Professional Scrum Competencies 2 of 3
Mentoring Principles
When companies have formal mentoring programs, they may have established procedures for how mentors and mentees are matched, and how each conducts themselves during the mentoring relationship. However, when no formal program exists, it's up to the mentor and mentee to figure out how they will work together. We'd like to share some of the elements of successful mentorship that has guided us in the past: Connection - Fundamentally, the most important thing is that the mentor and mentee want to work together in mentorship. The relationship must be based on mutual trust and respect. Intentional - At the core of mentorship is a focus on understanding and supporting the mentee's career and/or developmental goals. It's important for the mentee to be able to articulate their goals to their mentor and for the mentor to be confident in their ability to appropriately guide their mentee. Active - The mentor actively provides advice and guidance to the mentee, sharing anecdotes from their own experiences and providing crucial feedback. The mentee receives feedback and takes responsibility for implementing the lessons learned from the mentor. Clear - Both the mentor and the mentee must be clear that they are establishing a mentoring relationship and should set appropriate expectations to avoid disappointment. Whether you and your mentor or mentee create a written agreement is entirely dependent on your particular circumstance. For some, this level of clarity is important. For others, it is excessive formality. Limited - Mentoring relationships can be fairly long-term, ranging from many months to years. It's often useful to create an understanding of when the mentoring relationship will end. This can be based on a specific lapsed time, or better yet, the achievement of certain goals. The mentoring relationship is successful if the mentee advances enough to no longer need the support of the mentor.
Why does Scrum require Self-Managing Teams?
When teams are faced with complex problems (where more is unknown than known), or given the responsibility to create an innovative product, they are rarely able to succeed by following someone's specific instructions. After all, by its very nature there is no clear way to solve the problem, there are no recipes to follow. The team can only arrive at the solution by experimenting their way to it. They must create hypotheses, determine how to test their hypothesis and act on the insights they uncovered through their experimentation.
Why is Mentoring Beneficial for Scrum Teams?
While the Scrum Master has specific accountability for mentoring Scrum Team members on the use of Scrum, every team member has knowledge and experience that will benefit their colleagues. These relationships can be within or outside of the Scrum Team. Mentorship examples on Scrum Teams It's rare for formal mentoring relationships to be formed among members of the same Scrum Team. For example, it's difficult to act as a sponsor to a peer on your team. However, due to the self-managing nature of Scrum Teams, mentoring relationships are continually forming. Mentorship within a Scrum Team is generally ad hoc with one team member with particular prior experience guiding other team members. We sometimes refer to this as taking a mentorship "stance." For example: - When a team member has experience that could help their team reach a desired approach or outcome, or support their team's decision - When the team is trying a new approach or solution and one team member has prior experience with a similar situation - A newly hired team member can be mentored by a longer-standing team member - There is often the possibility of cross-role mentorship when developers, POs or Scrum Masters want to be mentored in other roles - A team member may mentor others on the benefits of empiricism, self-management and continuous improvement by recounting their prior successes with them - When a new team is formed, there may be opportunities for mentorship around setting a successful mission, team values and goals - Teams often struggle with how to steer toward or evaluate their successful outcomes. A team member with experience with Evidence-Based Management (EBM) or Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) may be able to guide the rest of the team. Mentorship outside of your immediate Scrum Team Mentorship outside of your immediate team is more likely to take the shape of a more traditional mentoring relationship. For example: - If you have significant experience as a Scrum Master, Product Owner or Developer, you may be asked to mentor someone with less experience in these roles - There are opportunities to participate in mentorship structures such as communities of practice, or during hackathons or peer reviews - Often less experienced team members benefit from having mentorship around how the organization operates - Setting up a new team or introducing Scrum requires the benefit of experience. Having a mentor with this type of experience can be invaluable. - Mentorship is not restricted to junior team members, the organization's leaders can often benefit from having mentors guide them in understanding how operating in an empirical way impacts the organization and its structure
Good facilitation leads to?
achieving a collective objective.
As agilists, we tend to work on complex problems (where more is unknown than is known). Complex problems require what style of leadership?
agile leadership A Word about "Servant Leadership" Previous versions of the Scrum Guide used the term "servant leader" to describe the style of leadership that Scrum Masters should use. In the 2020 revision, the term "servant leader" was removed, instead putting more emphasis on leadership in general. This wasn't done to discourage Scrum Masters from being servant leaders, but rather to remove the potential misinterpretation that Scrum Masters are servants first and leaders second. Understanding the idea of servant leadership is still valuable when using Scrum.
Those that use an agile leadership style create an environment where -----and----- flourish
empiricism and self-management can flourish
Understanding who is accountable for achieving various outcomes helps the team do what?
focus on the work.
Facilitating Diverse Perspectives in Scrum Teams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEdp6mYBv90
Other Resources About Teaching
links
Resources about Mentoring
see link
Other Resources About Coaching
see more resources/links
Good facilitation creates?
synergy,
Traditional management models consider the work of people and team development to be the job of who?
the team's manager.
Coaching and mentoring share what in similar?
they both heavily rely on developmental conversations, active listening and asking thought-provoking questions.
What is the the coach's job is
to be a process expert, enabling those they are coaching to achieve their goals using skills such as developmental conversations, active listening and asking thought-provoking questions.
Good facilitation enables?
transparency and collaboration,
What is different between coaching and mentoring?
unlike coaches, mentors actively share their experience, advice and opinions, often acting as a role model and advocate for their mentee.
