Posted in Working as a ScrumMaster

ScrumMasters are stupid

Are you a ScrumMaster? Have you chosen to build your career as a ScrumMaster? Yes? Well, that’s stupid! I mean: It is a job where you will always face resistance to change either from your team or from the organization around the team, or even both. They may not even understand the role. In the beginning you might not even truly understand it yourself. The successcriteria of a ScrumMaster is vague, and difficult to navigate after, so you will constantly question if you are doing a good job.

To some, a job like this is self-torture. It can be sometimes, but other times it is the most satisfying job – at least in my opinion. So if you are as stupid as me, and keep on trying, because you think it is the right thing to do, this blog post might be of help to you.

The purpose of this post is NOT making you capable of avoiding the traps I fell in, because I believe you must learn from your own mistakes. Instead I hope it will ease the fight of getting out of the traps, so the learning process for you, will be shorter than it was for me. Or as a minimum you can identify with the challenges, making you aware, that you are not alone – which can give you some energy to hang-on and continue what you are doing. Continue reading “ScrumMasters are stupid”

Posted in Retrospectives

Agile or Not – Retrospectives is key!

As human beings, it is our nature to learn. We start learning when we are small, we learn as we grow up, and even as adults. We learn about life – to make decisions. We learn more – to make better decisions than previously. We do it all the time. It’s our nature. We are hardwired with this skill.

Regardless how natural this come to us when it’s about daily life, and only ourselves involved, it becomes something extremely difficult, for many many people when we put ourselves in a workplace together with other people. Continue reading “Agile or Not – Retrospectives is key!”

Posted in Working as a ScrumMaster

Visualisation of “Very very important tasks”

“I have this very important task that needs to get done. Who will do it?”
This is a phrase often heard, and every ScrumMaster eventually will have to deal with. A mature agile team will have it’s work agreements and processes to deal with this type of request in an efficient manner. However, not so mature agile teams, and teams in a early state of their agile journey, should be very alert when hearing this sentence, as it maybe a symptom of an underlying and more serious problems.

But why should we be alert? It’s just <someone> who wants to get this task done, what is wrong with that? Continue reading “Visualisation of “Very very important tasks””

Posted in Working as a ScrumMaster

Doing Scrum – Leading the way – Learning agile

“I have heard Scrum is ‘the thing’, please google it and implement accordingly!”. This was the exact words from a previous boss of mine, when he wanted me to make our team deliver on time and with the desired quality. This was the beginning of my career in “doing Scrum”.

I have learned quite a few lessons since. In this blogpost I will deal with a few of the hardest challenges I have faced. You will most likely not learn from my mistakes, but being aware of them, may help you overcome them faster when you face them. Continue reading “Doing Scrum – Leading the way – Learning agile”

Posted in Working as a ScrumMaster

Need more details!?

Product Owner: “Please code this feature”.
Developer: “I can’t code this, until I receive a better spec”.
PO: “Just go ahead, I want your input to this as well”
Dev: “Alright”
— Developer codes it like he believes is the best, and show it to the Product Owner —
PO: “Why wasn’t _this_ included?”
Dev: “It wasn’t a part of the spec”
PO: “Well, I think it is kind of obvious, and I wanted your input as well”

Continue reading “Need more details!?”

Posted in Working as a ScrumMaster

Let’s call off Scrum!

A software development team, had been “doing Scrum” for years, since it was decided that Scrum was the “way to go”. A classic. All meetings were conducted, but gave no or little value. It was just accepted like “that’s what happens when Scrum meets reality”. Failed sprints were the standard, frustrations were building and unfortunate leadership mecanisms were “needed” to get things done.

When I was appointed as the ScrumMaster, I quickly realised that I had to do something drastically to gain the team’s trust to Scrum, and to build the team’s trust in me, as a ScrumMaster. Especially because I do not have a developer background. I had to relaunch Scrum in a way I had never tried before…

So I said: “Let’s call off Scrum!”

Continue reading “Let’s call off Scrum!”