Hi Alexandre,
I have just expressed my honest opinion about this subject. I think this is probably what you expected and it is more than obvious that when you ask for an opinion about something you should be prepared to hear opinions to which you don't agree. Even if you did not write those points I assumed you agree with them.
It is said that Scrum is supposed to work with self-organized teams and the SM is supposed to be just a facilitator and not a team lead, but at point 6 the Scrum Alliance says that the SM should set boundaries and discipline misbaving employees like a line manager would do. Don't you find a contradiction in this?
Interesting your arguments, you tailored all of them to contradict all points that I brought to discussion. Interesting, because the points I wrote are not mine , but from Scrum Alliance and the Scrum.org as pointed flaws of a Scrum Master becoming a Scrum Mom, so their long experience is apparently completely wrong. Seems to me that there is a little of bias toward scrum as so is hard to argue with you when you mix scrum master with line managers, I do not know how you form your teams but in my company the scrum teams do not have line managers. If you do not believe in scrum you are free to disagree.
Alexandre
Hi Alexandre,
I have just expressed my honest opinion about this subject. I think this is probably what you expected and it is more than obvious that when you ask for an opinion about something you should be prepared to hear opinions to which you don't agree. Even if you did not write those points I assumed you agree with them.
It is said that Scrum is supposed to work with self-organized teams and the SM is supposed to be just a facilitator and not a team lead, but at point 6 the Scrum Alliance says that the SM should set boundaries and discipline misbaving employees like a line manager would do. Don't you find a contradiction in this?
...
1 reply by Alexandre Costa
Jan 31, 2020 7:18 PM
Alexandre Costa
...
Adrian,
Let's see by parts, my English sometimes is not the best. I always prefer a honest and direct opinion that a neutral comment only to mark a presence.
About the role of the scrum master he is a servant-leader this is not the same as facilitator. As main functions and that was what i learn so is always subject to interpretations: -he definitely should serve others and not yourself. -Should not lead by title but should have a leadership that endures (guidance). -Helping people develop and perform as highly as possible (performance) -Selfless management of team members (cross-functional teams) -Promoting genuine team ownership (motivating) -Harnessing the collective power of a team (engagement)
here are some contradictions between my thoughts an yours, you think most of them are responsibility of a line manager i think are responsibility of the scrum master.
A lot o people do not understand well the concept of servant-leadership, i am not saying it's your case. But the paper of servant-leader is adopting a way of leading people without having formal authority over them. The SM resorts to setting a shared vision, involving everyone in the decisions, coaching the group. It leads to an entirely different team dynamic in the end becomes a role model. Even PMI acknowledge that this type of characteristic is a kind of leadership.
The line manager can lead from different ways also adopting a servant-leader attitude, this does not means that he or the SM should not set the boundaries and discipline misbehaving, in fact this should discussed with the team to create ground rules of personal and work interaction.In a Scrum team at least in the teams i work for, the concept of line manager does not exist. It's role of the product owner and scrum master to join skills to lead the project to the desired outcome, all disciplinary problems are solved inside the team, the last resource is use the human resources or the sponsor of the project.
One the concerns of the SM is the performance of the team, is not there to direct, but to guide and should validate who is indeed able to contribute and work together towards the Sprint Goal, monitor the team performance and using radiators to track and show to everyone applying the transparency principle. Why he does this to promote transparency to stakeholders and mainly self-awareness among the team members to encourage the team in the retrospective to encounter ideas or processes to improve performance , if necessary to guide the team in finding the right processes.
Much more could be said, but this points are enough to express my point of view.
Alexandre
Saving Changes...
Alexandre CostaScrum Master| Integer Consulting - Pictet technologiesLoures, Portugal
Jan 31, 2020 6:28 PM
Replying to Adrian Carlogea
...
Hi Alexandre,
I have just expressed my honest opinion about this subject. I think this is probably what you expected and it is more than obvious that when you ask for an opinion about something you should be prepared to hear opinions to which you don't agree. Even if you did not write those points I assumed you agree with them.
It is said that Scrum is supposed to work with self-organized teams and the SM is supposed to be just a facilitator and not a team lead, but at point 6 the Scrum Alliance says that the SM should set boundaries and discipline misbaving employees like a line manager would do. Don't you find a contradiction in this?
Adrian,
Let's see by parts, my English sometimes is not the best. I always prefer a honest and direct opinion that a neutral comment only to mark a presence.
About the role of the scrum master he is a servant-leader this is not the same as facilitator. As main functions and that was what i learn so is always subject to interpretations: -he definitely should serve others and not yourself. -Should not lead by title but should have a leadership that endures (guidance). -Helping people develop and perform as highly as possible (performance) -Selfless management of team members (cross-functional teams) -Promoting genuine team ownership (motivating) -Harnessing the collective power of a team (engagement)
here are some contradictions between my thoughts an yours, you think most of them are responsibility of a line manager i think are responsibility of the scrum master.
A lot o people do not understand well the concept of servant-leadership, i am not saying it's your case. But the paper of servant-leader is adopting a way of leading people without having formal authority over them. The SM resorts to setting a shared vision, involving everyone in the decisions, coaching the group. It leads to an entirely different team dynamic in the end becomes a role model. Even PMI acknowledge that this type of characteristic is a kind of leadership.
