How to Frame Team Development Challenges
When working with teams or organizations new to Agile and scrum, it's common for scrum masters to face varying degrees of resistance to the new methods and processes. The resistance can take many forms ranging from passive-aggressive behaviors to overt aggression and even sabotage.
There are two things to consider when looking for ways to resolve this type of resistance.
The specific issues are typically not Agile problems in the sense they won't be solved by any specific Agile techniques, methods, or frameworks. Rather, they are people problems; issues with how people's behavior is driven by their values and beliefs. We have to resolve the people problems in concert with implementing Agile or Agile will never be successfully implemented. We also have to be sure not to confuse the two.
We need to look at these challenges as opportunities.
It's the second point I want to focus on in this post.
To simply paint the often unpleasant experiences we have with coaching our teams in the ways of Agile and scrum as "opportunities" isn't much of a solution. It's weak tea and about as useful as "Let's all just think positive thoughts and eventually it'll get better." Nor do I suggest we sugar coat the unpleasantness by sprinkling "It's an opportunity!" language on our conversations. Losing your job or breaking your leg may be one of those "wonderful opportunities" born from adversity, but only after you've found that next better job or your leg has healed. Hustling for new work or sitting idle while in pain and healing is decidedly unpleasant.
I had something else in mind for thinking about the challenges we face as "opportunities." It's in the midst of the unpleasant phase where the opportunities are found that lead to success. Seth Godin speaks to this in his book "The Dip."
The Dip is the long slog between starting and mastery. The Dip is the combination of bureaucracy and busywork you must deal with in order to get certified in scuba diving. The Dip is the difference between the easy “beginner” technique and the more useful “expert” approach in skiing or fashion design. The Dip is the long stretch between beginner’s luck and real accomplishment.
It's the classic "things will get worse before they get better." But as Zig Ziglar put it, "Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly--until you can learn to do it well."
It's important to recognize and acknowledge when you're in The Dip. Not just as an individual scrum master on a particular team, but perhaps the entire organization as well. Solving the issues you're encountering today is exactly what you need to do in order to be successful in the long term. The Dip is inevitable and unavoidable. Part of the scrum master's purpose is to raise the awareness of this fact so that the underlying issues that need to be resolved can be amplified.
This is what can make serving in the scrum master role particularly unpleasant at times. It's when you earn your pay. In general, people don't like to look at themselves in the Agile mirror that scrum masters are charged with holding up in front of them.
The Dip is another way to describe Shalloway's Corollary applied to teams and organizations. Unlike losing a job or breaking a leg, what we're dealing with is actually something we most definitely should expect. The system was always going to push back. Now we're discovering exactly how that's going to happen. The system is showing us what needs to change in order to become a more Agile organization. No more guess work. It's a gift. Knowing this should be cause for optimism and viewing the tasks ahead as an opportunity. The way is known. There is less ambiguity. Doesn't mean the path ahead is easy, just better known. That alone is incredibly useful.
A final thought. "The System" that's been in place at any organization is what it is. For better or worse, it's been working, perhaps for decades. Anything that challenges the status quo is going to receive push back. It just happens that Agile is the current challenger. As scrum masters, we have to continually evaluate our own "system" in a way that prevents it from becoming the next version of the problem.
Is a particular tool, process, or method fit for purpose?
What problem are we trying to solve?
Are there aspects of the "old system" that actually make sense to keep in place?
Are the frustrations we're experiencing due to the "old system" pushing back or are they the result of our own ossification around out dated or misapplied beliefs?
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash