Scrum Team Trouble

Tom Henricksen
Sep 4, 2018 · 3 min read

Teamwork requires some sacrifice up front; people who work as a team have to put the collective needs of the group ahead of their individual interests.
Patrick Lencioni

Even great teams run into struggles. Perhaps someone has stopped contributing at a level we have become accustomed to. It could also be an issue when someone has a life change. I worked with Rob when he was going through a divorce. He was absent a lot for hearings and trying to figure out his child custody. Rob had always been a strong contributor so a few of us had to help out. We worked through that issue, but sometimes teams need help when they run into common issues.

Sloppy

As we get close to the end of a sprint we can get sloppy. Teams can not complete their stories or skimp on testing. Then try and clean up things in the next sprint. Mike Cohn points out, “Scrum Master and team should not take a cavalier attitude toward failing to finish. When they do, sprints become artificial and meaningless boundaries.” We need to be disciplined on the completion of work.

Calling Out

Another issue that happens is when the Scrum Master keeps calling out each person on the daily stand up. This is helpful in the beginning but after awhile the team should be able to handle this on their own. I personally have seen this issue with people who have previously been project managers. They seem to forget that Scrum teams need to transition to being self-organized.

Overplanning

Have you ever met a person that plans out every little detail? They have detailed plans for their upcoming vacation down to the three-minute increment… A little planning is helpful but some of us take things to a crazy level. As we work in the agile world we need to build in some flexibility with the plan. Priorities can shift and we want to react to them.

Assigning Tasks

This is one that really frustrates me. Understanding what Scrum is trying to achieve with self-organizing teams this can thwart any progress. As Miskin Berteig points out, “It is better to wait for someone to step up than to ‘take over’ and assign a task.” I have worked with a few of these types of project managers turned Scrum Masters that like to assign the work. The result is a team that doesn’t feel empowered.

Individual Heroics

These are the stories some people tell about one team member’s heroics. “Andy worked all weekend to make the ridiculous deadline set by management!” Problem is that these types of stories whether they are true or not don’t celebrate the team. They usually center around one person. Teams build software and each persons contribution matters. Be careful with focusing your accolades on one person. If your team has to have a hero there are other problems that need to be addressed.

Originally posted on MyITCareerCoach.com

Tom Henricksen

Written by

I am an IT career coach that helps technical professionals and teams grow their careers and align with their organization so they develop and advance.

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