We started this Scrum foundation series explaining we see four underlying concepts of the Scrum framework. In the past series of blog posts we covered the three pillars of Empiricism, and we covered the Scrum Values.
Now that we understand that we need trust, which is built up by living the Scrum Values, to bring transparency and as such have a good basis to inspect and adapt, we can have a look at the self-managing aspect of the Scrum Team.
👉 Self-managing, meaning the team internally decides who does what, when, and how.
During each of the Scrum Events, and throughout the Sprint itself, the Scrum Team takes decisions, making it self-managing.
Allowing to take more decisions = more mandate = more autonomy = higher motivation = higher effectivity.
Now what can the Scrum Team decide during each of the Scrum Events?
Let’s have a look at the Daily Scrum.
The Developers discuss their progress towards the Sprint Goal. Where are we now? What work still needs to be done? What is most important to tackle? What impediments do we have? What improvements have we agreed earlier to work on and is it making sense to work on these today?
- Together they agree which actions are most important for the coming 24hours they will take today to finish items and get them to "Done".
And so they decide how to work.
- Together they agree what the next items is they can start working on now that they finished some items.
And so they decide on what to work.
- Together they agree who will collaborate on the different items they are, or will start, working on.
And so they decide who.
- Together they agree what they will work on today, and what will have to wait until later.
And so they decide when.
- PS. They also decided how, when, and where to do their Daily Scrum.
These are only a few examples of what a Scrum Team, in this case the Developers, can decide during the Daily Scrum.
Summary:
Self-managing is about having a mandate to take decisions.
During the Daily Scrum, the Scrum Team, more specifically the Developers, decide on what, how, when and who.
Note: Without a clear (Product, Sprint and Quality) goal, without clear accountabilities, and without a clear boundaries, self-management will not occur.
Prompt:
Together with your Scrum Team, evaluate how self-management can be improved during your Daily Scrum.
Also think about what additional insights or input the team would benefit from others outside the team about purpose and goals, the team's accountabilities and the boundaries they have to work within.
I hope you find value in these short posts and if you are looking for more clarifications, feel free to take contact.
If you want to take a deeper dive into the core concepts we are covering in this blog series, then surely check out our Professional Scrum Master workshop. We have some scheduled in the coming period.
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