360 review of a scrum master in a real world. Do you have feedback and advises?
Hi Everyone,
I'm sharing with you my 360 review and initial mitigation plan with you for feedback and advice.
I believe many of us struggle to apply Scrum in real life and my biggest challenge is a wall of resistance to change especially coming from Seniors and experts.
You might be surprised about things that appear in the survey as they are not part of the Scrum framework and might be surprised about other missing parts.
The delivery framework is not only scrum and invites other technics and framework (Lean Startup + OKR + Design thinking)
In brief and to my surprise the feedback are leading me to think that I need to give up some control on some things ( classic Scrum master sin) but take more control on other things.
I'm looking for some real life feedback which can be accompanied by some scrum master guide reference and not only a sterile reminder of the Scrum guide.
I'm more than happy to hear some painful truths about my approach and I'm asking you to take into consideration that I'm working in an organization that impose its standard and structure. I'm relatively free in my work and consider myself lucky but this is not utopia
"What I see" is coming from my lead
"What other sees" is coming from Scrum team's member
Topic 1: Relating to other
What I see
I see your passion for people and building meaningful working relationships. Your commitment to the needs of others is evident in your commitment to making continuous improvements to improve team dynamics. I have also seen you grow in the last year through reflecting on the interactions you have with people.
What others see
Feedback from your stakeholders indicates that you are cheerful (even when the work is tough), enthusiastic, and empathetic. They see someone who is committed to creating transparency, rapport, and collaboration amongst the team. They see your desire to make sure everyone has an opportunity to have their say and it was called out that you “have a natural ability to bring collective glue to the team”.
They see someone who really cares about the team, and they enjoy your sense of fun. The short and snappy icebreakers you have run were called out as adding value by creating a stronger rapport between team members.
They see you as someone who challenges with respect and is happy to tackle issues head-on.
There was statistically significant feedback to suggest that you don’t listen actively and that your passion for Agile practices comes at the expense of listening to what the team needs. They see you focusing on the Agile Framework as a way to resolve challenges rather than thinking about what the team needs to step through a challenge.
Topic 2 Way of working
What I see
Your SCRUM knowledge is excellent, and you are sought out for this expertise. You’re also hungry for learning in this space and regularly dive into knowledge and trends in this area. This passion is something that I really admire and appreciate. As we have discussed, being a passionate expert can also have its downsides. I would like to see you taking more time to share knowledge with your peers and taking them on the journey of any experiments you’re running.
I would also like to see you leaning in more to the Business Transformation Delivery Model and the capabilities that support it. Although it’s important to challenge new concepts and ways of working, as someone who is seen in a leadership role it’s also important that you remember to set aside your opinions and perspectives and champion new concepts and ways of working.
What others see
Your stakeholders appreciate that you’re a passionate expert in SCRUM but they feel you need to improve some aspects of how you run events as they don’t feel they’re always as productive as they could be. They’d like you to switch your focus from facilitating all the collaboration and move to holding the team to account and making sure the right people are talking to each other.
Topic 3: Team Vitality
What others see
They see you establishing and upholding team agreements and your passion for collaboration. As mentioned earlier, there was a callout that this collaboration is “chaired” by you which is not always necessary.
They feel the induction of new team members has not been strong enough and needs to focus more on both getting people up to speed with the work and with how to use our tools, particularly Jira.
Topic 4 Sustainable vitality
What I see
I see you committed to making sure the teams have a clear goal and refined backlog. I see the Sprint Reports you write – these give valuable insights for the Leads and allow us to take action.
I feel like there has been some impediments of late (sliding tickets and low vitality in particular) that you haven’t realised were becoming serious issues. This is something I would like to see you work on over the coming months.
What other see
Sometimes management of the work in Jira is “loose”. Your stakeholders are worried about, duplicate tickets, ownership of tickets, work not being completed, lack of acceptance criteria, work occurring that’s not on the board, and making sure work translates accurately from Miro brainstorming into Jira.
Topic 5: Enabling the Product Owner
What I see
I see that you have a good working relationship with X ( Value STream Owner) and Y (Product Owner), and I know you’re committed to having a good working relationship with Z ( Proxy Product Owner). We have discussed that this has been a point of challenge recently.
What others see
They see someone who is committed to making sure the purpose of the workstream is top of mind.
My development Plan
Moderating your passion for SCRUM
I plan to stop talking about Scrum and Agile and talk more about the concept behind the framework and the high-performing team delivering large amounts of value
Delegating some events or part of events to other people on the team
Holding the team to account on work
Capturing and managing exceptions even if this involves escalating and breaking the notion of a self-managed team
Helping collaboration of people outside the event
Task management in Jira
Auditing and catching up with people to improve their ticket management to enable transparency
That's all. So what are your thoughts and feedback?
It's evident from your 360 review that you're committed to continuous improvement as a Scrum Master, seeking valuable insights and feedback. Understanding the challenges of implementing Scrum in a real-world setting, especially with resistance to change, is a common struggle.
In the realm of interpersonal relations, your passion for building meaningful connections and team dynamics is acknowledged. However, there's constructive feedback regarding active listening. Balancing Agile practices with a keen focus on addressing the team's needs, rather than just adhering to the framework, is crucial.
Your expertise in Scrum is recognized, but stakeholders highlight areas for improvement in event facilitation and a suggestion to shift focus from facilitating collaboration to holding the team accountable. Engaging peers in the learning journey and embracing Business Transformation Delivery Models are also recommended.
Team vitality and collaboration are strengths, but there's feedback on the need for a stronger induction process for new members. Sustainable vitality, particularly in addressing impediments like sliding tickets and low vitality, is identified as an area for growth.
Enabling the Product Owner appears to be a point of challenge, and your development plan involves moderating your passion for Scrum, delegating tasks, and ensuring effective task management in Jira.
While your commitment to improvement is commendable, there's an opportunity to enhance collaboration and communication within the team. Utilizing Impressico's expertise could potentially optimize your strategies, ensuring a smoother integration of various techniques and frameworks while addressing specific challenges in task management and team dynamics. This external perspective can provide tailored insights to align your efforts with the organization's standards and structures effectively.