elainegrey | (no subject)

Training is draining, but i have three different physical complaints to also lay at the foot of feeling drained. Not counting the finger sprain.

I have very mixed feelings about how i had to coach "up" to my boss and to the product manager at the end of the training, helping them see how the training could work for us, as well as dealing with the different vibes i was getting from my staff about their discomfort and worries.

Do i have to be the grown up?

Once upon a time i really needed a mentor-manager. Part of it, i think, was the deeper want of a archetypical mother. I've learned how to be that mother/parent to myself though. I don't think it's vanity or egotism to recognize that i need to be a calm centered "leader" for this change to be an opportunity for the team's function to improve. Sometimes i'm the Cassandra. But here, here i can be the person saying, "Let's try it, we can address that concern that way."

I am giving myself unnecessary drain when i hear the trainer talk about micromanagement, when i hear the trainer talk about how the part of this process is about improvement and how your flaws are visible and micromanagement. Gah, i don't want to micromanage: do others perceive me as micromanaging? Gah, have i been letting people down by saying i would take care of things that i haven't? Gah, ugh, ouch, ooh, wince. (I better get that request for hardware done -- when?)

One thing i see is how i fill so many roles -- well, i knew this -- so letting go of the direct involvement with my team.... Or not: maybe they'll want me to be the scrum master, which will have its own set of problems.

So i write the trainer (many references to terms in the training)

Hi [trainer],

I really enjoyed yesterday's training and am looking forward to today's. You probably heard us more than once talking about who would fill the role of scrum master. As manager of the team and as release manager, i know i've been filling a similar role in our iterative development pattern, the team doesn't self organize. It's possible, i suppose, that i could be the scrum master as the direct manager of the developers, but i'll be leaving the room for lots and lots of coffee.

What have you seen be better: encouraging the team to take ownership of the scrum master role, with the encouragement that the team's manager is there to support the scrum master in protecting the team? Or having the team's manager also be the scrum master?

I'll admit that ,while i wouldn't use the terms servant leadership and ministry at the office (given the diverse cultural backgrounds that mean that there are very different assumptions about Christian language), I'm a Quaker, and i do frame my work as ideally done as ministry (although so rarely meeting my ideal). From practicing the way Friends (Quakers) seek Unity, consensus decision making is something i've had practice with outside of work as well as inside. So, in this swamp, i may have an advantage over the usual direct manager in a team switching to scrum.

On the other hand, there are a few team members who i'd like to give the opportunity to stretch into the role: i think it could play to their strengths. I would want to support them in anyway they needed, including being the go to person for "passing the monkey on." Is there a way to frame the direct manager of the team as, say, Scrum coach? The Scrum master leaves the field to go tell the coach on the sideline what needs to be fixed? The coach is there to help if the team wants the coach to help strategize?

Just thought i'd share like this and if you want to reference any of this as directly or indirectly as you'd like, please feel welcome.

Thanks again,

[me]