Should Managers Attend Retrospectives? — Making Your Scrum Work #19
Stefan Wolpers
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TL; DR: Should Managers Attend Retrospectives?
There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Given that Scrum is a framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. A classic discussion is whether it is appropriate that (line) managers attend the Retrospectives of the Scrum team. Probably, making their attendance a regular habit — or even a requirement — is not a good idea. However, what about managers that occasionally attend a Retrospective? Moreover, what if the (line) manager is also a team member?
Join me and delve into the how and when of managers attending Retrospectives in less than two minutes.
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Sprint Retrospectives According to the Scrum Guide
There are plenty of references to Retrospectives, the role of the (line) management, and self-management in the Scrum Guide 2020.:
Page 6: The Scrum Master is accountable for the Scrum Team’s effectiveness.
Page 6: [Scrum Masters] do this by enabling the Scrum Team to improve its practices, within the Scrum framework.
Page 10: The purpose of the Sprint Retrospective is to plan ways to increase quality and effectiveness.
Page 10: The Scrum Team inspects how the last Sprint went with regards to individuals, interactions, processes, tools, and their Definition of Done.
Page 10: [During the Sprint Retrospective,] assumptions that led [inspected elements] astray are identified and their origins explored.
Page 10: The Scrum Team identifies the most helpful changes to improve its effectiveness.
Page 10: The most impactful improvements are addressed as soon as possible. They may even be added to the Sprint Backlog for the next Sprint.
The Scrum Guide 2020 on general management practices in organizations utilizing Scrum:
Page 3: Scrum makes visible the relative efficacy of current management, environment, and work techniques, so that improvements can be made.
Page 4: Adaptation becomes more difficult when the people involved are not empowered or self-managing.
Page 4: The decisions that are made, the steps taken, and the way Scrum is used should reinforce these values, not diminish or undermine them.
The Scrum Guide 2020 on the self-management of Scrum teams:
Page 5: Within a Scrum Team, there are no sub-teams or hierarchies.
Page 5: They are also self-managing, meaning they internally decide who does what, when, and how.
Page 5: They are structured and empowered by the organization to manage their own work.
Page 6: The Scrum Master serves the Scrum Team in several ways, including coaching the team members in self-management and cross-functionality.
Page 8: [Sprint Planning: How will the chosen work get done?] How this is done is at the sole discretion of the Developers. No one else tells them how to turn Product Backlog items into Increments of value.
Page 9: The Developers can select whatever structure and techniques they want, as long as their Daily Scrum focuses on progress toward the Sprint Goal and produces an actionable plan for the next day of work. This creates focus and improves self-management.
The Scrum Guide 2020 on Scrum Values:
Page 4: Successful use of Scrum depends on people becoming more proficient in living five values: Commitment, Focus, Openness, Respect, and Courage.
Page 4: The Scrum Team and its stakeholders are open about the work and the challenges.
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Page 4: When these values are embodied by the Scrum Team and the people they work with, the empirical Scrum pillars of transparency, inspection, and adaptation come to life building trust.
Source: Scrum Guide 2020. (The aggregation is taken from the Scrum Guide 2020 Reordered.)
Summary: The Scrum Guide 2020 emphasizes self-management and Scrum Values as critical components of successfully applying Scrum in any organization. Also, it points to the importance of the Sprint Retrospective as a means to continuously improve as a Scrum team.
Consequences of Managers Attending Team Retrospectives
In my experience, three typical Scrum anti-patterns arise regarding the participation of managers in Retrospectives:
There are plenty of opportunities to satisfy the information needs of (line) managers: Run separate Retrospectives with the managers in regular intervals, invite them to other Scrum events, namely the Sprint Review, have 1-on-1s. Additionally, there is plenty of room for conversations at water coolers, over coffee, or during lunchtime — provided we make it back to a shared workspace in the future. To gather information as a line manager, attending the Scrum team’s Retrospective is not necessary.
Managers Attending Retrospectives — Conclusion
The Scrum Guide 2020 emphasizes self-management and Scrum Values as critical components of successfully applying Scrum in any organization. Also, it points to the importance of the Sprint Retrospective as a means to continuously improve as a Scrum team. However, it does not rule out that managers participate in Retrospectives from time to time, join other Scrum events, or have 1-on-1s. Hence, take this challenge to the Scrum team!
Have you met a Scrum team that invites managers to its Retrospectives? How is that working out? Please share your learnings with us in the comments.
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Should Managers Attend Retrospectives? — Making Your Scrum Work #19 was first published on Age-of-Product.com.
Senior Business Consultant
3yManagers do have alternatives to visiting retrospectives: Go to Gemba Management by Walking Around Directed Telescope Granted, these examples are all pretty similar. An advantage of these methods, is that a manager can ask questions without disrupting a team meeting, or putting people in awkward situations in front of others. They do require a significant amount of trust between the manager and the Scrummaster, and the Scrummaster and the team, though, because they put the manager in direct contact with team members.