The line manager can lead from different ways also adopting a servant-leader attitude, this does not means that he or the SM should not set the boundaries and discipline misbehaving, in fact this should discussed with the team to create ground rules of personal and work interaction.In a Scrum team at least in the teams i work for, the concept of line manager does not exist. It's role of the product owner and scrum master to join skills to lead the project to the desired outcome, all disciplinary problems are solved inside the team, the last resource is use the human resources or the sponsor of the project.
One the concerns of the SM is the performance of the team, is not there to direct, but to guide and should validate who is indeed able to contribute and work together towards the Sprint Goal, monitor the team performance and using radiators to track and show to everyone applying the transparency principle. Why he does this to promote transparency to stakeholders and mainly self-awareness among the team members to encourage the team in the retrospective to encounter ideas or processes to improve performance , if necessary to guide the team in finding the right processes.
Much more could be said, but this points are enough to express my point of view.
Alexandre
...
1 reply by Adrian Carlogea
Jan 31, 2020 8:02 PM
Adrian Carlogea
...
Hi Alexandre. I don't understand the concept of servant leadership but that's because there are a lot of contradictions regarding this term.
For example you are saying this: " this does not means that he or the SM should not set the boundaries and discipline misbehaving"
The Wikipedia article regarding Scrum says this about the Scrum Masters: "One of the ways the scrum master role differs from a project manager is that the latter may have people management responsibilities and the scrum master does not." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrum_(softw...t)#Scrum_master
Setting boundaries and disciplining employees is PEOPLE MANAGEMENT. No doubt about it. :)
Usually most PMs don't have people management responsibility either but some do and the Wikipedia article states that the Scrum Master can never have such responsibilities.
Let's be honest there is no widely accepted definition for servant leadership.In my opinion however, and I am not saying that I am right, when you have the power to discipline others and set rules they must follow you could act as a servant leader but in reality you are not since you have power over them.
In practice the power of the SM depends on the person to which role is being assigned. At one extreme I saw a fresh graduate entry level employee working as a SM while at the other extreme I saw a lead developer having this role.
The lead developer was very authoritarian leading with an iron fist and treating the other developers as subordinates (she was much more senior and more experienced than them) while the fresh graduate SM was some sort of secretary similar a little bit with the Scrum Mom. She was doing mainly administrative tasks. "Her" team also had an experienced lead developer who was actually leading the team.
Let's see by parts, my English sometimes is not the best. I always prefer a honest and direct opinion that a neutral comment only to mark a presence.
About the role of the scrum master he is a servant-leader this is not the same as facilitator. As main functions and that was what i learn so is always subject to interpretations: -he definitely should serve others and not yourself. -Should not lead by title but should have a leadership that endures (guidance). -Helping people develop and perform as highly as possible (performance) -Selfless management of team members (cross-functional teams) -Promoting genuine team ownership (motivating) -Harnessing the collective power of a team (engagement)
here are some contradictions between my thoughts an yours, you think most of them are responsibility of a line manager i think are responsibility of the scrum master.
A lot o people do not understand well the concept of servant-leadership, i am not saying it's your case. But the paper of servant-leader is adopting a way of leading people without having formal authority over them. The SM resorts to setting a shared vision, involving everyone in the decisions, coaching the group. It leads to an entirely different team dynamic in the end becomes a role model. Even PMI acknowledge that this type of characteristic is a kind of leadership.
The line manager can lead from different ways also adopting a servant-leader attitude, this does not means that he or the SM should not set the boundaries and discipline misbehaving, in fact this should discussed with the team to create ground rules of personal and work interaction.In a Scrum team at least in the teams i work for, the concept of line manager does not exist. It's role of the product owner and scrum master to join skills to lead the project to the desired outcome, all disciplinary problems are solved inside the team, the last resource is use the human resources or the sponsor of the project.
One the concerns of the SM is the performance of the team, is not there to direct, but to guide and should validate who is indeed able to contribute and work together towards the Sprint Goal, monitor the team performance and using radiators to track and show to everyone applying the transparency principle. Why he does this to promote transparency to stakeholders and mainly self-awareness among the team members to encourage the team in the retrospective to encounter ideas or processes to improve performance , if necessary to guide the team in finding the right processes.
Much more could be said, but this points are enough to express my point of view.
Alexandre
Hi Alexandre. I don't understand the concept of servant leadership but that's because there are a lot of contradictions regarding this term.
For example you are saying this: " this does not means that he or the SM should not set the boundaries and discipline misbehaving"
The Wikipedia article regarding Scrum says this about the Scrum Masters: "One of the ways the scrum master role differs from a project manager is that the latter may have people management responsibilities and the scrum master does not." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrum_(softw...t)#Scrum_master
Setting boundaries and disciplining employees is PEOPLE MANAGEMENT. No doubt about it. :)
Usually most PMs don't have people management responsibility either but some do and the Wikipedia article states that the Scrum Master can never have such responsibilities.
Let's be honest there is no widely accepted definition for servant leadership.In my opinion however, and I am not saying that I am right, when you have the power to discipline others and set rules they must follow you could act as a servant leader but in reality you are not since you have power over them.
In practice the power of the SM depends on the person to which role is being assigned. At one extreme I saw a fresh graduate entry level employee working as a SM while at the other extreme I saw a lead developer having this role.
The lead developer was very authoritarian leading with an iron fist and treating the other developers as subordinates (she was much more senior and more experienced than them) while the fresh graduate SM was some sort of secretary similar a little bit with the Scrum Mom. She was doing mainly administrative tasks. "Her" team also had an experienced lead developer who was actually leading the team. Saving Changes...
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