The Scrum Master as a Change Artist - Nimesh Soni

One of the 4 values of the Agile Manifesto is “Responding to alter over following a plan.”  Further, in line with Scrum.org, there are 8 stances of a Scrum Master:

  1. Impediment Remover
  2. Facilitator 
  3. Coach
  4. Teacher
  5. Mentor
  6. Manager of Process
  7. Change Agent
  8. Servant Leader

Change is tough and alter might be scary and uncomfortable. It can generally require sacrifice and it actually can require braveness. 

Scrum Masters, when serving to organizations to alter ought to keep in mind to stroll flippantly and deploy change not with swiftness however with gentleness, respect, understanding, and in small incremental methods.  

People don’t resist change; they resist being modified

Peter Senge

What is a Change Artist?

In this text, I discover the idea of change and being a change artist when within the position of a Scrum Master or Flow Manager. 

What does it imply to be a change artist? why it’s one of many tougher stances to take as a Scrum Master or Flow Manager, why change is tough, and a few ways in which a Scrum Master and Flow Manager can navigate the sometimes-treacherous waters to effectuate change, even when that change solely makes ripples.

Some good definitions of a change artist are:

  • “An individual who helps a company remodel itself by specializing in organizational effectiveness, enchancment, and improvement.” https://www.scrum.org
  • “People who act as catalysts for change.”  https://www.scrum.org 
  • Within the context of Scrum, Geoff Watts describes the position of the Scrum Master as a change agent: “An excellent Scrum Master helps a Scrum Team survive in a company’s tradition. An ideal Scrum Master helps change the tradition so Scrum Teams can thrive.” Geoff Watts, Scrum Mastery
  • Leading and training the group in its Scrum adoption
  • Planning Scrum implementations inside the group
  • Helping workers and stakeholders perceive and enact Scrum and empirical product improvement
  • Causing change that will increase the productiveness of the Scrum Team
  • Working with different Scrum Masters to extend the effectiveness of the appliance of Scrum within the group “The Scrum Guide,” Jeff Sutherland & Ken Schwaber, 2020

To allow a tradition wherein Scrum groups can flourish, the Scrum Master ought to act as a change artist. The Scrum Master helps create an surroundings that permits the spirit of Scrum and Agile to thrive. The Scrum Guide defines this a part of the Scrum Master position as serving the group in:

  • Leading and training the group in its Scrum adoption
  • Planning Scrum implementations inside the group
  • Helping workers and stakeholders perceive and enact Scrum and empirical product improvement
  • Causing change that will increase the productiveness of the Scrum Team
  • Working with different Scrum Masters to extend the effectiveness of the appliance of Scrum within the group “The Scrum Guide,” Jeff Sutherland & Ken Schwaber, 2020

As a change artist, the really nice Scrum Masters develop into seen. These are Scrum Masters that know the way to shift the established order and assist create a extra appropriate surroundings in line with.  They know when to be disruptive and when to watch out. They perceive organizational adjustments can take time to return to fruition. 

It’s their willingness to alter that’s the catalyst for driving a company ahead.  Scrum gives a lens into the place issues are; making bottlenecks clear and visual. A really nice Scrum Master or Flow Leader will create the footing wanted to deal with the dysfunctions in a company; with the hope and aim of creating a tradition wherein groups can excel and thrive. 

I argue that the stance of Change Artist could be very typically rejected by organizations. Most organizations don’t present the mandatory assist and environments and subsequently Scrum Masters neglect to take this stance for worry of retribution or downright rejection. Many organizations really don’t perceive what a Scrum Master’s roles and duties are, or the affect they create. As they miss that, they miss the chance to leverage themselves as change leaders. 

Change is all the time exhausting, particularly on the subject of executing your marketing strategy or technique.

As logical and helpful that enhancing on execution has been confirmed to be, many nonetheless ignore it and others fiercely resist it

Jenn Reichenbacher

Change is a dedication borne of cultures that worth steady enchancment and reaching outcomes. They perceive what the established order means and the affect that it’ll have on the group. This limits all the things; progress potential, future merchandise, and providers, and in the end the diploma of success the corporate will expertise.