The Scrum framework provides guidance to enable self-management; in what ways in regards to boundaries?
Accountabilities within Scrum supported by the Scrum Master, Product Owner and Developers
Instruction should be designed around learning outcomes
As agilists, we feel strongly that the work we do should be based on the outcomes we seek to create. In teaching, we start by determining what learning outcomes the learners need to achieve. Once that's established, we design the content of the instruction in a way that achieves each of those goals.
What are the 6 Focus areas of The Professional Scrum Competency, Developing People and Teams?
- Self-Managing Teams - Facilitation - Leadership Styles - Coaching - Mentoring - Teaching
What are the traits of agile leaders in Scrum?
Act with great humility. They recognize that complex problems have no obvious solutions so there is no need to show they have all the answers. Create the conditions that support strong, empowered self-managing teams: - Help the teams set meaningful goals and help them inspect their progress toward them - Make certain that the boundaries and accountabilities are clear and well-understood. If they are managers, agile leaders delegate much of their decision-making authority to the teams Foster empiricism by encouraging experimentation. Experimentation centers around creating hypotheses and then seeking to either confirm or disprove the hypothesis. When a hypothesis is disproved, agile leaders recognize that this is not the experiment failing, but rather a successful learning process. Keep the team's focus on the value and customer outcomes that the team is creating, rather than managing the team's output and activities. Creates an environment of trust and transparency by modeling and reinforcing the Scrum Values. Use techniques such as coaching, teaching, mentoring and facilitation to build high performing teams. They do not command or direct the teams to achieve a goal. Help teams transition to agility by letting go of old ways of working: - Agile leaders transform themselves first. They adopt an agile mindset and an agile leadership style. - Agile leaders focus on value instead of tasks, actions and velocity. So instead of using dashboards and metrics that don't support agility, agile leaders use Evidence-Based Management (EBM - https://www.scrum.org/node/62255) which focuses on four Key Value Areas (current value, unrealized value, ability to innovate and time to market). - Agile leaders continually look for ways to shift reward structures and promotions away from emphasis on individual accomplishments to the value that the team creates.
What is Teaching?
At the highest level, teaching is about transferring knowledge from the teacher to the learner so that the learner acquires new knowledge or skills. You, or anyone on the team, can act as a teacher, helping your colleagues obtain new knowledge or learn new skills. However, if you want to become a very effective teacher, it's best if you learn a few of the principles of the teaching profession. Scrum.org recognizes that those studying to become professional teachers or trainers go through an extensive learning and certification journey. Our goal in these pages isn't to replicate those learning journeys, but instead to make Agile practitioners aware of what the practice entails so they can incrementally improve their teaching ability and seek out further resources.
Traits of a Mentee
Before you seek out a mentor, you should make certain that you're prepared to be mentored. In particular, mentorship works best if you are working on specific goals. Ask yourself the following questions: - Have you recognized that you are facing a particular challenge with which you want support? - Do you have the ambition to advance in your career or achieve a goal? - Are you willing to actively seek feedback and act on it? - Are you ready to take responsibility and ownership of the interaction with your mentor and drive toward your objectives? - Do you have the time to devote to the relationship? - Are you comfortable sharing potentially uncomfortable topics if it helps you succeed?
The Scrum framework provides guidance to enable self-management; in what ways in regards to boundaries?
Boundaries around how to organize the work, - such as making the work transparent (the Product and Sprint Backlogs) - and providing Events to enhance communication and collaboration
For self-management to thrive, there must be---,---,and---
Clear goals, Clear boundaries, Clear accountabilities
Coaching Skills
Coaching requires you to leverage a wide range of skills. Successful coaching requires you to work with what is present and make choices in the moment. This means developing proficiency in many skills: Listening Actively - Recognize that people communicate with more than their words. Their context, identity, environment, experiences, values and beliefs must be taken into account. Pay attention to their body language, mood, emotion and hear what is unsaid through their words and actions. Asking Powerful Questions - Ask questions that are open-ended (cannot be answered by "yes" or "no"), neutral and short. The key is to choose questions that provide the opportunity for the person you are coaching to gain new insight or reframe their perspective. Powerful questions are best applied when you are also listening actively. Reframing - Invite the person you are coaching to take an alternate point of view to broaden their range of solutions and consider multiple perspectives. Reading and Working with the Emotional Field - Coaching requires that you actively monitor the atmosphere, energy, or mood of the coaching space. As it changes during the coaching session, try to bring curiosity and reflection on it into the conversation to deepen an understanding of what's going on. The emotional field is a phrase commonly used by practitioners who have studied Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSC)™. Normalizing - Create a feeling that the person you are coaching is not alone in the challenges they face. When used well, normalizing has the ability to reduce tension or frustration and open people up to new ways of thinking. Supporting with Silence - Sometimes called "awkward silence," this is a situation where you and the person you are coaching are both quiet and present, waiting for the wisdom and intelligence of the person being coached to emerge. Taking a Meta-View - Seek to observe the situation from the highest perspective to see the whole picture, uncover new information and connect what previously seemed to be disparate information. Holding Things Lightly - When you hold something lightly you acknowledge its presence and avoid allowing the topic or information to consume the conversation or overshadow the topic at hand. Bottom-lining - Be clear and precise with your words in order to create a "mic-drop" moment. Avoid over-explaining or asking long questions that interweave too much context. Forwarding the Action - Be intentional about how the person you're coaching will move forward in action as a result of the coaching conversation.
