“We’re playing baseball. We’ve decided just to wander around the field.”
“On our soccer team, everyone’s a captain.”
“And our football team will have no coaches.”
Scrum Masters get a bad rap for making teams follow the rules. Hence nicknames like “scrum police.” And I’m not one for making everyone follow the Scrum Guide to the letter.
But I do believe there are fundamental elements of Scrum that work best when followed.
Things like having a single objective as a Sprint Goal that brings a team together to collaborate and focus. Things like having a single Product Owner as the voice of priorities so teams know who to go to. Like having a Scrum Master who can help teams understand why we’re working and how we can improve.
So when people argue against rules of Scrum, I admit I get frustrated.
They’re not arguing with me. They’re arguing with the Scrum Guide.
They’re arguing with the very manual that’s supposed to guide how we’ve agreed to work.
I think of my years of experience in coaching a variety of Scrum teams in various stages of maturity across a diverse set of organizations and what I’ve accomplished. I think of the advanced training and certifications I’ve achieved. I think of the time I spend immersed in reading and learning about agile through books, meetups, conferences, and volunteering.
And how the person I’m talking to watched one 5-minute video on scrum and thinks they know better than I do.
This is not the way.
I’m at about the mid-point for my maturity as an Agile Coach and Scrum Master (the “ha” of “shu ha ri” if you will). In new Scrum Masters, I recognize myself as I was clinging to the rules of Scrum and trying to “make” everyone understand. In more experienced Scrum Masters, I see an acceptance and understanding that I have not yet achieved.
When I come against a strong personality arguing against a “rule” of Scrum, I know what I need to do. Understand where they’re coming from. Take a walk together in our understanding of each other. If there’s a resistance to sharing understanding, why? Where is that coming from? Gain trust and invite small change.
It’s a lot of work. But it is the way.
But damn if I don’t want to just put everyone in Scrum jail sometimes.
Photo by ABN2 on Flickr from Openverse
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