Feeling lost, odd structure?
I started a new job a year ago as a developer but have been a scrum master in previous roles. A little company background for context:
The company is strongly waterfall and is sales driven, with usually ambitious sales dates and no real requirements being drawn out at this stage other than a rough draft. It’s been operating this way for 15 years and always feels very busy and only employ around 50 people (about 10 of which are developers and a handful of ERP consultants and a project management office with a few Project Managers). The owner hasn’t bought into scrum and I feel is still very waterfall/project plan everything. The business operate mainly as ERP consultants helping customers maximise their ERP tool but we also have a team that delivery web applications and mobile solutions to customers to tie into their ERP tool (my team) and usually involves quite complex projects lasting from 3-6 months, sometimes more. So essentially, there’s a sales team who secure business from the customer, that can be a brand new application, extensions to their ERP or both. My team deals with the building of applications and we have a consultancy team who deal with ERP specific work, there are times where we need to communicate as the customer project might require both. So hopefully that gives context to the business model?
I joined the company as a developer but realised that we could be using Scrum for the larger project work as it fitted really well with the Stacey diagram. So I then moved to a team leader role and started overseeing this and got to run with it. The team love working with scrum and the structure it provides, it’s fantastic. The problem is (and where I need help) is that the sales process brings in so much business that I often end up with 3-4 projects all going at once with a small team of only 4 developers .... and no product owner. Just me and the developers. So I’m trying to get the team on customer calls to understand the requirements better, then once we do, I’m putting delivery estimates back up the way to project managers which then get back to the customer. Im now the development manager and in charge of headcount, trying to manage the staff and team, look at scrum, improve etc and make the team self managing, be over the project work to make sure it’s meeting deadlines. I feel I’m burning out. Am I over reacting?
ive raised the issue but the work doesn’t stop coming in and I see no end in sight.
We have project managers, but appear to do nothing other than complain to me that their waterfall project plan can’t cater for my way of working (everything is billed to the nth degree and time tracked per individual.... but in scrum we operate as a team so it’s hard to pin time down). I do also raise risk to them that dates won’t be met and they get back to the customer.
I feel I am missing a role in the team? No product owner, someone to understand the overall vision and keep the backlog in check. Currently, it’s me and the team calling the customer and dropping in what we know and find out at the end of each sprint.
I can’t put my finger on it, but something feels broken here. We do have technical consultants but they only get involved when it’s ERP specific work.
another suggestion I had was to limit the WIP to no more than 2 projects .... this way, I feel I can improve throughput?
Im really hoping someone can give any suggestions? Also, am I taking on too much?
thanks.
No product owner, someone to understand the overall vision and keep the backlog in check.
If you were to follow the money, all the way through to accountability for spend and for value obtained, might that also lead to a place where product ownership lies unrecognized?
I do also raise risk to them that dates won’t be met and they get back to the customer.
Instead of limiting WIP to 2 things to improve throughput, why not advocate limiting WIP to 1 thing and improve the predictability which appears to be missing?
Thanks Ian,
I love the 2nd point, you’re absolutely right.
im not following the first point though? Are you able to help me understand it better?thanks
You may find that your CEO might be the best person to be the PO for a company your size, because after all, they had the vision to start the company in the first place.
In regards to your project managers, it sounds to me that they need to start looking into the agile practices that their project management methodology has (PMBOK & PRINCE2 methods have agile certification tracks, so reviewing related material should allow them to adjust their current mindsets).
I can’t put my finger on it, but something feels broken here.
This is not going to be what you want to read but the part that is broken is the organization. The entire organization seems to be organized around waterfall project management. You are trying to revolt against that system with a very small group of individuals. This is what I call an agile revolution and history has shown how many times revolutions are successful if only a small part of the population feels there is a problem. I applaud your tenacity but it sounds like you are fighting a losing battle.
Since you say that you are filling the role as Scrum Master, you have to help the organization understand how to interact and support Scrum. Just telling people there is a problem doesn't always suffice. You need to be able to show them how the problem is impacting the companies ability to produce and suggest ways of improving or removing the impediment. But in order for that to be successful, the organization first has to realize the benefit of change and be willing to embrace that change.
Scrum is not for every company. It sounds like your company is one of the "not" companies. But there is no reason that you can't continue to use some of the techniques from Scrum and other agile practices on your team. However, you will need to find a way to marry those to the requirements of your larger organization.
Remember that in Scrum everything is based upon incremental changes/improvements and that you have to constantly inspect and adapt. My mantra is "make a decision, do something, evaluate the result, adapt if necessary". There is no such thing as the right way to do something. There are no best practices. There are a whole lot of good ideas but you have to determine if they are right for you.
Don't give up on helping your team become better and more effective. But don't expect miracles from the rest of your organization until you are able to show how the changes can improve the ability for the business to make money. Sad, I know but it is the truth far too often.