What are the facilitation principles?
Complementary to the Scrum Values, they are participatory, healthy, transparency, process and purposeful Participatory - Core to effective facilitation is full participation and engagement, which enables shared responsibility in a team Healthy - A safe environment means creating a healthy space where people feel safe to raise differences and even conflicting perspectives while respectfully learning from each other Transparency - Transparency only exists when there is shared understanding Process - Facilitation should enable a team to progress toward the desired objective of the interaction in a way that is collaborative, inclusive and leverages diverse perspectives Purposeful - Well-facilitated sessions should have a clear objective that everyone is aligned with and works toward
Agile leaders recognize that their role is to "manage" the team. True or False?
False. Agile leaders recognize that their role is not to "manage" the team, but to create the conditions that enable or support their team's ability to manage itself... and then get out of their way!
Myths and Misunderstandings about Self-Management
Few things in Scrum are as misunderstood and misinterpreted as much as a Scrum Team's need for self-management. At the highest level, it's not a very difficult concept, but the nuances tend to throw things into question. Simply said: the team needs the autonomy to get its work done. However, the phrase "self-management" has led some to believe that Scrum is anti-management or anti-manager. This is simply not true. In fact, there are several myths that we'd like to debunk: Myth: Self-management means that no managers are needed and all of the traditional work of "managers" is done by people on the team. This could include compensation, hiring, firing, promotions and career development. This also suggests that Scrum requires flat organizational structures, no titles or individual bonuses. Reality: Self-management on the Scrum Team doesn't mean "no managers" in the organization. It's true that no managers are required to constitute a Scrum Team, but that doesn't mean that no managers are required in the organization. In organizations that are using Scrum well, the manager's role switches away from directing the team, toward supporting the team. They are often the right people in the organization to make sure that the Scrum Teams have everything they need to be successful, such as the necessary equipment, budget and cooperation from personnel outside the Scrum Team. Myth: Self-management means that the team isn't required to follow rules from outside the team. If they are empowered to make their own decisions, this means that they can choose to ignore managers and stakeholders and are unaccountable to them. Reality: Scrum takes accountability very seriously. The team as a whole is accountable for creating valuable work and each of the members of the team have clear accountabilities. There is nothing in self-management that encourages chaos and suggests the suspension of rules from outside the team. Scrum Teams are actually very disciplined in their work and commitments. Myth: Teams are completely self-contained, have all the skills necessary to do all the work and should not need to go outside of their teams for help. Reality: It's true that in order to effectively manage their work, the team needs to have the necessary skills to get the work done. However, complex work often requires the temporary assistance of individuals with specialist skills. Often, there are too few of these specialists for them to be full-time members on individual Scrum Teams and they must be shared across many teams. Self-managing teams may not have all the skills necessary, but they are effective collaborators with colleagues outside their team and together they determine how the work will be done. Myth: When self-managing teams encounter challenges it's always best to let them work it out themselves. Reality: Self-managing teams work hard to remove their own impediments, but this is not a license to ignore challenges that they cannot overcome. We've heard horror stories of "busy" stakeholders who do not provide adequate guidance on high-level goals or adequate feedback on the work being done, claiming that they are allowing the team to "self-manage." Similarly, we've heard of Scrum Masters who, upon identifying unhealthy conflict among team members, ignore the growing team dysfunction and claim that they are allowing the team to "self-manage" their way to a solution. Neither of these examples are supporting the team's self-management, they are examples of abandoning their responsibilities to the team.
Facilitation Techniques for the Daily Scrum 3 of 5
Event Purpose Developers inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal. Output of the Daily Scrum is a plan for the next working day Facilitator Focus Enable an atmosphere where the team focuses on delivering quality, commitment (Sprint Goal) and addressing impediments. Avoid status updates. Observe and question when needed. Ensure team focus on the Sprint Goal. Example Facilitation Techniques How to Facilitate the Daily Scrum Video - There are many ways to facilitate Daily Scrum. In this Introduction to Facilitating a Daily Scrum, you will learn three different techniques along with the benefits and challenges of each. Your team can experiment with these as they see necessary and choose whichever method helps them best focus on their progress toward the Sprint Goal while producing an actionable plan for the next day of work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2hYKB8xLNc Want to increase focus on the Sprint Goal during the Daily Scrum? Try using "powerful questions." - https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/how-use-powerful-questions-virtually - https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/daniel-stillman-designing-powerful-questions-help-you-coach-create-connect-and-lead Want to avoid the Daily Scrum turning into a status update? Try a Daily Scrum format that emphasizes the focus on the Sprint Goal. - https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/four-ways-keep-daily-scrum-being-about-status Is the team going into too much detail during the Daily Scrum? Try introducing ELMO (Enough, Let's Move On). Participants either say "Elmo" or hold up an Elmo doll to encourage the group to suspend current discussion and move to the next topic.
