Communities

I am strong believer of communities. Whether you call it Community of Practice or Competence Network or Learning Network - there are elements of learning from each other, sharing with each other and social networking. 

I am a social person. I like to be close to my colleagues. I like to share my experiences and thoughts with others and likewise I love to hear from others about their experiences and their thoughts. What are the things to try, what are the learnings, what are my challenges, what are their challenges. Good long discussions in matters where we don't all agree and share our viewpoints and opinions. Place where it is okay to disagree and have tough discussions. 

While working as Agile Coach I utilized Scrum Master CoP for coaching sessions. Especially I remember our sessions where we discussed Scrum Values. All Scrum Masters had their first ever position and all teams had just started their Agile Journey. Personally I believe we need to understand principles and values in order to be able to be really Agile. Otherwise we just blindly repeat instructions given for us. 

The Scrum Guide lists five values that all Scrum teams share: commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect. While discussing I learned so much about each individual. I saw how some of them struggled with these values. We worked in environment where they were not used to be open. Openness instead of hiding problems and issues until the very last moment to be told. That was maybe the most difficult journey they had to take. For me it was important to have these discussions with them

In my Scrum Master positions throughout the years I have participated many Scrum Master communities. When I am there as Scrum Master I feel much more comfortable as then I am one of them. I don't have to be anything else than myself - not a coach or a trainer who knows more. I can ask all the stupid questions or share all my concerns knowing that others are as curious as I am, that they want learn and share. Sharing is caring!

But it is not only learning aspect which make me want to be part of these communities. The social aspect, building relationships, sharing your feelings, getting peer support - all that is very important for me. I don't wanna be alone. I want colleagues around me. 

Today I had meeting with my current colleagues who are soon to be my ex-colleagues. I leave my current position and soon, after a short break, I start new adventure in totally different environment BUT all alone. I don't have any Scrum Master colleagues. Or I do kind of have. Those two guys who I am replacing as they concentrate on their other roles in their teams. I for sure will miss my colleagues and today they really surprised me by sharing their "one words" with me. This kind of community is one of the best. Not because they obviously appreciate me but because we care for each other. 

Reminder for me today is showing your appreciation. Not only when someone is leaving but in your daily life. Even when life is hard you can still find something good in everyone and boost others just by saying "well done". At least for me that brings some joy to myself also. 

Communities are not only for learning and sharing - there are also for caring.  

The most important meeting - Retrospective

In my opinion Retrospective meeting is the most important meeting to have with any team. And it is the meeting some teams think they can skip. I have been asked "can we skip Retrospective this time as we are busy with ...?" or "Do we have to have these retrospective meetings, can't we just concentrate on working?"

I do understand teams when there is no value added in these meetings. And I feel it is my responsibility as Scrum Master to make them value adding meetings where people want to join and give their input how team should and could improve. I don't want sit in the meeting which doesn't offer anything to me or to my team.

I don't understand though when team is telling me that they have nothing to improve anymore so they can skip these meetings. I wasn't Scrum Master at that time - I was Agile Coach for several teams and their Scrum Masters and Product Owners when this happened. One Product Owner in all his honesty told me that the team is doing so great that they simply don't have anything to improve. They can from now on skip these meetings and by the way, they can skip some other meetings as well. Why to spend time for planning together when Product Owner can plan behalf of the team together with Business Analyst. Team can concentrate on the real work.

Immediate thought in my head was "I would like to facilitate your Retrospective meeting!" In my opinion almost all challenges team faces can be worked in Retrospective meetings. Impediments are something to solve throughout Sprints but other kind of challenges  I'd leave for Retrospective. I struggled a lot in that situation: should I let the team to have their way or should I act. In the end I discussed with Product Owner and let the team to decide. Unfortunately I left the company quite soon after that event so I don't know what happened.

I like to keep my teams on their toes and I vary a lot how we do our Retrospectives. Personally I hate when things are repeated the same way again and again. Before each Retrospective I look back and think do I have something special in my mind - kind of theme to handle - or do I want team to give topics to discuss. Then I decide how I facilitate the Retrospective: which tools or techniques to use - that is always my first decision to make before any Retrospective meeting. Sometimes I change my mind just before meetings starts and improvise.

I search inspiration from books and internet. Lately I have created my own techniques and I have experimented lot of different techniques. My challenge is to work with distributed team and I facilitate online Retrospectives. I hope there would be more material on how to facilitate online Retrospective or any other online meetings. Extra challenge in my current environment is that I am not  able to utilise what ever applications or online services. I have to figure out my own ways. I have to adjust and use what I have and improvise. That keeps me on my toes as well.

Quite many Scrum Masters in my unit are facilitating their Retrospective meetings in the same way every time. I have been told that teams don't like to vary or they themselves believe that it is the most efficient way not to vary. Some have told that they have planned to change but then they end up to have it in the same way as they didn't figure out what else to do. Sometimes I can't help myself thinking how could I help my colleagues to go beyond their comfort zone and try something new, something different - do an experiment and learn from it. Some of my colleagues are so busy "with the real work" that they don't find time to look for inspiration and plan something different.

Note to myself: I need help my colleagues!