Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Jan 31, 2020 2:54 PM
Replying to Alexandre Costa
...
Luís , 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
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)
...
2 replies by Alexandre Costa and Luis Branco
Feb 01, 2020 4:55 AM
Alexandre Costa
...
Dear Luis,
Scrum master has different roles according the environment:
With the organization:
- Leading and coaching the organization in its Scrum adoption;
- Planning Scrum implementations within the organization;
- Helping employees and stakeholders understand and enact Scrum and empirical product development;
- Causing change that increases the productivity of the Scrum Team; and,
- Working with other Scrum Masters to increase the effectiveness of the application of Scrum in the organization.
To Scrum team:
What does a Scrum Master do? The Scrum Master removes any impediments that obstruct a team’s pursuit of its sprint goals. If developers don’t have a good sense of what each other are doing, the Scrum Master helps them set up a physical taskboard and shows the team how to use it. If developers aren’t colocated, the Scrum Master ensures that they have team room. If outsiders interrupt the team, the Scrum Master redirects them to the Product Owner. If the team has not learned how to develop a potentially shippable product increment every Sprint, the Scrum Master teaches them Test Driven Development (TDD), or finds people who can teach them. If the existing code is so bad that it slows down new development, the Scrum Master helps the team learn how to pay off technical debt incrementally. In the end he must ensure that all scrum ceremonies are done in the correct way and guide and coach the team in that direction, always providing transparency about the team performance to the rest of company but essentially to the own team so they following the scrum steps and collectively with the team inspect and adapt their work to reach the ultimate goal.
In the scrum Master role is not mandatory technical skills about the team work and never should develop in my perspective, and yes a developer or any other person with the right training and soft skills can become a Scrum Master.
Scrum Master versus Product Owner
These two roles overlap in some of their skill sets, which means the individuals filling them should be able to collaborate well as peers
How should the Scrum Master and Scrum Owner collaborate?
1. Backlog Grooming
2. Enhancing Team Communication
3. Improving Team Morale
4. Ensuring Cross-dependencies With Other Teams
5. Clarifying the Product Vision
6. Facilitating Engaging Meetings
Alexandre
Feb 01, 2020 6:10 AM
Luis Branco
...
Dear Alexandre Thank you for your response and for clarifying the role of the Scrum Master
If he don't do the same job as the rest of the team, if he don't have more experience than the team members in doing the job (content and form) ... A few years ago he was called controller, middle manager, etc :-)
Saving Changes...
Alexandre CostaScrum Master| Integer Consulting - Pictet technologiesLoures, Portugal
Feb 01, 2020 4:17 AM
Replying to 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)
Dear Luis,
Scrum master has different roles according the environment:
With the organization:
- Leading and coaching the organization in its Scrum adoption;
- Planning Scrum implementations within the organization;
- Helping employees and stakeholders understand and enact Scrum and empirical product development;
- Causing change that increases the productivity of the Scrum Team; and,
- Working with other Scrum Masters to increase the effectiveness of the application of Scrum in the organization.
To Scrum team:
What does a Scrum Master do? The Scrum Master removes any impediments that obstruct a team’s pursuit of its sprint goals. If developers don’t have a good sense of what each other are doing, the Scrum Master helps them set up a physical taskboard and shows the team how to use it. If developers aren’t colocated, the Scrum Master ensures that they have team room. If outsiders interrupt the team, the Scrum Master redirects them to the Product Owner. If the team has not learned how to develop a potentially shippable product increment every Sprint, the Scrum Master teaches them Test Driven Development (TDD), or finds people who can teach them. If the existing code is so bad that it slows down new development, the Scrum Master helps the team learn how to pay off technical debt incrementally. In the end he must ensure that all scrum ceremonies are done in the correct way and guide and coach the team in that direction, always providing transparency about the team performance to the rest of company but essentially to the own team so they following the scrum steps and collectively with the team inspect and adapt their work to reach the ultimate goal.
In the scrum Master role is not mandatory technical skills about the team work and never should develop in my perspective, and yes a developer or any other person with the right training and soft skills can become a Scrum Master.