Facilitation Techniques for Sprint Planning 2 of 5
Event Purpose Initiates the Sprint by laying out the work to be performed for the Sprint. Output is a Sprint Backlog (Sprint Goal + selected PBIs + Plan) Facilitator Focus Enable a collaborative and transparent environment with a clear objective. Keep the team focussed on the Sprint Goal. Example Facilitation Techniques How to Facilitate Sprint Planning Video In this Introduction to Facilitating Sprint Planning video, you'll learn how and when to use facilitation techniques such as roman voting, visualization, and powerful questioning so that your team can leave Sprint Planning with a Sprint Goal that is in pursuit of the Product Goal and an initial plan for the Sprint. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bggGoE8w6o4
Facilitation Techniques for the Sprint Review 4 of 5
Event Purpose Inspect the Increment, through feedback and adaptation of the Product Backlog if needed Facilitator Focus Enable an engaging, energetic and participative environment. Encourage listening vs. reacting. Empathize, listen actively and build synergy between the Scrum Team, sponsors and stakeholders. Example Facilitation Techniques How to Facilitate the Sprint Review Video In this Introduction to Facilitating a Sprint Review, you will learn a facilitation technique that can help turn the Sprint Review into a more engaging and collaborative session so that you can gather valuable feedback from stakeholders to determine future adaptations of your product. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbp9eLbcf7A Having trouble engaging stakeholders and users during Sprint Review? - Try to encourage people to interact with the product - Try a Sprint Review Bazaar Format https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/how-facilitate-awesome-sprint-review-bazaar-mode - Try a World Cafe Sprint Review https://theworldcafe.com/key-concepts-resources/world-cafe-method/ - Try a 1-2-4 all Sprint Review https://www.liberatingstructures.com/1-1-2-4-all/
Facilitation Techniques for the Sprint Retrospective 5 of 5
Event Purpose The Scrum Team inspects how the last Sprint went; individuals, interactions, process, tools and Definition of Done. Output: the Scrum Team adapts by identifying the most helpful changes to improve its effectiveness. Facilitator Focus Enable a safe atmosphere in which everyone in the team feels open to participate. Listen actively to what is said and what is not said. Open the floor to different perspectives. Build consensus and clearly define next steps. Example Facilitation Techniques How to Facilitate the Sprint Retrospective Video In this Introduction to Facilitating the Sprint Retrospective video, you'll learn step-by-step how to guide your team through a Sprint Retrospective with techniques such as the Prime Directive, the Perfection Game, Dot Voting and Affinity Mapping so that your team can leave the Sprint Retrospective with ideas on how to improve. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD-XsdD2n3s Want to create a safe environment and get the team on the same page? - Try creating a team agreement collaboratively https://theteamcanvas.com/ - Increase team collaboration by building empathy with each other - try creating personal maps https://management30.com/practice/personal-maps/ Want to avoid groupthink? And/ or want to come up with many different ideas? - Try diverging & converging techniques such as silent brainstorming, 1-2-4-al, crazy 8s, grouping (affinity mapping) https://www.liberatingstructures.com/1-1-2-4-all/ - Try participative techniques such as White Elephant https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/trumpeting-all-voices-be-heard-white-elephant-facilitating-participation Ready to explore different perspectives to solve problems with the team? - Try Six Thinking Hats https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/try-different-roles-to-solve-your-problems-edward-de-bono-s-six-thinking-hats?gclid=Cj0KCQjwvLOTBhCJARIsACVldV2g29WayTzluUCruKhHu98LE4fOuBJ3sY-vLXkrqFymw5a0KIFpE8oaAsJYEALw_wcB Spice up your Sprint Retrospectives with regularly changing formats - Try different Sprint Retrospective formats https://easyretro.io/retrospective-ideas/ Not sure what improvement actions to work on next? Craving consensus? - Try Five Ways to Build Consensus https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/five-ways-build-consensus
Clear accountabilities means?
Every member of the team has a role to play achieving the team's objectives.
Skills and Traits of a Mentor
Experienced - Having the appropriate background is crucial for being able recount your own experiences and to provide pertinent advice to your mentee. Knowledgeable - Your mentee will come to you wanting to achieve success in a particular domain. It's important to have knowledge of that domain. Supportive - You should be able to engage in active listening and asking powerful questions in order to stimulate your mentee's reflective thought process. It's important to listen to your mentee's goals and concerns and base your guidance on what you heard. You must be capable of delivering feedback in a way it can be received by your mentee. Committed - You must be dedicated to your mentee's personal and professional development and success. Mentors are often willing to expend their own political capital in order to advocate for their mentee's career advancement within the organization. Approachable - As a mentor, you should be able to create an atmosphere of openness and trust. Your mentee should feel comfortable talking about potentially awkward topics and you should be willing to share personal and professional information in order to help your mentee. Focused - You should have the ability to help create clarity and direction for your mentee. This could take the form of goal setting, next steps, action items or anything that would help the mentee move forward on their goals.
Which learning method is suited to Agilists?
Experiential Learning In this model, learning is a cycle that starts with hands-on learning; followed by reflection and thinking about the experience; which leads to experimenting with what was learned.This style is particularly well-suited to Agilists for whom experimentation, reflection and adaptation are second nature.
Facilitation definition
Facilitation can be used to lead people toward agreed-upon objectives in a manner that encourages participation, ownership and creativity by all involved. A well-facilitated session can unlock collective intelligence and play an important role in providing opportunities for people to progress and succeed. A facilitator plays an important role in helping people to understand and achieve their shared goals and objectives. They do this while remaining neutral and impartial. Facilitators enable a purposeful and participative environment in which people feel safe to engage, learn and collaborate. They encourage people to explore different perspectives, harness diversity and leverage collective wisdom.
What are the Skills and Traits of a facilitator?
