Scrum Master (And Agile Coach): Please Step Up Your Game!

And help management to be effective too

People regularly ask me for help to improve their way of working. I then am not surprised to encounter a huge mess. Too often, this mess was created by Scrum Masters or Agile Coaches who did a good job coaching the teams, but dropped the ball when coaching customers, internal stakeholders and especially management.

I talked about this issue before, how coaching management is so crucial. Today I’m going to discuss the dysfunctions of coaching management and what you can do instead. Because we need to step up our game. Most of us have nailed coaching teams. But without helping management, we can forget about effective Scrum teams.

Managers have a big responsibility. They need to ensure their teams are contributing to the companies goals. This includes helping the teams to understand the goals and ensuring they work towards these goals.

They also need to ensure that the right people are in the teams and that these people can contribute effectively. This includes helping them to grow. But also the less pleasant aspects of people management, when a person doesn’t fit.

The degree of responsibilities for a manager varies per organisation. It can even differ within an organisation. Managers may be responsible for translating company goals to department goals. This may also be with the teams. Similar variations are also with people management.

When their teams fail, the managers are accountable. There’s often a lot of pressure with a management position. And pressure mounts the higher up the company ladder they go.

Management coaching anti-patterns

Managers play a vital role in the success of the (Scrum) teams to achieve their goals. At the same time, they often are obstructing the Scrum team to be effective. Managers need help. Most of them want to be helped. But the so-called help they receive is often abysmal.

Here are some of the management coaching anti-patterns.

“Teams manage themselves”

Let’s start with the worst of them all. It’s so bad, that you would think I made it up. Unless you have been following the agile discussions on LinkedIn and Twitter. Or when you were a witness of this, as I was.

It’s when a coach tells managers that teams manage themselves. They don’t need management anymore. So they should look for other ways to make themselves useful.

Sure, there are organisations in the world that have pushed all management responsibilities to the teams. But let’s not pretend this is a common thing or even something you always need to strive for. Most organisations will not go so far. Managers will continue to exist. Although their relationship with the team is different than in a traditional organisation.

Teams self-manage, true. But this only relates to the what, when and how of the work:

“They are […] self-managing, meaning they internally decide who does what, when, and how.” — Scrum Guide 2020

Managers of Scrum teams will not tell the team what they do, how they do it and how. But often they will still have all the other responsibilities that managers typically have. Like designing the team, benefits and rewards, and determining strategic goals.

Scrum Master and coaches that tell managers they should stop managing show disrespect to the manager while also showing a huge misunderstanding of what self-management means.

“We don’t know when it will be done”

“When will it be done?” is the million-dollar question. We know that in a complex environment, you can’t predict everything upfront. This is why Scrum is about taking small steps, learning from this and deciding what to do next. We don’t know upfront what output will bring us closer to our objectives.

This is all well and good, but it doesn’t justify responding “We are working with Scrum. We don’t know when we will be done.” This has to be one of the most disruptive things Scrum Masters can say to managers or users. Because you basically say “We don’t care about the commitments our company has. We follow our own path.”

A close second in this category is “Deadlines are artificial fabrications and false promises.” Because deadlines do exist. Like the deadline to comply with financial regulations. Or the deadline to be ready for the high flows of payments during Singles Day (November 11th, the day of the highest amount of online purchases worldwide). Or the deadline set by a customer to meet their demands.

Deadlines are everywhere and won’t go away. So dismissing them as figments of imagination is ridiculous. And highly destructive.

“Don’t interrupt the team”

I have another beauty. Suppose you are a manager and you wish to be involved with the team. Out of pure interest, a very normal and commendable thing. It would be off-putting if a Scrum Master would tell you “Please don’t interrupt the team”.

Sure, I get it! When people from outside the team would start telling the team to work on different things than they planned, this is bad. The team self-manages and should commit to what they planned to achieve. And no one should be allowed to tell them to change their plans.

