What do you think about ScrumMaster playing also the role of a team member. That is what if ScrumMaster takes on some design/development tasks from the same backlog?
Actually, my Danish colleague who has just attended CSM training asked the trainer about this, and the response was that it does not go against "conventional" Scrum as long as the SM does not start making decisions for the team.
But what will you say about "real life"? Did any of you try combining these roles himself? Were there any real pitfalls?
The major pitfall I would be aware of is that it is often difficult to draw a line between "acting as a scrum master" and "acting as a team member". Some actions that I tend to see as performed by me as a team member could be seen as managerial by other members of the team. That might slow down the process of empowering the team via self- management.
Also it is worth mentioning that the scrum master should be able to balance between the team and the product owner / stakeholders that might be more difficult in this case.
On Mar 25, 2:29 am, "Yuriy Mann" <yurym...@gmail.com> wrote:
> What do you think about ScrumMaster playing also the role of a team > member. That is what if ScrumMaster takes on some design/development > tasks from the same backlog?
> Actually, my Danish colleague who has just attended CSM training asked > the trainer about this, and the response was that it does not go > against "conventional" Scrum as long as the SM does not start making > decisions for the team.
> But what will you say about "real life"? Did any of you try combining > these roles himself? Were there any real pitfalls?
> The major pitfall I would be aware of is that it is often difficult to > draw a line between "acting as a scrum master" and "acting as a team > member". Some actions that I tend to see as performed by me as a team > member could be seen as managerial by other members of the team. That > might slow down the process of empowering the team via self- > management.
> Also it is worth mentioning that the scrum master should be able to > balance between the team and the product owner / stakeholders that > might be more difficult in this case.
> On Mar 25, 2:29 am, "Yuriy Mann" <yurym...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hi dear All,
> > What do you think about ScrumMaster playing also the role of a team > > member. That is what if ScrumMaster takes on some design/development > > tasks from the same backlog?
> > Actually, my Danish colleague who has just attended CSM training asked > > the trainer about this, and the response was that it does not go > > against "conventional" Scrum as long as the SM does not start making > > decisions for the team.
> > But what will you say about "real life"? Did any of you try combining > > these roles himself? Were there any real pitfalls?
Well, IMHO the most difficult problem for me would be to plan my time reasonably. This is always difficult being a PM or team leader, and until now it keeps being difficult for me being a SM.
That is when you're a team leader the inflow of your out-of- development tasks may be the most dense and unpredictable comparing to the other team members. Hence, it might be rather difficult for you to plan and fulfill your commitments on development tasks.
It seems to me that a right way could be to serve as an external developer/expert for the team, to whom the team could 'outsource' tasks which are not too long or too critical for the sprint to be completed.
Anyway, I know for sure my benefit in this: to keep my developing skills in good shape and just because I get a lot of fun from designing and developing myself. The question is: how to keep it being useful for the team and fit into Scrum bounds?
On Apr 2, 6:03 pm, "Mykola Gurov" <ngu...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Theoretically there's no much difference for time planning between > developing alone or in pairs. IMHO.
> > the better way probably would be to combine SM role with development in pairs > > when you still can get some time fulfilling your SM responsibilities- Hide quoted text -
Probably you could do investigations of future problems, some spikes and analysis of incoming requirements. Also, team may need some internal programming to esablish better Configuration Management, Source management and other internal processes.
But, anyhow, I think after few sprints you will be able to see if you can pick a development task or not. The Sprint Review and Retrospective meeting are good time for analysis of how does your time flows out :-)
> Well, IMHO the most difficult problem for me would be to plan my time > reasonably. This is always difficult being a PM or team leader, and > until now it keeps being difficult for me being a SM.
> That is when you're a team leader the inflow of your out-of- > development tasks may be the most dense and unpredictable comparing to > the other team members. Hence, it might be rather difficult for you to > plan and fulfill your commitments on development tasks.
> It seems to me that a right way could be to serve as an external > developer/expert for the team, to whom the team could 'outsource' > tasks which are not too long or too critical for the sprint to be > completed.