Facilitators can come from many backgrounds and have varying levels of experience. Great facilitators, however, demonstrate the following skills and traits: Active Listening: A facilitator has the ability to listen actively, and focus completely on what is said and what is not said. They lead by example, inspiring participants to both fully express themselves and engage in active listening when others are speaking. Encouraging Curiosity: A facilitator encourages curiosity and different viewpoints. They are skilled in asking powerful, often open-ended questions, in order to stimulate reflection and discussion. Problem Solving: A facilitator is skilled at applying group problem-solving techniques. They can help a group define a problem, reframe it as a clear problem statement and encourage the group to consider a range of solutions to the problem. Resolving Conflict: A facilitator recognizes that conflict among group members is natural and, as long as it's expressed appropriately, does not need to be suppressed. Conflict should be expected and dealt with constructively and respectfully. Using a Participative Style: A facilitator encourages all participants to actively engage and contribute in activities and discussions, depending on their individual comfort levels. This includes creating a safe and comfortable atmosphere, in which group members are willing to share their thoughts and ideas. Encouraging Openness: A facilitator encourages the group to be open to other people's ideas, suggestions and perspectives. Empathizing and Showing Compassion: A facilitator is understanding, aware and respectful of the feelings, perspectives or actions of others. Demonstrating Leadership: A facilitator leads a group of people to reach their collective goals and objectives. Building Consensus: A facilitator is skilled in helping groups to achieve general agreement. Managing Time Effectively: A facilitator keeps things on course while allowing flexibility. They focus on achieving the outcome within a timeframe instead of a strict agenda. Overly restrictive time management can stifle good, purposeful conversations and reflection, whereas a lack of time management can limit focus and progress. Setting Objectives: A facilitator communicates the purpose of a meeting in a clear and concise manner. This can be done by setting a strong overarching objective (often done in collaboration with the team) instead of focusing on a strict agenda. Communicating Adequately: A facilitator communicates effectively, using clear and concise language. Being Organized: Facilitation does not start or end with the act of facilitating a group of people. It includes preparation and following-up on decisions that were made.
Assessment of the impact of the lesson helps the learner and the teacher
Frequent feedback is a key tenet of Scrum. It helps the Scrum Team either continue on their current course, or adapt and change their approach. The same concepts hold true for teaching. When a learner is provided the results of an assessment, they can uncover whether they have achieved their learning goals, or if they need to consider another approach to learning. Just as Scrum includes the Sprint Retrospective to assess whether the team used methods that were effective in achieving the Sprint Goal, a teacher should spend time reflecting on whether their methods were effective in helping the learners achieve their learning objectives.
The Scrum framework provides guidance to enable self-management; in what ways in regards to goals?
Goals such as the Product Goal and Sprint Goal
What is Coaching?
In an agile context, the word "coaching" is used in several ways: - Agile Coach - Among agilists, the word "coach" is frequently used to describe the role of an "Agile Coach." This is someone who uses agile approaches to help people and teams reach their objectives or overcome challenges. An Agile Coach doesn't just coach per se; they also advise, lead, facilitate and teach the teams they are helping. Learn more about Agile Coaching in Professional Scrum (link) - To describe the discipline of "coaching." Informally speaking, someone who coaches provides guidance to help others achieve their professional or personal goals. There are also professional organizations that provide prescribed courses of study to become a certified coach. These organizations have formal definitions of what coaching entails. When we refer to coaching as a Professional Scrum competency, we're generally discussing the discipline of coaching (not the role of an Agile Coach) and how coaching skills can be used to increase effectiveness and outcomes of a Scrum Team and its members. The coach's job is to be a process expert, enabling those they are coaching to achieve their goals using skills such as developmental conversations, active listening and asking thought-provoking questions. Strictly speaking, coaches take a neutral stance with regard to how the person being coached achieves their goals; they do not share their experience, advice and opinions. (This is in contrast to "mentorship," where the mentor DOES share their experience, advice and opinions). We're providing the following information so that you can learn more about the discipline of coaching and determine if further study is interesting to you. However, even if your interest is less formal, the following may provide inspiration for improvement of your coaching skills.
Teaching Principles
It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that if you want to teach something to someone, you can simply stand before them and lecture them on the topic. Particularly in a professional setting, that's neither very effective nor well-received. So, how can you become a better teacher? Scrum.org suggests that at a minimum, you - become familiar with how people learn, - how to effectively convey information - and how to assess that the learner's objectives have been achieved.
A fundamental element to Scrum; cross-functional, self-managing and empowered teams are the engine to delivering value, True or False?
True (Practitioners need to understand what self-management is and how to apply it to their context. They should also understand how to incrementally introduce self-management, the practices that can help it thrive, and the measures that help one determine if a team is able to be empowered to self-manage)
Why is Coaching Beneficial for Scrum Teams?
Knowledge workers, particularly Scrum Teams, who are constantly navigating change and being challenged to innovate, can often benefit from the guidance of an external, professional coach. Scrum Masters often take the role of a coach with their teams. However any member of the Scrum Team can use coaching skills informally or organically to help the team improve its effectiveness. Examples include: *Using coaching skills during the Scrum Events - any team member can use coaching skills to help the team use their knowledge and experience to determine next steps - Sprint Planning - ask powerful questions to help the team - determine how the work for the Sprint is going to be done. - Daily Scrum - use active listening to uncover what challenges may not be expressly articulated during the Daily - Sprint Retrospective - use normalizing when the team is facing challenges in working together. It may be important for them to understand that they are not the only team to face these challenges. - Sprint Review - use reframing to encourage stakeholders to consider a new perspective *Using a combination of coaching skills to manage the complexity around collaborating or communicating within and outside of the team, particularly with building relationships with stakeholders
Several ways learners learn?
