Micromanagement or scrum role?
HI , I am into this team with onshore-offshore scrum setup. The scrum master assigns the tasks to developers and conducts daily scrum where developers report the status to him.
He organizes meeting with business partners for any clarification/clarifications for the work which the developer is handling.
Question
1. Is it right approach for a scrum master in participating all the tasks/user stories?
2. Is it right for a scrum master to take control of the team?
I think it is micromanagement. Please clarify
Hi Jeyaganesh
The scrum master assigns the tasks to developers
It is not the Scrum Masters role to assign tasks as he is not a manager. He is a facilitator that helps the Scrum Team implementing Scrum and do their work in an self-organized manner. The development team should instead pull their work during the Sprint Planning from the Product Backlog to the Sprint Backlog, adding tasks as needed.
conducts daily scrum where developers report the status to him
The Scrum Master is taking care that the Daily Scrum takes place and helps the team to understand the value of the meeting and the reasons behind it so that the Development Team correctly implements the meeting and its contents on their own (e.g. in the start phase of a team maybe by giving them the example of the 3 questions).
The meeting is in no way intended to be a daily status report to the Scrum Master, but a meeting that provides the possibility to the team to inspect and adapt by knowing about what the other developers are doing and where they are facing impediments (which the Scrum Master might also pick up if he can help).
He organizes meeting with business partners for any clarification/clarifications for the work which the developer is handling
Whereas it is mainly the Product Owner that does the stakeholder work, it is of course absolutely fine and real practice that the development team consults with a stakeholder if they need clarification. From my point of view it is ok if the Scrum Master helps out by organizing the meetings, nevertheless the development could also do this on its own to be more self-organized. (Read here about the Scrum Master as meeting organizer: https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/evolution-scrum-master).
1. Is it right approach for a scrum master in participating all the tasks/user stories?
It depends on what you mean by "participating". If you mean sitting in the back of the room, facilitating the team in their decision finding and self-organization, then I would say yes.
If it means to assign tasks and manage the team, I would say no.
2. Is it right for a scrum master to take control of the team?
As already mentioned, the Scrum Master is not a command & control manager. He should help the team in self-organisation.
I was at a conference some days ago where one of the speaker had the following statement:
A manager shows you that he is important. A leader shows you that you are important.
Maybe this also helps you to understand better.
What does the Scrum Guide say about the Development Team and Scrum Master roles?
Does that help you answer those questions?
There is no micromanagement in Scrum. Also there is no people management at all. Only process management, guidance and teaching.
Mictomanagement may also be considered as a mental disorder.
The role and actions that a Scrum Master or Agile Coach takes need to take into account the maturity of the team. If the team has just started on the Agile/Scrum process, then SM may be involved more closely with the team's tasks to just help ensure Agile principles are effectively used. The SM steps further and further away as the team becomes more self organized.