Scrum Master versus Product Owner
These two roles overlap in some of their skill sets, which means the individuals filling them should be able to collaborate well as peers
How should the Scrum Master and Scrum Owner collaborate?
1. Backlog Grooming
2. Enhancing Team Communication
3. Improving Team Morale
4. Ensuring Cross-dependencies With Other Teams
5. Clarifying the Product Vision
6. Facilitating Engaging Meetings
Alexandre
...
1 reply by Adrian Carlogea
Feb 01, 2020 10:36 AM
Adrian Carlogea
...
"[...] If the team has not learned how to develop a potentially shippable product increment every Sprint, the Scrum Master teaches them Test Driven Development (TDD), or finds people who can teach them. If the existing code is so bad that it slows down new development, the Scrum Master helps the team learn how to pay off technical debt incrementally [...]"
You need to be a very experienced developer in order to be able to understand these terms, but you are saying that the Scrum Master must not necessarily be technical.
As I was saying Luis a non-technical SM would end up coaching others on things he does not really understand but just read about them in books. :)
Technical debt is something only the developers that are actively working with the code in question really understand and only they can decide if this needs fixing and how. They don't need a non-developer or a even a developer that is not actively working on the code to tell them how to do this.
How would you feel, as a very experienced developer, if a fresh graduate employee that was assigned as SM and who has never written a line of code in his/her life gives you lessons on how to deal with technical debt? Yes many companies assign as SM fresh graduates but they don't teach the developers how to deal with technical debt or how to do their work. These SMs are effectively Scrum secretaries dealing with administrative tasks and solving issues that don't require the expertise of the productive team members. To some extent they work as a Scrum Mom. :P
Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Feb 01, 2020 4:17 AM
Replying to 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)
Dear Alexandre Thank you for your response and for clarifying the role of the Scrum Master
If he don't do the same job as the rest of the team, if he don't have more experience than the team members in doing the job (content and form) ... A few years ago he was called controller, middle manager, etc :-)
...
1 reply by Adrian Carlogea
Feb 01, 2020 7:59 AM
Adrian Carlogea
...
Hi Luis,
Whoever gets assigned as a SM varies greatly from organization to organization (project to project). Sometimes the role of the SM gets rotated between all the team members other times it gets assigned to a team member who must perform it in addition to his main role. In many companies or projects, the SM is a dedicated role.
The role exists because the methodology says it should exist and someone must perform the so-called Scrum ceremonies but in practice from my experience the role does not bring any real value. Most developers I know hate Scrum as it makes their life harder and when I worked as full-time developer, I also hate it. Developers don't write better and faster code just because Scrum is adopted.
When the SM is someone that has never worked in similar roles as the Scrum team members then things become ridiculous as he needs to teach and coach others on some things, but he will never understand how they feel about those things. Such SMs see Scrum with completely different eyes than the team members. Before you coach some people on anything you must have been in their shoes first.
Dear Alexandre Thank you for your response and for clarifying the role of the Scrum Master
If he don't do the same job as the rest of the team, if he don't have more experience than the team members in doing the job (content and form) ... A few years ago he was called controller, middle manager, etc :-)
Hi Luis,
Whoever gets assigned as a SM varies greatly from organization to organization (project to project). Sometimes the role of the SM gets rotated between all the team members other times it gets assigned to a team member who must perform it in addition to his main role. In many companies or projects, the SM is a dedicated role.
The role exists because the methodology says it should exist and someone must perform the so-called Scrum ceremonies but in practice from my experience the role does not bring any real value. Most developers I know hate Scrum as it makes their life harder and when I worked as full-time developer, I also hate it. Developers don't write better and faster code just because Scrum is adopted.
When the SM is someone that has never worked in similar roles as the Scrum team members then things become ridiculous as he needs to teach and coach others on some things, but he will never understand how they feel about those things. Such SMs see Scrum with completely different eyes than the team members. Before you coach some people on anything you must have been in their shoes first.
...
1 reply by Luis Branco
Feb 01, 2020 8:49 AM
Luis Branco
...
Dear Adrian
Thank you for your opinion
It made me much more comfortable :-)
Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Feb 01, 2020 7:59 AM
Replying to Adrian Carlogea
...