Learners learn differently Certified teachers and trainers delve deeply into cognitive science and learning theories. As someone who just wants to do a good job teaching something to a colleague, you should be aware that the way you may initially want to teach something may not be the way your colleagues will best learn it. There are many, sometimes conflicting, theories about learning styles. Whatever the differences may be, there seems to be general agreement that using different teaching methods is important for helping learners be successful. The following is a short list of teaching methods and models. It's not meant to be a formal education on teaching methods, but rather to spark your creativity: Lecture: There are learners who benefit most from a more traditional style like lecturing. This involves speaking to the learner(s) about the topic while they possibly take notes to reference later. Learners can then ask clarifying questions at the end of the lecture or at some point afterwards. Self-study: Learners who benefit more from watching videos and reading any materials that are provided to them are likely to absorb the information better while engaging with it on their own. It allows them the time and space to understand the topic at their own speed. Hands-on: Many people prefer to learn by doing. Having a learner interaction with the concept through activities may prove useful to them and make it easier for them to learn the material. Assignment-based: This method helps people who learn by doing but prefer to do it on their own or in a small group. The method involves teaching the subject to the learner(s) before either giving them an assignment that requires them to apply the concepts or asking them to teach the subject back to you. It demonstrates that they were able to properly understand what was taught to them and how it is applied. Experiential Learning: In this model, learning is a cycle that starts with hands-on learning; followed by reflection and thinking about the experience; which leads to experimenting with what was learned.This style is particularly well-suited to Agilists for whom experimentation, reflection and adaptation are second nature.
Leaders vs managers
Managers and Management - As simple as it sounds, managers "manage." They concern themselves with the day-to-day operations of the business. Managers generally oversee people, processes or tasks, making certain that work is on-track. Management is generally an organizational role that comes with a level of authority. Teams are often compelled to follow the direction of their managers simply because of this organizational authority. Leaders and Leadership - Similarly, leaders "lead." Leaders present compelling visions for the future and seek to inspire people and teams to achieve their common goals. Leaders paint a captivating picture and teams follow them not because they hold authority over them, but because they believe in the vision and trust the leader. Some of history's famous leaders are Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela. Some leaders are managers, but not all managers are leaders.
What is Mentoring?
Mentoring is a mutually beneficial relationship in which a mentor provides guidance to a mentee (also sometimes referred to as a protégé) to help the mentee reach their goals. Mentoring is often confused with coaching since they both heavily rely on developmental conversations, active listening and asking thought-provoking questions. However, unlike coaches, mentors actively share their experience, advice and opinions, often acting as a role model and advocate for their mentee. Men tee-Mentor Programs: Your organization may have a formal mentorship program set up by the company to help newer or less experienced staff members. Companies often sponsor these programs in order to help fulfill business goals such as increased employee retention, diversity enhancement, skills and career development, or new-hire onboarding. Often, no such program exists and it's up to individuals to either become a mentor or seek out a mentor. These pages are designed to help you determine if mentorship is something you feel is worth pursuing.
Other Resources about Facilitation
More Scrum.org resources - More Scrum.org resources https://www.scrum.org/resources?field_resource_tags_target_id=290&type=All Resources outside Scrum.org Here are more resources on facilitation techniques and to help you develop the skill of facilitation: - International Association of Facilitators - The International Association of Facilitators (IAF) is an international participatory organization that provides accreditation, community, and education on the power of facilitation. https://www.iaf-world.org/site/ - Liberating Structures - Liberating Structures are microstructures that enhance relational coordination and foster lively participation in groups, making it possible to include everyone. - Tasty Cupcakes - A community-run website with different games, techniques and approaches for facilitation https://tastycupcakes.org/ - Training from the Back of the Room - Training based on brain science principles https://www.bowperson.com/ - Bikablo - Visualizing Dialogue and Thinking https://bikablo.com/en/home-page/ - SeriousWork - Facilitator techniques around practice-based learning https://www.serious.global/about/ Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Training This skills-building course, participants will learn how to become better facilitators to improve interactions with their Scrum Teams, stakeholders and customers. They will focus on how to adopt facilitation as a stance and enable the Scrum Values. Students will address a series of common Scrum-related scenarios by applying several facilitation techniques that they can add to their collection of agile practices. They will create and leave with their own facilitation "plan" to improve their next team discussion or Scrum event.
In Scrum, is team development on the responsibility of the Scrum Master?
No (Since Scrum Teams are self-managing, all team members are responsible for helping the team continually improve through techniques that "develop people and teams.")
Are there managers in Scrum?
No. While there are often managers in organizations, there is no such construct in Scrum.
It's also important for a self-managing team to be cross-functional and have the skills necessary to perform their day-to-day work without constantly relying on colleagues outside of the team. why?
Not having the necessary skills on the team reduces the team's autonomy and ability to optimally manage their own work. (This may require training Scrum Team members in new skills, so that team members can jump in to pick up work at any given time.)
Why is Facilitation Beneficial for Scrum Teams?
