Not just coders

I have spent the last few days hiding from cable news.  The death of the Queen of England and the mourning and celebration it generates is overwhelming.  I have spent my time reading David Forster Wallace's essays and working on white papers focusing on creating cross-functional teams.  It has been a welcome respite.  As I was writing, I stumbled upon some online forums discussing the role of developers in an agile team, and I felt that I needed to make an important point.   

I have commented on the attitude of a minority of people in the project management profession that the only role of a development team is to write code.  It is an incorrect assertion.  A development team not only includes people who write software code but quality professionals, data specialists, user interface professionals, and business analysts.  Each team member has a say in delivering value to a customer.  The combination of these diverse skills makes an agile team so powerful.  

Leaders with command and control mindsets think that developers are interchangeable.  A developer understands a computer language and can take business requirements and translate them into that language.  What these leaders do not understand is that developers are people.  Developers have children and spouses.  Like all human beings, they are struggling with emotional and existential challenges.  Software developers deal with deadline pressure and problem-solving differently than others because each is unique.  A software developer is not some nameless worker bee working for the company hive; they are flesh and blood struggling to get along in the world just like everyone else.    

Along with Marx's observation that work alienates people from themselves, I believe the dehumanization of people keeping the global economy spinning is the biggest challenge of our time.  People should take pride in what they do, and saying a software developer is just a coder dismisses all the intelligence and effort they put into mastering their craft.  Influential bureaucratic organizations often make the work process impersonal and anonymous, whether in government or business.  

A competent software developer requires creativity, attention to detail, intelligence, and the ability to deal with oppressive levels of frustration and doubt.  The middle ground of healthy self-esteem is elusive when you are on deadline with a gnarly problem to solve.  Some days you feel like the dumbest person on the planet, and other days you want to revel in your intelligence.  It is emotionally taxing, and treating these people like mindless drones is insulting.  

Treating people like people instead of nameless cogs in a global machine is the key to success in a global economy.  I have come up the technology ranks as a hobbyist, student, entry-level developer, and finally, a scrum master.  This experience in the trench of software development makes me a better leader and agile coach.  

Until next time. 

Don't Make SAFe Tool of Mass Destruction

The last week was a whirlwind.  I muscled my way through Sprint planning with my development team.  Then, I studied for and passed my Lean Portfolio Management test from the SAFe organization.  Finally, I found myself reading David Foster Wallace and spending time with my family in the Wisconsin Dells.  Yes, it was exhausting, but it was worth every moment.  Since I have earned credentials from SAFe, I feel compelled to say a few words which will contribute to the debate about scaling agile at large organizations.   

It is no secret that the agile community has some deep schisms.  The no-estimates and the estimates cohorts are bitterly divided.  The debate has become so toxic that people who used to be colleagues no longer speak to each other.  People have closed Twitter accounts, and attacks between the two factions are personal and filled with abuse.  It is a shame because most of us involved in the debate want to deliver better software. 

The other major fault lines in the agile reformation are those who practice the Scaled Agile Framework for the Enterprise, or SAFe for short, and those who use a different approach to apply agile to large organizations.  The debate between these factions is just as toxic as the no-estimates debate.  I understand why so many people are hostile to SAFe.  First, SAFe lacks credibility in the engineering community, with software engineers in a survey saying they are dissatisfied with SAFe.  Next, credibility with the Agile community is low because none of the original signatories to the Agile Manifesto have endorsed SAFe as a way to address agile for large organizations.  Finally, the popularity of SAFe in large organizations creates a counter-cultural backlash.  

These three factors combine to create a powerful feeling of contempt and resentment in the agile community.  It is rare to hear SAFe people speak at either the Scrum Alliance Gathering or the Agile Alliance conferences.  Instead, they have their conference separate from other organizations.  It is a clear division that is reinforced by money and pride. 

I have embraced Agile since 2009.  I earned credentials in Scrum in 2013 and SAFe in 2017 before letting them expire.  I know enough about agile to realize it is not a magic bullet to cure the dysfunctions at large corporations.  As Aristotle said, there is a difference between right and wrong, and people will choose the right path if they know the difference and are educated about it.  Over twenty-five years of working in the business world have provided me with numerous counter-examples to Aristotle's thesis.   People can be callow, selfish, uninspired, and destructive; a toxic culture will defeat even the best agile implementation. 

I feel a similar way about SAFe.  In the hands of a newly minted SPC who only worked as a project manager, SAFe is a tool for mass destruction.  However, with skilled scrum masters, trained and knowledgeable product owners, and an executive team willing to learn new ways of leadership, SAFe is a tool that can improve a business's ability to deliver value to customers. 

Agile is growing.  The growth means that there will be debates and disagreements about how to help organizations do it properly.  I am not arrogant enough to proclaim one authentic way to help organizations achieve agility.  I am sufficient enough as a servant leader to understand that at the end of the day, success is not following a set of rules but rather delivering value to customers and helping the people we work with improve.  Anything else feels like a toxic debate.  

Until next time. 

The Darkness of a Scrum Master

Each Scrum Master has their own version of the Darkness

The biggest challenges of a scrum master are personal challenges.  These are the emotions that well up inside while you are doing your job.  It is confronting personal failure and shortcomings of others. This week I want to talk about the emotional challenges of be scrum master.

David Foster Wallace was a famous author who publicly battled depression and alcoholism.   Wallace referred to his depression melodramatically as “The Darkness.”  It was an all-encompassing cloud or sludge which polluted his life.  I live with darkness myself each day.  Work is never on time.  Budgets are too tight. The hours are too long.  The coffee is either too hot or too cold.  Instead of being in control of my work and destiny; I am carried along by meetings and expectations I did not set.

