Chapter 8 in Fixing Your Scrum, Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems, by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller tackles management. The gap between labor and management is an age-old problem. I am sure that the artisans and workers that constructed the pyramids had their own version of Dilbert. The focus on the team, a core tenant of agile and Scrum, is perceived as exacerbating the management versus worker dichotomy. By identifying anti-patterns and proposing approaches to solving those issues this chapter is useful for bridging the gap.
Several issues cause friction between management and the teams and team-level leadership. Most of these issues stem from each having fundamentally different goals. Leadership at the team level is focused on empowering the team. Servant leadership is an important skill. Jeff Dalton points out in SPaMCAST 512 that middle and senior management must have sharp elbows and a focus on the top and bottom line to progress. Leadership in those circumstances may be implemented in a manner that is at odds with servant leadership.
The first pattern that Todd and Ryan grapple with is titled “unprepared for conversation.” Unfortunately, this is a classic scenario even beyond Scrum. Many times when passionate specialists switch gears and address people outside their bubble of knowledge they fail to use language that is common to the audience they are communicating with. I have heard this phenomenon alternatively described as an attempt to baffle listeners with baloney (my sales trainer used a coarser term) or mutually assured mystification. Bottom line, unless there understand and communication a train wreck will occur when adopting Scrum. Agilists of all stripes need to connect with leadership on their terms, understand management’s goals and needs, and only then seek to solve their needs using Scrum or agile. I have written several times about the need to have a path to answer when, how much, and what will be delivered – important components to leaders’ goals to bringing a product to market and managing both the top (sales) and the bottom lines (profit or loss). Todd and Ryan point out that not being able to talk in the same language derails attempts at partnership.
Not establishing a partnership with each of the layers of management may do more than slow change. I have seen several change leaders get wrapped up in the passion of pushing an absolutist agile approach only to see the funding and people needed to guide change disappear. I have even made that mistake (and learned from it). Leadership has a critical role in Scrum or any other framework. Management controls the budget, people, promotions, and goals of the organization. Managers create the culture and the environment in which work happens; make them an ally or learn how to push a rope up a steep hill. Start with understanding their real goals and then find a way for Scrum to solve those needs.
If you have not bought your copy — what are you waiting for? Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems
Previous Installments
Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matter – https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6
Week 2: A Brief Introduction To Scrum, and Why Scrum Goes Bad – https://bit.ly/37w4Dv9
Week 3: Breaking Bad Scrum with a Value-Driven Approach – http://bit.ly/3stGc9Q
Week 4: The Product Owner – https://bit.ly/3qpKvSn
Week 5: The Product Backlog – http://bit.ly/3cAEk9c
Week 6: The Development Team – http://bit.ly/2OLVAAs Week 7: Embracing The Scrum Master Role – https://bit.ly/3m0HB5D