Open and respectful communication will help a Scrum Team thrive as a self-managing team. While members on a Scrum Team should talk to each other whenever they need to, Scrum assures communication points for the team in the Scrum events. Every event has a specific purpose and the team benefits from having these events facilitated with the desired outcome in mind. Any person on the Scrum Team can facilitate the Scrum events. For example, Sprint Planning is more effective and exploratory when someone on the team, acting as an objective facilitator, knows how to frame problems to understand how Product Backlog Items may be valuable for customers. A Developer may be a great person to do that, given their familiarity with the product. Often, Scrum events don't go as planned. Good, lightweight facilitation can help the Scrum Teams get back on track. For example, if the Scrum Master observes that the team continually uses the Daily Scrum as a status update instead of an inspection of progress toward the Sprint Goal, then the Scrum Master could help team members to focus by reminding them of the purpose of the event. This will encourage team members to shift their focus from tasks to how they can collaborate toward achieving the Sprint Goal. Taking on a facilitator stance is also valuable for a Product Owner, especially at the Sprint Review when the Scrum Team and stakeholders inspect progress toward the Product Goal, gather stakeholder feedback and adapt the Product Backlog accordingly. When done well, the Product Owner and Developers can learn and hear different opinions from the stakeholders. When not done as well, the Product Owner risks anchoring or limiting the information gathered, reducing the effectiveness of the Sprint Review.
Scrum puts specific responsibility on who to support and guide Scrum Team members (as well as other members of the organization)?
Scrum Masters
Facilitation techniques for Scrum Events 1 of 5
Scrum events create regularity and transparency and minimize the need for meetings not defined in Scrum. The events are the Daily Scrum, Sprint Planning, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective, and the Sprint. Often, Scrum events don't go as planned. Good, lightweight facilitation can help the Scrum Teams get back on track. Without good facilitation, the Scrum events can turn into ineffective meetings: - The purpose of the events may be missed - People might talk over each other or not talk at all - We might constantly hear the same few voices and miss out on the opinions of others - Events can run over their timeboxes without creating necessary action items - Opportunities to collaborate and progress toward desired outcomes may be missed The following resources highlight the purpose of each of the Scrum Events, an indication of where the event's facilitator should place their focus, and a few examples of facilitation techniques that can help guide a team to successful outcomes.
What are Self-Managing Teams?
Self-managing teams are those who are given the autonomy to manage their own work. They determine what to do, who should do it and when it should be done.
What is the difference between Coaching and Mentoring?
Strictly speaking, coaches take a neutral stance with regard to how the person being coached achieves their goals; they do not share their experience, advice and opinions. (This is in contrast to "mentorship," where the mentor DOES share their experience, advice and opinions).
Traits of a Coach
Successful coaches demonstrate capabilities from both agile and coaching areas of expertise. In order to have a holistic approach to coaching, we suggest agilists develop proficiency in the following areas: Supports the Team's Self-Management - Self-management is founded on the assumption that everyone on the team has valuable ideas and is responsible for their own outcomes. When coaching, you have a responsibility to help uncover ways of developing self-management, including your own. Models the Scrum Values - In the context of Scrum, sharing common values is central to building an environment of trust where people feel encouraged to inspect and adapt toward shared goals. When coaching, you have a unique opportunity to model the Scrum Values and bring awareness of their merit to the team. Here are some examples to draw on: - Courage: Challenge new ways of thinking and offer support in exploring them. - Commitment: Encourage commitment to action and help build the right plan for accountability. - Focus: Focus the team on the topic, and bring their attention to emerging thoughts, and inquire how they want to proceed. - Openness: Model and promote openness, creating a safe and open space where everyone feels comfortable to fully express themselves. - Respect: View your colleagues as creative and resourceful. Allow their solutions, ideas, and thoughts to emerge throughout the conversation. Navigates Complexity... in Human Relationships - People are complex. Navigating this complexity requires emotional/social skills like listening, empathy, and building shared understanding. Encourages the Team's Growth through Empiricism - Empiricism is the growth of knowledge through experience. Empiricism is foundational to Scrum. When we help the team focus on a defined problem, apply small changes and use the evidence of what happened to build their understanding, they generate new solutions and options for themselves.
Skills and Traits of a Teacher
Teachers come from varying levels of experience and different backgrounds. However, great teachers often have the following qualities: Humility: Someone who is teaching should have a humble attitude in order to make themselves more approachable and provide a safe environment for learning. Subject Matter Knowledge: Teachers must have confidence in the subject they're teaching. Being able to answer questions without preparation will help teach as well as give learners confidence in the knowledge they are receiving. Patience: Teachers should have patience with their learners. Creating an environment that is not welcoming to those who may need more help will discourage them from learning. Empathy: Being understanding of those who are learning is an important quality when teaching. A teacher should be able to put themselves in the position of the learner in order to assess whether or not they are teaching effectively. Adaptability: When teaching, one should be able to change their teaching style when needed. If a concept they are teaching is understood faster than expected, move on to the next portion. If the concept is not well understood, shift to another style of teaching to accommodate the learners or material.
what are Clear boundaries examples? see fonts highlighted in pink
Teams are provided the autonomy to make their own decisions. Understanding which decisions the team can make on their own and which they cannot is key for self-management. Some decisions may have already been made and are out of the team's hands. For example, there may be organizational constraints such as the budget set aside to support the effort, privacy regulations such as GDPR, security protocols and compliance constraints set by governmental regulations.
