My Agile Journey: Part 2
Eventually a Scrum Master was hired, actually he was a SAFe Program Consultant. He said all the right things in the interview. After a few Sprints it became apparent that it was part of his ability to read people and give them the answers that they wanted to hear. Sprint Retrospectives became about metrics to please the hierarchy.
The micromanagement continued to grow out of control. Due to time zone differences between us and the parent company, the Daily Scrum was to be recorded and emailed to management every day. The discussion of each Sprint Retrospective was to be documented and reported in detail. Sprint Planning was required to schedule all team members to complete capacity. Sprint Reviews were traditional project progress reporting meetings.
Another discussion with the Director, Agile Trainer, and management was attempted. The difference between management and leadership was not understood. Citing how their mentality and actions were not inline with the original training that had been presented was not well received. It was clear that there was not much to be done.
I was removed from the Team to work on an exploratory, proof of concept project with a sibling company. The simple answer was, "Yes, it can be done." However since two months were allotted, that time had to be used. Once the basis had been proven, I spent that time educating myself about the history of software development, project management, Scrum, Extreme programming, the Manifesto, etc. When I returned to the Team, I learned that there had been no improvements as things had become a standard, Taylor, project death march. I began to challenge the lack of agility and improvements. Others felt empowered to speak freely again. I began training the Development Team on what I had learned regarding agile software development.
The powers that be and the Product Owner devised a plan to implement a web service to gather data which would then be analyzed to determine the value of creating a new service that would all take place over nine months. Instead of bringing the problem to the Team for possible solutions, an unnecessarily involved one was dictated. I explained that we could gather the requested data from the existing service with a minor modification effort. Despite the possibility of decreased cost and earlier availability of data, the Product Owner chose to maintain the plan set forth by the powers that be.
In order to better serve the organization and as a part of my career path, I requested the company send me for Professional Scrum Master training. I was willing to travel by car and find lodging at my own expense if they would reimburse the approximately $1500 cost of the course. The request was denied. I knew that the small startup company that I once loved and had hoped to be a part of until the end of my career was no longer the place for me.
I continue learning from various sources. I challenge the beloved expert consultants. One can find my name in the comments on several forums. This will be another medium for this endeavor. Respond to my points. Introduce me to new ideas. Help be a part of spreading knowledge and encouraging the desire to learn, instead of just blindly parroting.
The micromanagement continued to grow out of control. Due to time zone differences between us and the parent company, the Daily Scrum was to be recorded and emailed to management every day. The discussion of each Sprint Retrospective was to be documented and reported in detail. Sprint Planning was required to schedule all team members to complete capacity. Sprint Reviews were traditional project progress reporting meetings.
Another discussion with the Director, Agile Trainer, and management was attempted. The difference between management and leadership was not understood. Citing how their mentality and actions were not inline with the original training that had been presented was not well received. It was clear that there was not much to be done.
I was removed from the Team to work on an exploratory, proof of concept project with a sibling company. The simple answer was, "Yes, it can be done." However since two months were allotted, that time had to be used. Once the basis had been proven, I spent that time educating myself about the history of software development, project management, Scrum, Extreme programming, the Manifesto, etc. When I returned to the Team, I learned that there had been no improvements as things had become a standard, Taylor, project death march. I began to challenge the lack of agility and improvements. Others felt empowered to speak freely again. I began training the Development Team on what I had learned regarding agile software development.
The powers that be and the Product Owner devised a plan to implement a web service to gather data which would then be analyzed to determine the value of creating a new service that would all take place over nine months. Instead of bringing the problem to the Team for possible solutions, an unnecessarily involved one was dictated. I explained that we could gather the requested data from the existing service with a minor modification effort. Despite the possibility of decreased cost and earlier availability of data, the Product Owner chose to maintain the plan set forth by the powers that be.
In order to better serve the organization and as a part of my career path, I requested the company send me for Professional Scrum Master training. I was willing to travel by car and find lodging at my own expense if they would reimburse the approximately $1500 cost of the course. The request was denied. I knew that the small startup company that I once loved and had hoped to be a part of until the end of my career was no longer the place for me.
I continue learning from various sources. I challenge the beloved expert consultants. One can find my name in the comments on several forums. This will be another medium for this endeavor. Respond to my points. Introduce me to new ideas. Help be a part of spreading knowledge and encouraging the desire to learn, instead of just blindly parroting.
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