After a person has taken agile training, what principles do they need to keep in mind when they return to the office?
- The principles and values
- The architecture and design
- The power of completion
The Principles and Values
Recalling the principles and values learned in agile training prevents people from flailing because they have forgotten the reason why they implement specific practices.
Failure to recall the principles and values will result in common errors like the following:
• The team still holds weekly standup meetings
• Neglecting to update tasks on the Scrum board
• Skipping grooming meetings.
The Architecture and Design
Another common indicator that someone is not applying the ideas taught in their agile training is the blatant neglect of architecture and design.
This is apparent when the project manager fails to build incrementally, fails to grow features over time, fails to begin with the simplest things possible, and fails to value feedback.
Another blatant indication that a project manager, now a ScrumMaster, is not applying their training is remaining obsessed with the old business idea of getting things right the first time. The biggest sign that someone has truly grasped what agile training is all about is when they jettison “the getting it right the first time” mindset in preference to responding to feedback and growing a project realistically.
The Power of Completion
Respecting when something is done comes from having a clear idea of completion. In fact, this is one of the essential principles of agile training.
Understanding what “done” means offers three core benefits:
First, everyone in the organization understands the same definition.
Second, stakeholders can use this definition as a communication tool.
Third, it removes the idea of “technical debt.”
Breaking in New ScrumMasters and Teams
The value of agile training is not in the training itself but in the application of the training. Just because someone has become a ScrumMaster does not mean that they fully grasp all the dynamics of how to lead a team. Agile efforts are often plagued by old mindsets on how projects should be run. In trying to adapt from the old to the new, ScrumMasters will face their share of challenges—and sometimes the old way may seem better—but if they stick with what they learned, they will be able to resolve the issues that inevitably come up.
