Scrum, just another bumper sticker?
During my holiday, I was driving in my car and I saw another car with a lot of bumper stickers. That made me think that some people like to show where they have been or what they like by putting a sticker on their car bumper.
Is this not the same that some companies do? Adding the bumper stickers like Scrum or DevOps, ITIL, Spotify, etc. to show what they are doing or want to be?
I noticed that some companies just say they’re doing Scrum but are just doing old-style waterfall or only using some parts of Scrum to put that bumper sticker on their company.
Do these companies really want to use Scrum?
Or maybe they do not understand Scrum and how they can benefit from it?
How could you recognize these companies?
If you look at their Scrum Master job vacancies you sometimes see:
- Creates and implements project definitions, schedules, budgets, and objectives.
- Manages costs, schedules, and quality by overseeing project deliverables. Ensures schedule and budget are met. May revise as appropriate.
- Works in conjunction with team members and stakeholders to manage changes to technical requirements, business requirements, and schedule of the project. Provides input on possible changes needed based on current project status.
- Manages client, company, and project team expectations for agreed-upon project performance by obtaining and providing project metrics. Recommends changes or alternate paths based upon performance and metrics.
- Oversees assigned personnel for projects. Assigns work and provides direction with regard to timeliness and completion of project objectives. Addresses performance issues within prescribed guidelines. Provides performance input upon completion of the project.
- Reporting on release delivery status (input for SteerCo), reporting on impediments, issues, quality level, and risks on a weekly basis over multiple releases at the same time.
- Change Management process (responsible for Change Board meetings, change requests processing, and reporting).
- Project Management skills (understanding of scope, schedule, software delivery process, quality, etc)
- Work with product owners to develop and prioritize the product backlog.
These requirements will raise a lot of alarm bells with me. A lot of these scream project management, change management, and Product Owner. Which is not a task of the Scrum Master. Even if you look at the last point, it states that you will develop and prioritize the product backlog. But this is together with the Development team, right?
I also found a good job vacancy as you can see here:
- Lead the Scrum team in using Agile methodology and scrum practices
- Helping the product owner and development team to achieve customer satisfaction
- Lead the scrum and development teams in self-organization
- Remove impediments and coach the scrum team on removing impediments
- Help the scrum and development teams to identify and fill in blanks in the Agile framework
- Resolve conflicts and issues that occur
- Help the scrum team achieve higher levels of scrum maturity
- Support the product owner and provide education where needed
Should you ignore these companies?
Of course, if you already work for one of these companies it will be hard to ignore but still, you can change it by addressing your concerns about the content of your Scrum Master position.
My thought is you can give them a call and ask what they are actually looking for and explain that the job looks more like a project manager, change manager function then a Scrum master function.
Can these companies change?
I believe any company can change with the help and support of their Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches, and other thought leaders. This sometimes means that the Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches, and other thought leaders need to get out of there comfort zones to make this change happen.
So I am not against the bumper stickers, but only if you are really doing Scrum.
Do you want to write for Serious Scrum or seriously discuss Scrum?
