The Manager’s Role in Scrum Scrum Gathering Nov 14, 2007

The Manager’s Role in ScrumScrum Gathering

Nov 14, 2007

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<intro>

Henrik Kniberg 2

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Who am I?

Henrik Kniberg 3

Henrik Kniberg - Crisp ABJava & agile software development

CTO of Goyada (mobile services & ecommerce)

30 developers

CTO of Epicent (mobile services)4 developers

CTO of Tain (gaming)40 developers

... and 2 kids to ”manage”...

Henrik [email protected]+46 70 4925284

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Why is the manager’s role important?The middle manager can

be...the best catalystthe worst impediment

If he doesn’t understand his role within Scrum...

which type do you think he will become?

Henrik Kniberg 4

CEO

Developmentmanager

Productmanager

Operationsmanager

Sample organization

So what IS my role then?

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What is a manager? (according to various sources on the

Internet)

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Someone who controls resources and expenditures

Someone who controls resources and expenditures

Resources = people, money, things

Resources = people, money, things

Management: The art, or science, of

achieving goals through people

Management: The art, or science, of

achieving goals through people

Leadership:The ability to affect human behavior so as to accomplish a mission designated by the leader

Leadership:The ability to affect human behavior so as to accomplish a mission designated by the leader

... and what do they actually do?

PlanPlan OrganizeOrganize

ControlControlCoordinateCoordinate

MentorMentor

Management has to do with power by position, whereas leadership involves power by influence

Management has to do with power by position, whereas leadership involves power by influence

Supervision: Literally - looking over.Making sure people do what they are supposed to do

Supervision: Literally - looking over.Making sure people do what they are supposed to do

ImproveImprove

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A sample Scrum company

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ScrUML(inofficial Scrum Modeling Language)

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Let’s grow it a bit...

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And let’s grow it a bit more...

Ugh.Handover to QA.

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And let’s improve it.

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</intro>

Henrik Kniberg 10

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The manager’s role in Scrum

Some ideas on what a manager should be doing in a Scrum company

Based onPersonal experience

8 years as middle-manager at 3 agile companies1 year as agile coach helping many other managers

Books & forumsDiscussions with peersFeedback from Scrum veterans

Mike Cohn, Ken Schwaber, Jeff Sutherland

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Change agent / bootstrapper / organization builder

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If it’s nobody else...

It’s YOU!


It’s YOU!

The manager could be...

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Handle resource conflicts

Handle resource conflicts

Role placeholder

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Synchronize multiple product backlogs

Synchronize multiple product backlogs

Salary negotiationSalary negotiation

RecruitmentRecruitment

Synchronize multiple teams

Synchronize multiple teams

Strategic release planning

Strategic release planning

Find strategic partnersFind strategic partners

Coach the scrum masters

Coach the scrum masters

Does this really need to be done at

all?Am I the right

person?Who should be

doing it?

Buy snacksBuy snacks

Clean the officeClean the office

Solve high-level impediments

Solve high-level impediments

OK, I’ll do it for now!

Tech evangelistTech evangelist

What isn’t getting done around here?


It’s YOU!


It’s YOU!

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Chief Product Owner

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It’s YOU!


It’s YOU!

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ScrumTeam

B1ScrumTeam

B2

ScrumTeam

A

Resource broker

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SM

SM

SM

PO

PO

CTO / Dev Mgr Development department

Product A

Product B



It’s YOU!


It’s YOU!

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Coordinator / Bridge builder

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ScrumTeam

B1ScrumTeam

B2

ScrumTeam

ASM

SM

SM

PO

PO

Scrum of Scrums CM group

DB group

CTO / Dev Mgr Development department

Test group

Product A

Product B



It’s YOU!


It’s YOU!

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Oil / firefighter / process coach

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Team isn’tlistening to me!

Product owner’spriorities are wrong!

The releasesaren’t working!


It’s YOU!


It’s YOU!

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Waste & constraint hunter

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SM

PO

2. Fix bottleneck

1. Slow down

3. Fix next

Goal

Problem

Solution


It’s YOU!


It’s YOU!

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Gardener / motivator

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SMSM

SM


It’s YOU!


It’s YOU!

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Kaizen fuel / impediment fixer / servant leader

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CEO

Developmentmanager

Productmanager

Operationsmanager

FixFix

Fix

Fix


It’s YOU!


It’s YOU!

Esca

late

Escalate

Fix

Esc

ala

te

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Protector

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It’s YOU!


It’s YOU!

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The Bottom Line

You, the manager, are critically important.

That’s a problem.

Try to make yourself redundant.

You’ll probably never get there.

But each step is an improvement.

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Extra slides...

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(brought up during the Q&A session)

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Technical debt

Vmax

Vactual

velo

city

time

Vmax

velo

city

time

VactualSustainable pace!

Definition of Done• .... bla bla ....

• No increased technical debtCode duplicationTest coverageCode readability

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Velocity calibrationEstimatedVelocity

ActualVelocity

40 3030 2830 3130 30

Estimated

Actual40 30

40 3040 30

Estimated

Actual40 30

50 3060 30

Estimated

Actual40 35

35 3030 25

302520

Henrik Kniberg

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The Manager’s Role in Scrum Scrum Gathering Nov 14, 2007