Hi Luis,
Whoever gets assigned as a SM varies greatly from organization to organization (project to project). Sometimes the role of the SM gets rotated between all the team members other times it gets assigned to a team member who must perform it in addition to his main role. In many companies or projects, the SM is a dedicated role.
The role exists because the methodology says it should exist and someone must perform the so-called Scrum ceremonies but in practice from my experience the role does not bring any real value. Most developers I know hate Scrum as it makes their life harder and when I worked as full-time developer, I also hate it. Developers don't write better and faster code just because Scrum is adopted.
When the SM is someone that has never worked in similar roles as the Scrum team members then things become ridiculous as he needs to teach and coach others on some things, but he will never understand how they feel about those things. Such SMs see Scrum with completely different eyes than the team members. Before you coach some people on anything you must have been in their shoes first.
Dear Adrian
Thank you for your opinion
It made me much more comfortable :-) Saving Changes...
Scrum master has different roles according the environment:
With the organization:
- Leading and coaching the organization in its Scrum adoption;
- Planning Scrum implementations within the organization;
- Helping employees and stakeholders understand and enact Scrum and empirical product development;
- Causing change that increases the productivity of the Scrum Team; and,
- Working with other Scrum Masters to increase the effectiveness of the application of Scrum in the organization.
To Scrum team:
What does a Scrum Master do? The Scrum Master removes any impediments that obstruct a team’s pursuit of its sprint goals. If developers don’t have a good sense of what each other are doing, the Scrum Master helps them set up a physical taskboard and shows the team how to use it. If developers aren’t colocated, the Scrum Master ensures that they have team room. If outsiders interrupt the team, the Scrum Master redirects them to the Product Owner. If the team has not learned how to develop a potentially shippable product increment every Sprint, the Scrum Master teaches them Test Driven Development (TDD), or finds people who can teach them. If the existing code is so bad that it slows down new development, the Scrum Master helps the team learn how to pay off technical debt incrementally. In the end he must ensure that all scrum ceremonies are done in the correct way and guide and coach the team in that direction, always providing transparency about the team performance to the rest of company but essentially to the own team so they following the scrum steps and collectively with the team inspect and adapt their work to reach the ultimate goal.
In the scrum Master role is not mandatory technical skills about the team work and never should develop in my perspective, and yes a developer or any other person with the right training and soft skills can become a Scrum Master.
Scrum Master versus Product Owner
These two roles overlap in some of their skill sets, which means the individuals filling them should be able to collaborate well as peers
How should the Scrum Master and Scrum Owner collaborate?
1. Backlog Grooming
2. Enhancing Team Communication
3. Improving Team Morale
4. Ensuring Cross-dependencies With Other Teams
5. Clarifying the Product Vision
6. Facilitating Engaging Meetings
Alexandre
"[...] If the team has not learned how to develop a potentially shippable product increment every Sprint, the Scrum Master teaches them Test Driven Development (TDD), or finds people who can teach them. If the existing code is so bad that it slows down new development, the Scrum Master helps the team learn how to pay off technical debt incrementally [...]"
You need to be a very experienced developer in order to be able to understand these terms, but you are saying that the Scrum Master must not necessarily be technical.
As I was saying Luis a non-technical SM would end up coaching others on things he does not really understand but just read about them in books. :)
Technical debt is something only the developers that are actively working with the code in question really understand and only they can decide if this needs fixing and how. They don't need a non-developer or a even a developer that is not actively working on the code to tell them how to do this.
How would you feel, as a very experienced developer, if a fresh graduate employee that was assigned as SM and who has never written a line of code in his/her life gives you lessons on how to deal with technical debt? Yes many companies assign as SM fresh graduates but they don't teach the developers how to deal with technical debt or how to do their work. These SMs are effectively Scrum secretaries dealing with administrative tasks and solving issues that don't require the expertise of the productive team members. To some extent they work as a Scrum Mom. :P
...
1 reply by Alexandre Costa
Feb 01, 2020 11:26 AM
Alexandre Costa
...
