Agile Recipes
"Agile is a mindset that leaves behind it a trail of tools, techniques, and practices."
I've been saying this for years.
Another way to think about Agile is that it’s a collection of recipes. In this metaphor, most scrum masters are line cooks. They have some skill with food preparation, but they need recipes to follow. If they're missing an ingredent or something goes significantly wrong in the kitchen, they're at a loss for how to handle it.
The chef, on the other hand, knows the dynamics and causal loops working in the larger system. He knows what can be substituted for what, how to combine ingredients in interesting ways, how to adjust when things go wrong, and how to experiment with what's in the kitchen to good effect. She has the experience and intuition to combine disparate elements of Agile in ways that tailor the solution to the situation.
Some Scrum masters don't like their role being described like this. They act as if wearing the title of "Master" has automatically conferred upon them a mastery that, in fact, has yet to be attained. A typical response is to start reciting a lengthy list of techniques they have at the ready for when things don't work the way they expect. But these are just more recipes.
The scrum masters know the tools. The chef knows the system.
Of course, I know scrum masters who are indeed masters of the Agile mindset. They are chefs and masters of their kitchen. But for the most part, you don't want scrum masters behaving as chefs. For Agile to work, we need line cooks. Professionals who can follow the recipes and keep the delivery teams on task and on course. Having scrum masters working within an organization who understand where the primary mastery is to be honed are invaluable. So, too, are Agile coaches who understand they may be called into service as a line cook and are confident they can provide a professional model to follow.
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