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Lack of communication i team

Last post 07:22 pm July 11, 2022 by Martin Gradzki
5 replies
03:47 pm July 9, 2022

 We have a scrum team which works long time ago together. In the retrospective our scrum master complaind that there is lack of teamwork between us (development team). The reason is, since start of our scrum journey, each member has his/her own task and focuces on it. But what she says, out ticket should be shared between us to raise the connection of members. Our tickets are not related with each other and we dont have a thing like sprint goal. Whose fault is that situation?

I think if product owner would have a clear backlog and would make a goal we we wouldnt be so seperate? what do u think?

 


06:25 pm July 9, 2022

Why are you leaving Sprint Planning without a Sprint Goal commitment? You're all jointly accountable for making sure you've agreed one. The whole point of a Sprint is to meet a Sprint Goal.


03:20 pm July 10, 2022

If I would guess, your team members have also roles defined in the team, right? So one is responsible for the architecture, the other one is doing tests.

Or is it more like, that you have different module experts in the team? So someone is carrying about UI, the other do the interface communication etc.

I think, what your scrum master wants to say is that you are working to much in old structure and wants, that you work more together, so that the knowledge is shared between all team members. 

The sprint goal is mostly a topic, where the whole team will commit to. If your team are divided in modules or competencies, then it's not so easy that everyone commits to it and that's maybe the reason, why you don't have one.


07:59 am July 11, 2022

As Ian mentioned how are you concluding Sprint Planning without a Sprint Goal. Does your Scrum Master not have any views on this?


03:59 pm July 11, 2022

The Scrum Team is jointly accountable for all of the work that is done.  Each role has some specific areas to focus but there is still joint accountability.  

The Developers are expected to self-organize and self-manage their work.  If the Developers on your Scrum Team choose to segment the work in any way, that is up to them to decide.  However, they are still accountable for communicating with each other and the rest of the organization.  The Daily Scrum is the time in which the Developers discuss new information and plan their work for the coming day.  

There is risk involved when you choose to have every person specialize their work because it could lead to issues if one Developer leaves the company or is out for extended periods. Sharing knowledge across specializations helps to mitigate that risk.  That could be what your Scrum Master is trying to communicate. 

The Product Owner should create a Product Goal and make sure that everyone knows and understands it. This can help with long term vision and decision making.  The team should also be crafting a Sprint Goal for every Sprint.  That will help the Developers focus on accomplishing the necessary work and foster communication.

The situation you describe may not be a problem.  The Scrum Master sees it as a potential one but that does not mean it is a problem that needs to be addressed.  This should be a topic of conversation in a Sprint Retrospective where the Scrum Master can explain their concern and the entire team can discuss whether it is something that needs to be addressed.


07:22 pm July 11, 2022

As Ian mentioned how are you concluding Sprint Planning without a Sprint Goal. Does your Scrum Master not have any views on this?

A lot of people sees a sprint goal as something optional. If your team don't understand the value of a scrum goal, they skip it. If you force them to define a goal, then they say "Complete all items in the sprint backlog" is the goal. 

He said in the beginning: "We have a scrum team which works long time ago together." It would be good to know, how they work together long time ago ;)


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