Managers: Scrum can help you now!

Here is the situation for many managers:

• We need more productivity now!
• There is TONS of opportunity, but we can’t get to it.
• We cannot hire people (fast enough).  We want to retain people more.
• Our staff want a nicer situation (or they will…)

Again, this means that we need to use the staff we have to maximum effect.

Part of that is making the game more fun.

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How can Scrum help?

Here are 4 short answers.  (We will address these at greater length in another post.)

• Scrum enables a Team to adjust quickly to changing information, and, under uncertainty, deliver better on the 80-20 concept.

That is, the whole Team (led by the PO) learns faster, and tries to deliver the best Minimum Viable Product possible.

And often can use this idea: deliver that top 20% of story points that deliver 80% of the Business Value.

• Scrum implements a simple process, and the key thing is continuous improvement every Sprint.

If the simple process is done well, with the right mindset in most of the people, then it will help the Team become better. (Ex: provide transparency).

And then the Team and the related managers must attack the impediments, typically one chunky impediment per sprint, led by the SM.

• Scrum focuses on a few things that make the work much more fun for the Team.

First, we focus on serious fun.  Different for each team and hard to mandate from afar.

Then we also include: (a) fewer distractions, (b) we define our own work, (c) higher motivation (eg, we volunteer), and (d) with small wins, we feel like we are winning a game.

This fun and humor, if done well and with a good professional attitude, can (a) motivate people to stay (they are enjoying it too much), and (b) attract new people to join your teams.

• Scrum enables higher collaboration and transparency.

Even in these days, we encourage collocation.  If done well, this makes a huge difference.

But, for remote teams, Scrum provides the Team (and the managers) much more transparency.  You can see who is doing what.  And daily and every sprint, see how much progress has been made.

But many associates want the freedom of remote work.  (The classic is the mother with young children, but lots of variations.)  Scrum can accommodate this.

Scrum, if done right, helps you in both cases.  For collocation, Scrum shows them how to work closely together and help each other.  Scrum allows them to figure out exactly how to work together, and achieve the benefits of (in too simple a word) teamwork.

Similarly, Scrum provides more transparency for remote teams.  And Zoom (or similar) and Mural.co (or similar) enable the team members to work closely together even though each is remote.

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To gain the benefits of Scrum at a high level, you probably need training and coaching.  We can help.

If you commit as an organization to becoming better, then you can change and improve things.  If you change and improve things, then the training and coaching is well worth it.  Those who do it best also include coaching.

 

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