James FurnessAssociate Director of Project Management| Disney Streaming ServicesCheadle Hulme, Cheshire, United Kingdom
I have worked in several management roles, mainly in a different industry to the one i'm in now. I became a PM about 18 months ago in a company that operates using agile. I know the concept of a PM in agile is not the norm, but aside from being the scrum master, we focus mainly on stakeholder management, requirements gathering and some QA tasks.
We're involved with the team all day, every day, yet I feel totally undervalued.
Has anyone else experienced this? Saving Changes...
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Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
The environment you describe is using SCRUM. But you have other agile development methods like DSDM where the project manager role is explicit defined. In the place where I am working today we are using SCRUM and project manager role is using into each initiative which runs SCRUM. But about undervalued that could be a reality no matter the type of environment where you are working on. Saving Changes...
James FurnessAssociate Director of Project Management| Disney Streaming ServicesCheadle Hulme, Cheshire, United Kingdom
Thanks Sergio, makes sense.
It just feels like the PM team here are constantly fighting for, well, almost acceptance within the organisation. It seems strange. Whilst the SCRUM Master role adopts servant leadership, there are other aspects within our remit which mean we have to switch frequently from servant to dominant.
I suppose an option would be for the PM to not be the SCRUM master, do you think that could work? Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
I am working with agile (software and non-software) from the very beginning of the concept. Today I am working on transforming the whole organization to agile (agile is not related to software only). Each time we introduce something inside the organization we make an impact analysis to determine the actual state on the organizational architecture. One of the organization architecture components is "business architecture". We use Tom Peter`s Seven S model to do that and one of the variables is culture and style. Here comes what you stated in your first part above and perhaps thanks the anlysis you could be prepared to deal with that. About your second part, I would say that after more than 20 years to work with agile development methods I never have the opportunity to use a method "as-is". For example, I always deal with multi-tasking people (in some roles) and mainly with highly distributed virtual teams. In our case, project manager still remains a role when you use environments like "scrum of scrums" but in a particular project the project manager takes scrum master role. BUT here comes something related you stated about "servant leadership vs dominant". Key to be an scrum master is to facilitate instead of to direct. Saving Changes...
AKSHAY JAINPlanning Group Leader| YOKOGAWA, BahrainGwalior, Mp, India
As PM you do your best and achieve best possible results but sometimes gaps remain unfilled and it may cause dissatisfaction in your team members and your higher management. In professional environment kind of appreciation compare to dedication you expect you don't get and this develop negative feelings. But such feeling is common in all from bottom to top. So feel keep going, charge yourself each day and try your best and there are only few days when you get real appreciation of work. Saving Changes...
James FurnessAssociate Director of Project Management| Disney Streaming ServicesCheadle Hulme, Cheshire, United Kingdom
Thanks for you responses guys. I'll take on board what you've said! Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
To answer James' question, I usually push for the SCRUM master to be different than the PM.
We know the SCRUM master is dedicated to each sprint. I would rather see the SCRUM master focus on the sprint and let a PM deal with project-wide work. Saving Changes...
James FurnessAssociate Director of Project Management| Disney Streaming ServicesCheadle Hulme, Cheshire, United Kingdom
Interesting Stéphane, this isn't something i've seen before but often thought about. In your experience, does it work? Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
It really depends on how big the project is. For example, we just proposed a two-year project schedule that require parallel sprints. In this case, it makes sense to separate the two roles.
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1 reply by James Furness
Oct 06, 2016 9:27 AM
James Furness
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Thanks, I may try this out.
Saving Changes...
James FurnessAssociate Director of Project Management| Disney Streaming ServicesCheadle Hulme, Cheshire, United Kingdom
Oct 06, 2016 9:24 AM
Replying to Stéphane Parent
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It really depends on how big the project is. For example, we just proposed a two-year project schedule that require parallel sprints. In this case, it makes sense to separate the two roles.
Thanks, I may try this out. Saving Changes...
James BrookesAgile Project Manager| Cake Solutions ltdUnited Kingdom
Just be better... only kidding. I think, especially when it comes to self managing teams, it can happen to a PM where the level of PMing a team requires is much less. It should be a case of being able to step back and aid the team in what they need. Saving Changes...
