Topic: Agile management
A few months ago, we started a discussion group based on the book, The Art of Agile Development by James Shore and Shane Warden. Almost from the first meeting, the topic of discussion broadened into agile practices in general and how some of our own projects were doing. It has been a very interesting and constructive experience, and probably will continue indefinitely, book or no book. The discussion group is a great way for ScrumMasters and other practitioners to share ideas, experiences, issues, and suggested solutions. Recently we tried a somewhat radical idea and had ScrumMasters facilitate the retrospectives of teams other than their own, without having much knowledge of what the other teams were doing or what their issues were. Now we're considering having team members cross-pollinate other teams by sitting in and pairing with them for a day or so at a time.
One participant told a story this week about his team's retrospective that I found noteworthy. It seems one of our managers attended the retrospective as a chicken. At one point, a team member said something that piqued the manager's interest, and he engaged in a lengthy discussion with that team member, right in the middle of the retrospective (which was timeboxed). He was allowed to go on with this without interruption. I asked the discussion group what they thought the ScrumMaster should have done in that situation. Bear in mind that this particular chicken is the direct manager of this particular ScrumMaster.
A participant suggested that the ScrumMaster might carefully, delicately take the manager aside after the retrospective and gently, diplomatically suggest that perhaps he might, just maybe, let the team get on with its business and to try and remember that usually, sometimes, you know, if it's all right with you, "chickens" maybe ought not to speak too much during the retrospective, since according to theory, only the "pigs" are allowed to speak. Several heads nodded in agreement.
I nodded, as well, and then asked the group if anyone had another suggestion, since some of the participants have been through a CSM course and they might have received some slightly different advice about this sort of situation. No one offered an alternative.
So I did.
"Chickens don't talk!"
If the ScrumMaster was afraid to say this to his own manager, it raises a question about whether we have a culture of trust in our organization, doesn't it? The Right Thing is always the Right Thing. It doesn't change based on who is or is not in the room at the moment.
