I’ve Got Complaints for Days
Every so often, I host a bad movie night at my place. The movies selected are always terrible, but it’s fun to get folks together, and marvel at the horrendous garbage committed to film. At the last one (the dumpster fire known as Samurai Cop), I invited one of my former co-workers. For over a decade, we worked side-by-side in the corporate machine; he still works there today. After the movie ended, we talked about our days at the machine. He said he missed that I no longer worked there, adding how back then, he initially found my frequent complaints annoying. However, with me gone, he now found himself frustrated, prone to complaining, and without anyone to commiserate.
Because of how my brain is wired, I tend to take time to process things, and think about them before expressing my opinions. After taking a few days to fully digesting his comments, it dawned on me. Calling out dysfunction came off as complaints because the organization had no intention of changing. Back when I worked there, one of my former bosses once told me that I had an impressive knack for spotting problems. Even today, I have a passion for identifying issues, but so that everyone is aware, and they can get fixed. I suppose it’s one of the reasons I enjoy being a Scrum Master (SM). Calling out those kinda things is part of the dance. But I realized that when organizations don’t address problems, even though they know full well how much pain it causes, pointing them out sounds like complaining.
People should be given the authority to enact real, meaningful change. It’s not rocket surgery. When they feel undervalued, and that the powers-that-be don’t give a sh*t about their opinions, frustration festers. My frustration manifested in the form of feeling like I’d been hoodwinked. The organization said they wanted roll with Scrum, which I took at face value. Unfortunately, empiricism was never a priority, and as fellow Serious Scrum editor Paddy Corry called out, transparency is the first step to getting there.
I lost count how many times I heard the dreaded phrase, “Don’t come to me with problems. Come with solutions.” But here’s the thing… if you’re not careful, that line of thinking can be like wearing blinders. My response was always, “I’m coming to you because I don’t have the answer. I’m bringing it to your attention so everyone can work together to fix it.” Faced with this attitude, how long before folks stop pointing out issues, and problems fly under the radar undetected?
If I failed to mentioned it, I’m an ASA certified sailor. A few years back, I fell in love with sailing. As such, if while out on a sailboat, the crew says, “Captain, our feet are wet because the hull is leaking,” a reasonable captain would acknowledge that nugget of information, and take the requisite steps to ensure the ship doesn’t sink. The boat, everyone aboard, and everything on it are their responsibility. Good leaders, and organizations see the inherit value of problems brought to light. Sure, sometimes folks need to vent like a steam kettle releasing built-up pressure, but after filtering those out, complaints should be viewed as a call to action.
I get it. Even if everyone knows that their old school processes are bloated, problematic, and overly-bureaucratic, they have shown a reasonable degree of success in the past. Changing deeply-ingrained behaviors is freaking hard, and a lone voice standing up against dysfunction can make folks feel like that Dutch kid who spotted a problem with the dam.
Scrum Masters were never meant to be cogs in a machine. I’ve said it before, but we’re s’pose to be a pain in the ass when it comes to business-as-usual. By design, one of Scrum’s purposes is to identify dysfunction. Rolling with the framework isn’t supposed to be comfortable. When the alarm is sounded — like when someone complains about a problem — it’s your job to take it in, do the hard work, and fix it. I’m not gonna lie, and say it’s easy. It isn’t. But what are the benefits of perpetuating a culture where problems don’t get resolved simply because they’re difficult? If all you’ve done is throw Scrum at a bunch of developers, insisting they stand in a room for 15 minutes every day, and tell folks to work in sprints, soon enough, you’ll be the one complaining, saying “Scrum doesn’t work.”
The role of Scrum Master is often misconstrued, especially by those new to Scrum. Hell, even those that’ve been rolling with it for awhile don’t get it quite right. The standard trope is that the SM’s job is to lead all the meetings, remove impediments, and for some reason, update Jira (*gross*). Scrum Masters have a responsibility to their teams, the product owner, and the organization. But in my experience, the often-overlooked esoteric, touchy-feely part of the role is to be the owner of improvement (or ensure that folks allot the time, and discipline to improve).
This is where being bold, and brave comes into play. Sure, it may come off as complaining, but when the dust settles, improvement is about making a difference. I truly believe it’s perfectly fine to complain, but it must be acknowledged, and purposeful action taken to bring about a resolution. It’d be nice if we learned from it too. Failing to spot problems, and call them out can easily lead to stagnation. So, I complain. It’s because I give a damn, and why I’ve got complaints for days.
What do you complain about?