This is when the darkness creeps into my life. It is the moment I do not feel like a professional but rather a cog in a large machine spinning endlessly spewing out profit and broken lives.  I am sure it would drive some to drink.

I asked some of my friends and colleagues in the Agile+ Community about how they deal with the stresses of the job. Some common themes came up in the conversation.  Talking to other scrum masters helps.  Taking time off and long lunches seem to help.  The consumption of alcohol came up often.  The most important theme was talking through the issues.  Scrum masters need to celebrate successes and learn from failures.  We need to find a healthy venue to complain about developers who are not living up to expectations.  Finally, we need a free and open exchange of experiences because it will help lessen the stress of the job.

As a scrum master, all eyes are on you.  The emotional toll of the job should not be ignored and everyone should take steps to beat back the “Darkness” which comes with the job.

Until next time.

The Postulates of Impostor Syndrome for the Scrum Master

We are not impostors under a mask!

When I think about it, I do not consider myself a successful person.  I have an average home.  I drive an average car.  My one extravagance is my collection of compact disks and the toy soldiers which bring me joy.  I am not one of the rich and famous.  I am just an ordinary person who when I die will have my name forgotten just like many other people who came before me.  This kind of realization makes me sad.  I am one of the many unwashed masses of people.  These are the facts as I understand them and they are woefully misguided.  I suffer from what authors Pauline R. Clance and Suzannne A. Imes call “impostor syndrome.”  After a week away from work and some reflection, I wanted to write about it.

The best definition of impostor syndrome I can find online comes from Forbes magazine.  In short, a person with impostor syndrome feels like they are going to be exposed as not being smart, talented, driven, and competent enough to be doing what they are doing.  It is that little nagging voice in the back of their head which says, “Who are you kidding.” It undermines your self-confidence and your ability to do the work you are doing.  It is what David Foster Wallace would call a Darkness which is following you around.

In the business world of continuous improvement, six sigma, and agile impostor syndrome is about as common as post-it notes.  The reason why is that for many people in that world we are open to and provide criticisms and critiques of each other’s work.  We can always be faster, smarter, and better communicators.  Sometimes, this generates soul crushing moments of frustration and futility.  Nothing is worse than being told you could have communicated something better when you send out 10 e-mails daily, speak to people personally twice in a day, and have a white board filled with information for upper management to read.  It is almost like they want me to sit on their chests like a hungry cat wanting to be fed on a lazy Sunday morning.

I think something deeper causes us to feel like we are impostors.  Human beings are pretty complicated things.  Over the last four hundred years we have done a pretty good job understanding how bodies work, but we are still struggling with understanding how our minds work.  We are not computers who all run code the same way.  We are complicated puddles of emotions, memories, and experiences who if we try hard enough can be rational thinking beings when the need arises.  This is why it is hard for me as a scrum master to be upbeat and positive all the time; sometimes the Darkness wins.  After some thought, on the matter I broke this down into four things which foster these feelings of being an impostor.

Consider these to be Wisniowski’s four postulates of Impostor Syndrome.

The Outside Image

As early as middle school, a professional is taught to dress and act a particular way.  While other young people get tattoos, piercings and are looking to have hair colors that do not occur in nature; the larval professional is told that they must act, dress and behave in a certain way to be credible for others.  This learning process creates what is known as a mask of command which other see but hides your true self.  This personal branding and quest to build leadership presence is not a natural process for most people so it creates a kind of cognitive dissonance where professionals are afraid that someone will penetrate their mask.  The situation is still not as bad as during the mad men era of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s but it is still there.  Just ask yourself when was the last time you saw a banker without a neck tie at the local branch.

The Inner Turmoil

Every human being is the sum of their experiences and not all of these experiences are good.  Each of us have suffered from failure, heart break, frustration, and disappointment.  This undermines your self-esteem.  The trouble is that in the business world you cannot be emotional because being emotional is a sign of weakness.  Thus, these feelings are buried and over time if they are not addressed they can manifest themselves in harmful ways.  In the quest to be strong, we undermine our own health and mental well-being.

The first two postulates of impostor syndrome cover what can be controlled by the individual.  The last too are outside of an individual’s control.

Our Public Reputation

Every professional is concerned about his or her personal brand and how others see them.  Around the office we all know people who are the ones who drink too much, who over share their lives, and who smell like feet.  To be a successful professional, we want to be perceived as the one who is hard working, knowledgeable, and able to take difficult projects and succeed.  The trouble with this is, try as we might to cultivate a positive reputation, it is out of our control.  Other people control our reputation because it is a product of our actions and the perceptions of others who see our actions.  One person’s hard worker is another person’s suck up to management.  The person who is fashionable to one co-worker is another person’s dressed inappropriate for the office.  Because of this lack of control, we try even harder to influence those opinions because a negative reputation could affect our career.

Our Personal Misconceptions

Finally, human beings are evolved creatures with emotions and an unconscious mind.  Cognitive science has shown that our unconscious mind can deceive us.  It has been shown that people suffering from Anorexia look at themselves in the mirror and have very different perceptions than people who do not suffer from the disease.  People with impostor syndrome reflect on their appearance and achievements through the same kind of distorted lens.  We did not graduate from school because we worked hard.  We did not earn the career success we have.  We see it as luck or the intervention of others.  Thus, even though the facts of our lives may say otherwise; our unconscious minds and emotions trick us into thinking that we are somehow faking it through our careers.

So those are my postulates about impostor syndrome.  I have been thinking about this lately because being a scrum master is to live with self-doubt.  You could always be better, more efficient, and able to handle more.  The reality is that sometimes you need to accept yourself warts and all and do the best you can.  I look forward to hearing what you have to say about this and how it applies to your work as an agile practitioner or scrum master.

Until next time.