• Agile & Scrum Basics

Make the benefits of Agile and Scrum visible to your management

When you start working as a Scrum Master, you will sometimes find that it is difficult to get people to go along with the new way of thinking and working. People want to change, but don’t want to be changed. To succeed as a team with an Agile way of working, the full support of management is indispensable. But how do you make the benefits of Agile and Scrum visible to your management? These 5 steps will help you engage management.

Step 1 – Everything starts with knowledge

Logical. You now have the knowledge but does management know what Agile working and Scrum is all about? Everything starts with knowledge; only then can you start a real conversation. So first explain the basics of Agile and briefly go over the Scrum framework.

Step 2 – Name the bears on the road.

Managers can sometimes be quite a fan of certain bears along the way. Be one step ahead? Take stock of what bears might be. Common ones are:

• Working with a flexible scope is tricky: releasing a team, but not knowing exactly what you’re getting;
• Prioritize ongoing projects: we are now an organization where tig projects run simultaneously;
• Letting go of mandate: you still want to keep a grip as a manager;
• Giving up a familiar way of working (even though the way of working is not optimal);
• Set aside time to be available for teams.

Step 3 – Explore solutions

Bears are big beasts, so take them seriously. Usually there is no point in going fully into counter-argument mode. What does help is to think through the objections together. How. Here are some help questions you can ask:

• What is the worst thing that could happen if we do start?
• What is the smallest experiment that could be started?
• When are you available for the team, though?
• How can we minimize the impact for the first experiment for you?
• What does grip mean to you? And how can we keep you informed?

Step 4 – Choose an experiment

Before choosing your experiment, ask yourself an important question: is there room to start risky or do we start less risky? If there is room, then you appoint together an experiment of size, with great impact. Management will want to be very involved in this. A lot depends on it. This immediately shows the greatest commitment you can get.

Is there a small-scale project that annoys everyone to no end? That takes a long time, never gets finished and really shouldn’t take much effort if everyone picks up his/her task? And which would benefit the organization greatly? Bingo! Make that the first experiment with a small team and let them experience for themselves the benefits of cross-functional, dedicated work and fast delivery. Believe me, every organization knows these types of projects.

Step 5 – Action!

Briefly summarize the conversation. State the main obstacles of management and how you agreed to tackle them. Name the action you agree on and also link an end date to it. Make concrete when you will take the next step.

Time to step into the board and let the whole organization benefit from your development. Do you have a little more nutrition yet? No problem, read more about our online Agile training courses here.