Shia LaBeouf, Cannibal Scrum Master
Why having a Vision is so important
I would say this: If Shia LaBeouf weren’t acting, he would make a great Scrum Master. He is creative, passionate, and he wants you to succeed.
I mean, just look at this video:
Granted, he does scream a bit too much.
But no one is perfect, and he touches upon some very important points:
Motivation and Dreams.
First of all, he starts with a call to action. (“DO IT! JUST DO IT!”)
To encourage his team, he points towards the vision that the team created together. (“Don’t let your dreams be dreams!”)
He reminds the Team of their prior commitments (“Yesterday you said tomorrow. JUST DO IT! MAKE YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE!”)
He dissuades avoidance and promotes focus, bravery and commitment. (“Some people [just] dream success, while you are going to wake up and WORK HARD AT IT!”)
He shifts attention away from impediments. (“Nothing is impossible!”)
… or maybe I’m just trying too hard to read into it. ;)
Yes, this is tongue in cheek, and yes, perhaps I’m having a bit too much fun trying to tie Shia LaBeouf to Scrum, but hear me out: By focusing on the dreams of an individual instead of why you think they should do something, you understand something very important.
You can’t motivate anyone but yourself, because motivation is intrinsic.
I’d even say it’s one of the most important points towards being a great Scrum Master. Look at Shia. He doesn’t try to lure you with rewards, or tell you why he thinks you should be doing “it”. Instead, he reminds you that YOU dreamed “it”. He tries to rekindle that dream, that spark that everyone of us feels when we first get into a profession or a new hobby (or a new Agile Framework.) In short, he reminds us of our vision.
But that’s not enough. Remember what Scrum GrandMaster LaBeouf teaches us: Having a vision is easy!
Everyone can dream of success! A beach house in Miami, a new car, and becoming a startup unicorn are all easy to want. But once you realize that you have to work for those goals, you realize the magnitude of your task.
Which is why the Scrum Guide only mentions “Vision” once, when it describes increments.
The increment is a step toward a vision or goal.
-Scrum guide 2017
The focus on an incremental approach here is key, as is the connection to goals. Breaking down your vision into smaller goals is just as important as the ability to tie the increment you are producing to your product vision, because it’s an incremental approach that makes even gigantic goals seem achievable.
In contrast, the term ‘goal’ comes up 37 times in the Scrum Guide, most often in the phrase ‘Sprint Goal’. (Capital S and G!)
A Sprint Goal is defined like this:
During Sprint Planning the Scrum Team also crafts a Sprint Goal. The Sprint Goal is an objective that will be met within the Sprint through the implementation of the Product Backlog, and it provides guidance to the Development Team on why it is building the Increment.
-Scrum Guide 2017, emphasis added.
This “Why” is one of the most important parts of the Scrum Guide, and yet it’s often overlooked.
Without reminding ourselves of our vision, our works gets rote, monotone, and demotivating. It gets harder and harder to feel as though our work has any value.
So we have increments to break down a vision, and have a vision to remind us why we’re doing all this work. It’s a symbiotic relationship.
Take a look at this.
Would you have liked to be a Scrum master in this production? I would have. It’s grand, it’s orchestral, and it speaks of a single-minded vision, sprung out of a very, very stupid-but-funny idea. It is clear that with every step, from scouting the location to casting the dancers, these people had a shared dream in mind: To make a stupid funny video in which people whisper “Shia LaBeouf”. Just like I had the idea of writing an article about having a Vision and the importance of a sprint goal, and I thought it would be funny to tie it to Shia LaBeouf.
So yeah, he might not be the greatest Scrum Master, but I told you Shia LaBeouf motivates people!
In the end, if you take away anything from this article, it should be this:
You must not underestimate the power of your Sprint Goal.
It has both the power to inspire and guide and the power to destroy and lead astray. After all, it’s easy to become so fixated on your Sprint Goal that you start cutting corners.
How do you prevent that from happening? Make sure your goal is pure, and that it holds within itself the 5 Scrum values. Yes, you can reach it faster by sacrificing quality, but by doing so you would sully your beautiful sprint goal with terrible, tar-like technical debt.
Don’t sully your Sprint Goal!
Instead, harness its power. While you may not be able to motivate people, you might be able to help them motivate themselves. Having a Sprint Goal is not only a huge step to not only make their work feel meaningful, it also brings the team together and unifies their purpose.
So are you sure you and your team share the same vision?
If not, it might be time to face your Product Owner, flex your muscles, and start yelling.
If you liked this article and maybe even chuckled about it, leave me a clap, it means a lot! :)
I’d like to thank Willem-Jan Ageling and Raymond Lagonda for their valuable input!
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