Categories
Scrum Team

Skip the Scrum Master role?

One of the discussions we had at the Agile Lean Munich we had was whether the role of the Scrum Master should be internal, external or be skipped entirely?

Wait a minute, does Scrum not prescribe a mandatory Scrum Master?!

So why would the question of skipping the Scrum Master even pop up?

It pops up because the role has been reduced to get a team up and running, support multiple teams till they are up and running and then let the teams do their thing without the Scrum master. Sometime the Agile coach running around training multiple teams is roped in to play part time Scrum master.

Anyway we had a healthy Conversation Café with the classic discussion rounds:

  • Round 1
    • Each person talks of about their experience
      • One Scrum Master talked about how they were multitasking between Developer, moderator, organizational design
      • Another Scrum Master talked about how the entire team was taken to hut in the mountains for the weekend to learn an Agile framework. After the weekend getaway the team was expected to become “Agile”
      • One Scrum Master talked about how he got fired for insisting that the Scrum Master role was not negotiable
  • Round 2
    • Each person reflects on the experience of another person
      • Concentrating on being a Scrum Master and leaving the Developer role and Organizational Design to the Agile Coach or Strategy Consultant helped
      • How the Scrum Values and Agile mindset was always a work in progress. Every time a new member came in it Agile mindset had to be refreshed. Every time a new workflow was added it had to be refreshed or tweaked
      • Any company which fires the Scrum Master for insisting on keeping the role while practicing Scrum may consider other suitable Agile frameworks
  • Round 3
    • Everyone has a discussion based on the different ideas raised
      • Is a Scrum Master ever finished? Or does a Scrum Master create a Community of Practice that keeps the Agile mindset active and vibrant
      • We also talked about the Cognitive overload that many teams experience when trying to keep increasing throughput without consideration of the cognitive overload that team members experience
  • Round 4
    • Each person reflects on their takeaway
      • Role clarity of a Scrum Master in maintaining a community of practice
      • Career step as a Scrum Master is worth pursuing
      • Agile mindset if not only required for team members and teams but also the entire organization
      • For value recognition communication is key

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Agile Lean Munich 2023 (agile-lean-munich.de)

Categories
Scribbles

What’s Schmutzig?

Verschmutzungen per WhatsApp melden – S-Bahn München (s-bahn-muenchen.de)

How often do you see a ticketing system bring a SMILE to your face?

You have Jira ServiceDesk or ServiceNow with their automated email ticketing systems which run you through a few email workflows and web frontend updates.

I came across a modern ticketing system which brought a BIG smile to my face.

I was travelling in the S-Bahn München and saw this half eaten banana thrown unceremoniously on the seat by some monkey.

I look around and I see the poster for “What’s Schmutzig?” (What is dirty?) from the S-Bahn Munich.

The poster has very simple steps to complete.

  1. Get the number of the S-Bahn compartment which is easy to find with a sticker with a four digit number and an icon of the wagon
  2. Take a picture of the dirty part of the compartment
  3. Send a WhatsApp message with the picture and the compartment number

I did steps 2 and 3 and sent the message.

I got a generic response within 3 minutes with the confirmation on WhatsApp

I got a custom response within 7 minutes requesting for the missing compartment number.

Once I found and sent the four digit compartment number I got the confirmation that the cleaning team has been informed with a request to rate the general cleanliness of the S-Bahn Munich using the 1 to 6 scale used in German schools.

I gave them a “3”

Within 2 minutes I got a confirmation of the feedback and wishes for a good evening.

The entire conversation took 20 minutes.

I would give them a “1” for bringing a SMILE on my face for their ticketing system.

Do the ticketing systems on our software systems bring a SMILE to our client’s faces?