Obviously, you did not want to read the sentence well, and are intentionally misleading others , and conveniently forget the last part of the sentence. Quoting :
"If the team has not learned how to develop a potentially shippable product increment every Sprint, the Scrum Master teaches them Test Driven Development (TDD), or finds people who can teach them".
Obviously the scrum master can have technical knowledge , but is not mandatory all depends of his background.
I like to discuss ideas, scrum is a framework with high implementation in software development. Several institutions backup and spread across the world this way of develop projects.
So you if you had bad experiences with scrum and probably with scrum poorly executed, so you think everything is bad and are generalizing your thoughts, so using your way of thinking and the statistics of PMI most of the projects using waterfall are not successful in that case why do you need a project manager.
I can't believe that in so many things written you couldn't point any positive ideas. So you have your ideas I have mine, nevertheless I am always with my mind open to listen others and reflect in their ideas.
It's enough to see the statistics and see the % of projects completed using scrum or waterfall, probably you will start second guessing some your words.
This is my last intervention in the subject because the course of the discussion has deviated from the actual theme, if you don't believe in scrum, scrum master why the well do you comment the topic Scrum Mom. ( Topic : What are the worst effects of this syndrome for you? ) ,
I was not discussion the validation of the framework and their roles, completely out of context of my question.
Alexandre
Saving Changes...
Alexandre CostaScrum Master| Integer Consulting - Pictet technologiesLoures, Portugal
Feb 01, 2020 10:36 AM
Replying to Adrian Carlogea
...
"[...] If the team has not learned how to develop a potentially shippable product increment every Sprint, the Scrum Master teaches them Test Driven Development (TDD), or finds people who can teach them. If the existing code is so bad that it slows down new development, the Scrum Master helps the team learn how to pay off technical debt incrementally [...]"
You need to be a very experienced developer in order to be able to understand these terms, but you are saying that the Scrum Master must not necessarily be technical.
As I was saying Luis a non-technical SM would end up coaching others on things he does not really understand but just read about them in books. :)
Technical debt is something only the developers that are actively working with the code in question really understand and only they can decide if this needs fixing and how. They don't need a non-developer or a even a developer that is not actively working on the code to tell them how to do this.
How would you feel, as a very experienced developer, if a fresh graduate employee that was assigned as SM and who has never written a line of code in his/her life gives you lessons on how to deal with technical debt? Yes many companies assign as SM fresh graduates but they don't teach the developers how to deal with technical debt or how to do their work. These SMs are effectively Scrum secretaries dealing with administrative tasks and solving issues that don't require the expertise of the productive team members. To some extent they work as a Scrum Mom. :P
Obviously, you did not want to read the sentence well, and are intentionally misleading others , and conveniently forget the last part of the sentence. Quoting :
"If the team has not learned how to develop a potentially shippable product increment every Sprint, the Scrum Master teaches them Test Driven Development (TDD), or finds people who can teach them".
Obviously the scrum master can have technical knowledge , but is not mandatory all depends of his background.
I like to discuss ideas, scrum is a framework with high implementation in software development. Several institutions backup and spread across the world this way of develop projects.
So you if you had bad experiences with scrum and probably with scrum poorly executed, so you think everything is bad and are generalizing your thoughts, so using your way of thinking and the statistics of PMI most of the projects using waterfall are not successful in that case why do you need a project manager.
I can't believe that in so many things written you couldn't point any positive ideas. So you have your ideas I have mine, nevertheless I am always with my mind open to listen others and reflect in their ideas.
It's enough to see the statistics and see the % of projects completed using scrum or waterfall, probably you will start second guessing some your words.
This is my last intervention in the subject because the course of the discussion has deviated from the actual theme, if you don't believe in scrum, scrum master why the well do you comment the topic Scrum Mom. ( Topic : What are the worst effects of this syndrome for you? ) ,
I was not discussion the validation of the framework and their roles, completely out of context of my question.
Alexandre
...
1 reply by Adrian Carlogea
Feb 01, 2020 11:50 AM
Adrian Carlogea
...
Hi Alexandre.