With regards to self-management, what is the best way to support a Scrum team?
The best way to support a team working this way is to give them the space to determine how to do their work, rather than directing them. This space and empowerment is the essence of self-management.
Success with Mentorship
The formality of the mentoring relationship is based on the needs of the people involved. It can be very formal, with a written agreement of the goals, details of how they will interact, documented progress reviews and formal kickoff and closing meetings. Formal mentoring relationships are most common with company-sponsored programs and when the mentor and mentee do not have a prior relationship. More informal relationships often occur when a mentor and mentee are acquainted and find that entering a mentoring relationship would be rewarding. They may not create a written agreement on how to conduct the relationship, but they should consider the principles of mentorship and the traits of both the mentor and mentee. Finally, there can be ad hoc mentoring relationships. These mentoring opportunities tend to occur when the mentor and mentee work closely together. As ad hoc as these interactions may be, it's important that the mentee agrees to be mentored and it must be in the style the mentee feels is appropriate. Making certain that this understanding is in place mitigates the risk that the mentee feels they are being treated as an inferior, creating resentment between two colleagues.
Characteristics of Self-Managing Scrum Teams
The team manages their work by deciding what, when, and how. ----------------------------------- As we mentioned previously, self-managing teams determine what to do, when and how the work should be done and who does it. This provides a nice framework to recognize if your team is actually self-managing, or is getting undue direction from outside the team: The team manages their work by deciding what they should be doing on a day to day basis: - Are you operating toward clear goals; does your team use the Product Goal and Sprint Goal to guide their decisions? - Does your team focus on the value being delivered? - Does your team determine how best to fulfill the PBIs; does the team decide what they should be doing without direction from outside the team? The team manages their work by deciding when they should do certain activities. They do this without outside direction: - Does the team select a realistic and challenging amount of work for the Sprint and does the team get the work to Done? - Does the team choose what and when to release? How the members of the team interact with each other gives - clues to whether it is a self-managing team: - Do the developers decide who picks up the work? - Is the team collaborating to solve problems? - Does everyone on the team have a voice? - Do they trust each other? - Do team members work with and help each other? How the the team manages their work practices is a good indicator of whether the team is self-managing: - Do they define and improve their quality practices? - Do they continually improve their adoption/implementation of Scrum? - Is the work that's being done transparent? - Are they dedicated to doing the work well? - Do they "live" the Scrum Values?
What are the 5 Coaching Principles?
The various certifying bodies for coaching have strict guidance on how coaching is done and how a coach interacts with those they are coaching. The following are some of the elements of successful coaching: Intentional - When a practitioner is coaching they are deeply involved and interested in a person or team's ultimate success. However, coaches do not have their own agenda, they act on the goals set by the person or group they are coaching. Neutral - The coach remains unbiased and non-judgemental about the subject matter. They help people achieve their goals without steering them. Those being coached are guided to draw on their own experiences and capabilities to overcome challenges, rather than learning directly from the coach's experiences. (This is a key differentiator from mentoring where the mentor actively provides advice based on their own experiences). Agreed - Formal coaching requires permission or consent in the form of written agreements. These agreements include the goals of the engagement and coaching approaches, clearly distinguishing between what coaching is and what it is not. Systemic - Coaches listen actively to what is being communicated. They seek to find and allow for the voice of the system (or the whole group, or the unsaid) to be heard. Coaches notice trends and patterns in behaviors and interactions, then reflect them back to enable richer communication and more effective decision-making processes. Ethical - Coaches create and manage a unique, safe and inclusive space. For this reason, it's imperative that they maintain integrity and confidentiality. For more information, we encourage you to explore the International Coaching Federation's Code of Ethical Conduct(link) as well as the Agile Alliance's Code of Ethics for Agile Coaching(link).
When Can Teaching Be Helpful for a Scrum Team?
There are many ways that teaching plays a role in helping a Scrum Team grow, improve and have a shared understanding. Examples may include: - A Scrum Master can teach a Scrum Team about complexity theory and its connection to the fundamentals of the Scrum framework - A Scrum Master can teach a new Product Owner how to create and order a Product Backlog based on factors such as priority, risk, value and dependencies - A Developer teaches their team about concepts they learned in their UX course that they think will be helpful for his team to consider when building the product - A Product Owner teaches other Product Owners in a community of practice on how to use a lean canvas when pursuing new initiatives - A Product Owner teaches customers and stakeholders about the product
Who is the leader on a Scrum team?
There can be many leaders on a Scrum Team. For example, the Scrum Master acts as a leader in the Scrum domain, influencing the team to improve their effectiveness by using Scrum. The Product Owners are product leaders, creating an enthralling vision of the product and influencing the team to manifest its value. Similarly, any Developer on the team can also be a leader by using their expertise to drive innovation and deliver value.
What are the leadership styles?
There have been countless models of leadership and leadership styles proposed by business schools, organizational psychologists and various authors. Some include: - Autocratic, Democratic, Laissez-faire or Transactional leadership - Compliant, Combative, Competitive or Catalytic leadership - Servant leadership - And others...
Clear Goals refer to ---- and ----
Why and What (The Scrum framework includes two important goals: the Product Goal and Sprint Goal. But, these aren't the only goals we're talking about here. In order for a Scrum Team to understand what to do, they must be clear on why they are doing it. Why has the team been formed? What problem are they being asked to solve?)