Scrum Masters are leaders accountable for the effectiveness of their groups. Without the group’s assist from the highest, how can Scrum Masters affect change? How can Scrum Masters keep away from being influenced by the actions or inactions of leaders from the highest, these they report back to? The reply is a partnership. Scrum Masters and administration ought to be partnering in serving to everybody within the group develop into snug with change.

According to Geoff Watts in his ebook “Scrum Mastery: From Good to Great Servant Leadership,” Scrum Masters will come to understand that with out no less than some adjustments to the group, agile groups will not be as optimum of their supply. Quality will undergo due to an absence of deal with peer evaluation or pair programming, as an illustration. The impacts might be profound, equivalent to a rise in technical debt because of escaped defects in manufacturing, lack of present and future clients, ensuing lack of income, or lack of even the enterprise as a complete. 

There are efficient ways in which a Scrum Master or Flow Manager can assist their groups address change. One means is thru the appliance of the Satir Change Model created by a therapist by the identify of Virginia Satir. She was a social employee and household therapist when she created the mannequin. Many non-agile and agile professionals have used it to replicate the phases that actually all adjustments undergo. Scrum Masters and Flow Managers can use the mannequin that they will clarify to assist their groups in addition to people, organizations, and teams, take into consideration, align with, and navigate their altering landscapes. 

This mannequin helps a Scrum Master to first solidify that change is strictly what she or he might worry already and that’s, change doesn’t typically come instantaneously, and sometimes there are steps which might be taken to get to the change that does happen. There are roadmaps within the type of change fashions, expertise, and recommendation that may serve you in your change journey. Satir is one such mannequin and as I point out under, there are others. The plan is to grasp them sufficient to find out when one ought to be utilized over the opposite.

The Satir Change Model

At the guts of the Satir Change Model is the conviction that issues are all the time potential to get higher. However, this takes time and issues often worsen earlier than they get higher.

Satir’s Change mannequin establishes the next stage for any change:

  • Late Status Quo
  • Introduction of a Foreign Element
  • Resistance or “Valley of Despair”
  • Chaos
  • Discovery of a Transforming Idea
  • Integration
  • New Status Quo
  • Breathe
  • As you may see, the Satir Change Model gives a body for discussing the trail by change. One of the most effective books on Satir is Gerald Weinberg’s Becoming a Change Artist.

In conclusion, Scrum Masters and Flow Managers aren’t simply academics, mentors, facilitators, obstacle removers, managers of processes, coaches, and servant leaders.  They are change artists.  Scrum Masters and Flow Managers have to acknowledge this, self-reflect, and repeatedly invoke this stance when there’s a name or want for it.  

It’s crucial that Scrum Masters and Flow Managers proceed by communication and motion to remind these round you of this truth. A Scrum Master and Flow Manager’s position and duties are to not be Jira admins, notice takers, scribes, or assembly schedulers they will need to have the braveness to respectfully show and verbally talk that they’re change artists or are doing a disservice to themselves, their career, their group, and groups. 

I encourage you and problem you to discover a number of the different change administration fashions on the market like Kotter’s Change Model, McKinsey 7-S Model, Nudge Theory, ADKAR Change Management Model, and many others. Start invoking all of the stances of a Scrum Master that may make you a fantastic Scrum Master. Take some motion towards turning into a simpler change artist equivalent to:

  • Become extra versatile 
  • Improve your lively listening expertise
  • Create an inventory of adjustments you determine, assess their worth in relation to the corporate’s enterprise objectives and stack rank them. Start chipping away slowly and methodically at what wants altering
  • Have common conversations together with your friends about change and observe having conversations with stakeholders and your groups round change by a assemble equivalent to Scrum Master Guild
  • Create a Scrum Master contract or working settlement with Management round Change Artistry to make sure understanding of the position of an SM as a Change Artist
  • Practice the artwork of Change Artistry…don’t simply relaxation in your laurels. 

Scrum Masters and Flow Managers ought to carry out the most effective in themselves and others.  Scrum Masters and Flow Managers are within the enterprise of change. 

About the Author

Taz Brown

I’m an Agile Coach, licensed Kanban Coach in addition to a Technical Product Manager working with DevOps, Software Development, and Telco and Mobility service supply groups. I’m an avid author and speaker with a various background in Scrum, Agile, Kanban, DevOps and product administration. […more]


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