Skip to main content

Managing a team of 3 - in a non Agile framework

Last post 02:10 pm April 19, 2023 by Daniel Wilhite
2 replies
10:20 am April 18, 2023

Hello! 

I was just assigned to a new team of 3 people as a manager. The team is part of a bigger project which uses waterfall. However, most of our "taks" can be done almost independently of the rest of the teams. Senior manager is old style, sends 100 mails a day, 100 meeting, and currently there is no tracking tool of any sorts, just a deck of documents with the minutes of the weekly meetings. 



Today I was scolded for not being aware that a document needed to be done. I was supposed to realize this from reading the deck of 1k of slides of minutes. 

Work right now is not efficient and many things the teams does are useless (a hundred ppts and requirements docs). Although we will not use agile in the whole project, I would like to implement Scrum for our team of 3 (regardless of the senior manager). Do you have any experience with something similar, o do you know what would be the best way to organize and keep track of work? 

Thank you!

 

 


09:54 pm April 18, 2023

Have you discussed these issues with the team? What do they think about your proposal?

Bear in mind that Scrum is not a "way to organize and keep track of work". Scrum is about establishing empiricism, and learning to build the right thing at the right time.


02:10 pm April 19, 2023

Given the tendencies you have shared of the larger organization, I'm not sure that you would be able to implement Scrum.  You might be able to use some of the parts.  But I am still not sure it would help.  As @Ian said, Scrum is not for organization and work tracking.  It is for working on complex problems using empirical thinking and iteratively delivering incremental value. 

@Ian's suggestion of asking the team about this is right.  You would also need to identify the individual that will be fulfilling the Product Owner role and include them in the conversations. I would also suggest that you read through the Scrum Guide multiple times in order to clarify the framework in your own mind before you go down this road. I suggest that because often times people see Scrum based upon things people say instead of what the official Guide states.  It also would be better if you didn't call what you want to do Scrum if you aren't following the Guide.  That often leads to confusion and can hinder the ability of your group to accept the changes. 


By posting on our forums you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.

Please note that the first and last name from your Scrum.org member profile will be displayed next to any topic or comment you post on the forums. For privacy concerns, we cannot allow you to post email addresses. All user-submitted content on our Forums may be subject to deletion if it is found to be in violation of our Terms of Use. Scrum.org does not endorse user-submitted content or the content of links to any third-party websites.

Terms of Use

Scrum.org may, at its discretion, remove any post that it deems unsuitable for these forums. Unsuitable post content includes, but is not limited to, Scrum.org Professional-level assessment questions and answers, profanity, insults, racism or sexually explicit content. Using our forum as a platform for the marketing and solicitation of products or services is also prohibited. Forum members who post content deemed unsuitable by Scrum.org may have their access revoked at any time, without warning. Scrum.org may, but is not obliged to, monitor submissions.