A Path from Command and Control to Agility

Have you ever noticed a team where little engagement, a lack of ownership, and team decisions are scarce?  One reason could be the amount of command-and-control from management that is occurring.  Often times this is one of those unspoken elephants in the middle of the room.   Command-and-control bosses and leaders are a sure way to kill the feeling of ownership, engagement, and empowerment in team members. 

Agile comes along and promotes self-organizing teams, transparency, and team decision-making.  It also helps companies bring more value to customers and adapt to the market conditions, ultimately leading to making more money.  Within an Agile culture, it no longer requires a manager to tell a team what to do.  The number of organizations following Agile continues to increase. They realize that they no longer need directive managers but leaders who act more as coach and mentor, then the traditional boss.  So what is a command-and-control manager to do?   

• If they feel they have command-and-control traits and are willing to make that move to Agile, they can test their comfort level with collaboration first.  When a team decision is needed, consider an experiment.  Ask the team for their thoughts.  See if the command-and-control manager can be just one voice of the many that are on the team instead of forcing a direction.  Better yet, see if the manger can remain quiet and let the team arrive at a decision.  If this works, next they can test their comfort level with self-organizing teams.  The next time there is a decision that impacts the team, ask they can ask the team to discuss it amongst themselves and decide the course of action.  Stand back and let them decide. 

• If the manager is inquisitive about Agile, provide them some education on the Agile values and principles.  They should consider what they think each of the principles mean and if they believe in them.  A bolder move is having them share the Agile principles with their team and ask them what they think it means.  Also they can ask the team members how it can be exhibited on a team.  Ask the team members if they think we would be a good idea to exercise some of the principles. 

• If they have directive tendency and their current role has them interacting with customers to understand customer needs, then they may consider becoming a Product Owner (PO) for the team.  While they should no longer be manager, a PO helps shape the product through the collection and grooming of the requirements.  The PO also shares the need with team members during the Agile-related planning events (e.g., Sprint Planning).   

• Learn about the concept of bounded authority.  This is where the team can make their own decisions, organize, and commit to their own work.  It does not mean that teams can do whatever they want.  The balance is that the manager keeps limited responsibilities to provide vision and support for their staff while allowing the team the ownership to self-organize around the work.  

So I will leave you with this question.  Which approach will lead to more productive and high-performing teams?   Is it a culture where managers tell employees what to do or is it a culture where employees are self-organizing, feel ownership of the work, and are able to use much more brain power?   If managers exhibit command-and-control tendencies, it is in their best interest in the long run to adapt toward and Agile mindset and allow for self-organizing teams.  Since Agile is pervasive in many companies, it is an opportunity to adapt and help the organization toward better business results.  

Who makes the Best ScrumMaster?

As teams consider adopting Agile, one of the most important decisions they can make is who will be the ScrumMaster. Because the ScrumMaster is the promoter of Agile values and principals as well as the coach for ensuring the Scrum is being practiced effectively, it is critical that this role be filled with someone who is dedicated to implementing the Agile mindset.

A good ScrumMaster must have the ability to be an effective Servant-Leader. If is important to understand that a servant-leader takes a facilitative approach and does not apply command-and-control. Some key attributes include:

• Building a trusting environment where problems can be raised without fear of blame, retribution, or being judged, with an emphasis of healing and problem solving.
• Facilitating getting the work done without coercion, assigning, or dictating the work.
• Ensuring the implementation of healthy Agile Scrum practices and values are followed on the project.
• Removing roadblocks or find the right level of personnel to remove the roadblock.

In the book “Practicing Servant-Leadership" by Larry Spears and Michele Lawrence, they share attributes for servant leadership. Some attributes include: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, and foresight. Anyone who becomes a ScrumMaster should consider taking ScrumMaster training to help them understand their role and the activities they will facilitate. So the question arises, is there a traditional project role that plays the ScrumMaster the best?

Project Manager as ScrumMaster?
The seemingly obvious traditional role to play a ScrumMaster is the Project Manager. However, from my experience, there are pros with having a Project Manager become the ScrumMaster. On the positive side, the Project Manager has experience in being part of the team, so they may already have a trusting relationship with the team. Some Project Managers have built facilitative skills to lead work in a non-directive yet influential manner. And many already have the skills and the insight into an organization to appropriately remove roadblocks. On the negative side, Project Managers typically do not have technical experience into the product and cannot materially participate in technical discussions or provide meaningful technical insight. Also, some Project Managers had success utilizing command-and-control attributes and the more traditional Project Management practices which will not work well (and can be destructive) in an Agile environment. It can also be hard for some Project Managers to eliminate the traditional Project Management mindset of detailed project planning.

Functional Manager as ScrumMaster?
Quite possibly the most problematic role to play the ScrumMaster is someone who is a Functional Manager (aka, line manager, technical manager, etc.). Anyone playing a role where they have successfully directed people must make concerted efforts in removing their command-and-control behavior. On the positive side, they may have some technical experience into the product so can provide meaningful technical insight. They may already have the skills and the insight into appropriately navigating the organization and the ability to remove roadblocks. On the negative side, because they have been a manager of a team, so they may have issues with the team trusting them as a peer since they have been used to being judged by managers. A Functional Manager may have been successfully utilizing command-and-control attributes. However, this will not work well (and can be destructive) in an Agile environment. They must strive to remove their directive attributes and instead build facilitative skills. They must not assign work but instead enable and support team to become self-empowered. These are significant challenges.

Technical Lead as ScrumMaster?
Quite possibly one of the better traditional roles to play the ScrumMaster is someone who is a Technical Lead (QA Lead, Development Lead, etc.). By “lead”, I do not mean a manager or someone who has direct reports, but instead someone who is considered a lead by his peers. This person has a balance of leadership skills while wanting to get the work done. They typically have no interest in directing people. On the positive side, they have technical experience into the product and their specific field (development, QA, technical writing, etc.) so can appropriately aid the work (without direction or coercion and provide meaningful insight). They have experience at being part of the team, so may already have a trusting relationship with the rest of their peers. Because a lead does not have functional management responsibilities, they typically had to build their facilitative skills to lead work in a non-directive yet influential manner. On the negative side, they may not yet have the skills or the insight into an organization to appropriately remove external facing roadblocks.

Ultimately, the best answer to the question of what role best plays the ScrumMaster is not really a particular role, but instead which person best exemplifies the combination of the attributes of servant leadership, understands the Agile values and principles, embraces continuous learning, has a grasp of the technical aspects of the product under development, and can help remove roadblocks. In your organization, are there traditional roles that more often play the ScrumMaster role or best align with the servant leader attributes? If so, what is that role?  If not a role what attributes best exemplify a ScrumMaster in your organization?

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PS - if you liked this article, consider reading "Who makes the Best Product Owner".