But some Scrum Masters or coaches take this even further. They shield the team from every interaction, notably from management. This is ridiculous. Teams are part of the organisation and a manager who shows interest in the team is generally a good thing.

Also, collaboration with stakeholders is vital for Scrum teams. The Sprint Review is the formal event to have this conversation. But managers should be able to talk with the people. As long as they don’t endanger the team’s commitment to achieving their goals.

Scrum from a team perspective only

Managers have a responsibility to look at the big picture. What all the teams combined achieve to meet the department goals. Or the company goals, when they are higher up in the organisation.

Managers are not served with coaching that solely is focused on what Scrum teams should do. They need to know how this fits in their total picture. So they understand what role they can best play in a Scrum environment.

When the focus is on the teams alone, people outside of the team may think Scrum is for teams only. Or even worse: for software teams only. Portraying Scrum as a team framework can in the end damage the Scrum teams.

Scrum is a framework to create high-value products in a complex environment. Products typically are more than software alone. These realisations are important for a manager to understand what it is all about.

Managers need proper coaching

Managers are often holding Scrum teams back. At the same time, they either don’t get coaching at all or they get the terrible advice I stipulated just now.

To be successful in your agile journey towards achieving your objectives in complex environments, you can’t focus on teams alone. Management needs coaching and training too. All the way to the top of the organisation.

You may be surprised to find how many misconceptions about Scrum and Agile as a whole exist at C-level. They often want to be “Agile”, but don’t know what it is. A common misconception is that agile is about delivering faster.

Pointers to coach management

As a coach, it is always vital to first understand the needs of the coachee. You also may wish to let them express what they expect from Agile/Scrum. And what they may consider threatening.

It is important to have a picture of what your coachee expects so you can help fill the potential knowledge gaps. You want to take a step back and don’t push yourself as that Agile person. After all, it is not about Scrum or Agile. It is about making an impact.

Once you understand the needs, you can bring insights. A good start s to help uncover how different environments call for different responses. I often refer to the Cynefin framework. And specifically the Complicated and Complex environments. It’s very rewarding to see how people start to realize that traditional project management and Scrum both have a place. But the first in complicated environments and the second in complex environments.

Then it makes sense to discuss output vs outcome. In complicated environments, the output you generate will lead to the desired outcome. In complex environments, this is not the case. Instead, you have to assess whether your output has the desired outcome and learn from that.

When output doesn’t guarantee the desired outcome, you need to steer away from managing outputs alone. What’s more, you need to determine your desired outcome and work towards that outcome. You need to set goals and work towards meeting these goals. Your goals are your commitment.

In the end, it is all about making an impact and achieving your goals. Depending on where the managers are in the company, you may wish to discuss the company goals from the C-level to the team level.

When the importance of the outcome and setting goals is embraced, you can tie this to how Scrum teams work. Because Scrum teams have the Product Goal as their long-term commitment and the Sprint Goal as their short-term commitment.

This often brings the realization that Scrum actually is about commitment beyond a few weeks. But it is a commitment to make an impact. Not to deliver features as planned.

To tie it all together, you can help understand why it makes sense to use Scrum in the first place. And why it is important to have cross-functional and self-organizing teams to address complexity. How trust is key to allowing teams to learn from setbacks. And how collaboration with managers, users and other stakeholders is key to inspecting the product increments and collaborating on what to do next to achieve the goals.

Management is key — unlock the key to coach management!

Management is key to creating valuable products and achieving your goals with Scrum. When they are unaware of what Scrum is about, they may obstruct the team. They may be the team’s biggest impediment. But when they understand Scrum, they may be the catalyst for the team. They then are the secret to success.

Scrum Masters and coaches need to be aware of the importance of the managers and step up their game. They can’t suffice with how teams are typically coached and trained. They need to meet the managers where they are and help them to unlock their potential to contribute to the success. I know many of us are doing this, but also many others don’t. And this is for you. You need to step up!

Managers need to be coached too. All the way to C-level. In fact, if you are bold, you may want to start there! If you want some advice on how to reach them, then you can always approach me.