You are the Impediment

September 13, 2008 by mcottmeyer

In my last post "Secretaries Make the Best ScrumMasters", I made the point that ScrumMasters and Agile Project Managers need to be held to a higher standard. Tracking impediments is not enough. Helping the team remove impediments is not enough. We need project leaders than can help the team anticipate impediments and work to make sure those things never become impediments in the first place.

Project leaders should be able to understand what the team is building, what technologies they are using, and the impacts of using those technologies. We don't' need to be experts but we need to be able to keep up in a conversation. We need to understand what the business needs and what they are trying to accomplish. Project managers and ScrumMasters should be asking questions and digging into places where people disagree.

Secretaries Make the Best ScrumMasters

August 29, 2008 by mcottmeyer

Okay everyone. First I want to say that I am happy to be here writing for Agile Software Development. I appreciate Artem reaching out and giving me this opportunity. I really hope you guys enjoy what I've got to say. I promise, I am not short on opinions, and I am never content with the status quo. So… to get started, let's kick this thing off with a question… are you ready?

Do you believe the title of this post?

If you do, don't feel bad, you are not alone. I have been working in project management and around project managers for years. Over that time, I have worked in traditional environments and agile environments. I have worked with PMPs and CSMs. It consistently amazes me the number of people that are converted into project managers for the sole reason they are good at following people around and asking them when they are going to be done.

How Does a Scrum Team Deliver its Commitment?

August 13, 2008 by Peter Stevens

Every Sprint, the Team commits to deliver some functionality to the Product Owner. A lot can happen during the course of a Sprint. How does the Team know how much it can commit, and how does the Scrum Master ensure that the Team actually deliver what it committed?

ScrumMasters: Don't be a fixer

May 7, 2008 by cspag

I think one of the best aspects of agile development is the ability for a team to frequently learn from their mistakes. It's especially crucial that this happens in a blame free environment. When something goes wrong during an iteration, it's important that no team member is singled out. The entire team accepts responsibility for their failures and successes together. And when a team makes mistakes, they need to learn from them. The key components for in a team's ability to learn from their mistakes are the attitude and interactions of the ScrumMaster.

There are a few things a ScrumMaster must do to help their teams learn from their mistakes. First and foremost, the ScrumMaster cannot be a fixer. When things are broken or not working the team, not the ScrumMaster, must figure out how to fix things. If the ScrumMaster continually steps in to fix the problem, the team never learns how to fix a problem for themselves. This leads back to the old command and control structure of more traditional development approaches. Instead of being a fixer, the ScrumMaster needs to be an enabler.

Scrum Master Vs Project Manager

February 4, 2008 by sureshkrishna

Scrum Master is specialized in ensuring the scrum process is implemented as intended. He is the one who takes care of the different agile practices to reach the team. Project Manager is the one who takes care of the planning, project deliverables, billing, process, QA, etc...
And now the question for many is can a project survive without the Scrum Master. Its often the case that a traditional project manager takes training as scrum master and he takes the role of a scrum master.