> Anyway, I know for sure my benefit in this: to keep my developing > skills in good shape and just because I get a lot of fun from > designing and developing myself. The question is: how to keep it being > useful for the team and fit into Scrum bounds?
> On Apr 2, 6:03 pm, "Mykola Gurov" <ngu...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Theoretically there's no much difference for time planning between > > developing alone or in pairs. IMHO.
> > > the better way probably would be to combine SM role with development > in pairs > > > when you still can get some time fulfilling your SM responsibilities- > Hide quoted text -
Having a ScrumMaster or another 'high profile' person on a team can bring down the feeling of team's responsibility. A perfect team in the agile world is self-organizing committed unit. A nice article from Jason Yip http://martinfowler.com/articles/itsNotJustStandingUp.html seems to be on a different subject, but it touches the problem of ScrumMaster as a team member as well. Look at the following sections: The underlying theme is self-organization Rotate the Facilitator Break Eye Contact Reporting to the Leader If you are in this situation you need to be aware of the danger. Cheers, Alex
On Mar 24, 4:29 pm, "Yuriy Mann" <yurym...@gmail.com> wrote:
> What do you think about ScrumMaster playing also the role of a team > member. That is what if ScrumMaster takes on some design/development > tasks from the same backlog?
> Actually, my Danish colleague who has just attended CSM training asked > the trainer about this, and the response was that it does not go > against "conventional" Scrum as long as the SM does not start making > decisions for the team.
> But what will you say about "real life"? Did any of you try combining > these roles himself? Were there any real pitfalls?
Thanks for this info. My experience confirms that presence of a manager (lead, or however you'd call him/her) jeopardizes team's chance to jell and self-organize. But I think here can't be yes or no answer on whether a SM should be in the team or not.
What matters is that eventually as the team learns how to do Scrums, the SM should become useless. So the sooner SM can make the team do Scrum without his/her support - the better. If this can be achieved by participating in coding/designs - fine...
// Alexey
On 4/2/07, Alexander Aizikovsky <aiz...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Having a ScrumMaster or another 'high profile' person on a team can > bring down the feeling of team's responsibility. > A perfect team in the agile world is self-organizing committed unit. > A nice article from Jason Yip http://martinfowler.com/articles/itsNotJustStandingUp.html > seems to be on a different subject, but it touches the problem of > ScrumMaster as a team member as well. Look at the following sections: > The underlying theme is self-organization > Rotate the Facilitator > Break Eye Contact > Reporting to the Leader > If you are in this situation you need to be aware of the danger. > Cheers, > Alex
> On Mar 24, 4:29 pm, "Yuriy Mann" <yurym...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hi dear All,
> > What do you think about ScrumMaster playing also the role of a team > > member. That is what if ScrumMaster takes on some design/development > > tasks from the same backlog?
> > Actually, my Danish colleague who has just attended CSM training asked > > the trainer about this, and the response was that it does not go > > against "conventional" Scrum as long as the SM does not start making > > decisions for the team.
> > But what will you say about "real life"? Did any of you try combining > > these roles himself? Were there any real pitfalls?
On Apr 4, 9:48 am, "Alexey Krivitsky" <alexeykrivit...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Alex,
> What matters is that eventually as the team learns how to do Scrums, > the SM should become useless. So the sooner SM can make the team do > Scrum without his/her support - the better. If this can be achieved by > participating in coding/designs - fine...
No matter how good a team is (with or without Scrum), it always can be better. Same goes for SM or any other person or group. We were lucky to work with some exceptionally good consultants. Each of them has its own opinion on development (changing over time). Sometimes these opinions were contradicting to each other. But consultants' impact on the team was huge and positive. You can consider them as part time SMs (or rather coaches, because we have had more XP-like process). If there is a choice I wouldn't take your advise of a team working without SM literally. If the team learned everything SM could teach it, it's time to move on. Either SM think of something else to suggest, or it's better to get a new one. Cheers,
