Scrum for Various People Doing Different Things (Not Project Related!)
Hello everyone -
I've been tasked of being the Scrum Master for my IT team, however, not all of us work on the same tasks. Honestly, it's just a way for our boss to see what we're working on without being too invasive aka I'm the one watching them. I'm basically organizing people's work for them and reporting back to my boss on their progress. It's more of a status update with a "Agile-twist", if you will.
Example of who I'm working with:
1. Person A - makes dashboards
2. Person B - custom/adhoc reports
3. Person C - any requests involving the datawarehouse
Please note: this task does NOT involve project work.
My question is: can Scrum be used to manage multiple people's work capacity/progress? I've done Scrum/Agile before and in all sorts of styles/flavors, but never like this. Telling my boss that "this is not viable/not an option" is also...not an option.
Please advise!
Thanks!
Considering the situation you describe, what outcomes are the company hoping to achieve?
Can Scrum be used to manage multiple people's work capacity/progress?
Do you think with your own expertise, Scrum can be used in its best interest to manage multiple people's work capacity and/ or progress?
My question is: can Scrum be used to manage multiple people's work capacity/progress?
Yes it can but the people all need to be working on things that can be attributed to a single product. In your case, can the work of the individuals be tied to a single product and be grouped for a Sprint in support of a single Sprint Goal? I'm going to be the answer is no.
So you can't use Scrum as described in the Scrum Guide. But you might be able to use some of the techniques in a beneficial way. You will have to decide what those are.
Based on what you have said, your boss doesn't understand Scrum or actually want it. He wants someone to manage 3 people so that he doesn't have to.
Do you have a Product?
Do you have a Product Owner?
Those two things are the most important elements of Scrum - with them, if the Product has Value, the Product Owner will rope in sufficient Development Team personnel to produce an Increment.
Even if the Increment is a mailbox, a video, and a post-card....three totally independent components but together with some vision, design and architecture, a single Increment for a Product.
If you don't have a Product with a Product Owner, Kanban is over there somewhere. Just a suggestion.