I am sorry the discussion has deviated but I have already said my opinion about the Scrum Mom. The Scrum Mom is probably one of the few positive things about Scrum that I can think of. The only way a SM, that is not also a productive team members, can help is by dealing with all the issues that don't require the knowledge of the other team members. The Scrum Mom attitude is very good in my opinion and does help the team focus on the work instead of dealing with distractions. The Scrum Mom deal with the distractions.
The reason I comment about Scrum is because I read a lot of opinions that many times are in sharp contrast with the way a developer would feel about those opinions. In this case I can't accept the idea that someone that has never written a line of code in his life can coach experienced developers on how to deal with technical debt. As a developer this is unacceptable. I have been in the trenches and now how it is.
Obviously, you did not want to read the sentence well, and are intentionally misleading others , and conveniently forget the last part of the sentence. Quoting :
"If the team has not learned how to develop a potentially shippable product increment every Sprint, the Scrum Master teaches them Test Driven Development (TDD), or finds people who can teach them".
Obviously the scrum master can have technical knowledge , but is not mandatory all depends of his background.
I like to discuss ideas, scrum is a framework with high implementation in software development. Several institutions backup and spread across the world this way of develop projects.
So you if you had bad experiences with scrum and probably with scrum poorly executed, so you think everything is bad and are generalizing your thoughts, so using your way of thinking and the statistics of PMI most of the projects using waterfall are not successful in that case why do you need a project manager.
I can't believe that in so many things written you couldn't point any positive ideas. So you have your ideas I have mine, nevertheless I am always with my mind open to listen others and reflect in their ideas.
It's enough to see the statistics and see the % of projects completed using scrum or waterfall, probably you will start second guessing some your words.
This is my last intervention in the subject because the course of the discussion has deviated from the actual theme, if you don't believe in scrum, scrum master why the well do you comment the topic Scrum Mom. ( Topic : What are the worst effects of this syndrome for you? ) ,
I was not discussion the validation of the framework and their roles, completely out of context of my question.
Alexandre
Hi Alexandre.
I am sorry the discussion has deviated but I have already said my opinion about the Scrum Mom. The Scrum Mom is probably one of the few positive things about Scrum that I can think of. The only way a SM, that is not also a productive team members, can help is by dealing with all the issues that don't require the knowledge of the other team members. The Scrum Mom attitude is very good in my opinion and does help the team focus on the work instead of dealing with distractions. The Scrum Mom deal with the distractions.
The reason I comment about Scrum is because I read a lot of opinions that many times are in sharp contrast with the way a developer would feel about those opinions. In this case I can't accept the idea that someone that has never written a line of code in his life can coach experienced developers on how to deal with technical debt. As a developer this is unacceptable. I have been in the trenches and now how it is.
...
1 reply by Alexandre Costa
Feb 01, 2020 1:19 PM
Alexandre Costa
...
Hi Adrian,
There is no harm in disagreeing, if you have been in the trenches, I am still there , made 20 year in last year, so I also have my experiences.
Life goes on I am sure that exists subjects where will we agree and others disagree , that's the flavour of life.
Alexandre
Saving Changes...
Alexandre CostaScrum Master| Integer Consulting - Pictet technologiesLoures, Portugal
Feb 01, 2020 11:50 AM
Replying to Adrian Carlogea
...
Hi Alexandre.
I am sorry the discussion has deviated but I have already said my opinion about the Scrum Mom. The Scrum Mom is probably one of the few positive things about Scrum that I can think of. The only way a SM, that is not also a productive team members, can help is by dealing with all the issues that don't require the knowledge of the other team members. The Scrum Mom attitude is very good in my opinion and does help the team focus on the work instead of dealing with distractions. The Scrum Mom deal with the distractions.
The reason I comment about Scrum is because I read a lot of opinions that many times are in sharp contrast with the way a developer would feel about those opinions. In this case I can't accept the idea that someone that has never written a line of code in his life can coach experienced developers on how to deal with technical debt. As a developer this is unacceptable. I have been in the trenches and now how it is.
Hi Adrian,
There is no harm in disagreeing, if you have been in the trenches, I am still there , made 20 year in last year, so I also have my experiences.
Life goes on I am sure that exists subjects where will we agree and others disagree , that's the flavour of life.
