The Scrum Master Should Make Sure No Individual is Idle
Debunking the busy myth: Learn why keeping everyone busy doesn’t equate to effective Agile team management.
A few months ago I wrote an article about how the Scrum Master role is evolving to one that is more delivery-focused. I pointed out that the Scrum Master role seems to be evolving into a Scrum Master/Project Manager hybrid. That puts more accountability on the Scrum Master to assist with delivery and not just sit nearby and ask the team “what do you think you should do?”
Generally, I think this is a good idea. After all, without the delivery of value there is no point to having an agile team.
Then I saw something that alarmed me.
A Job Post for ‘Manager, Scrum Lead’
A friend sent me a job post from his company and asked me if I knew anyone who would be interested. The position was called Manager, Scrum Lead. As I quickly scanned the job post, the following statement jumped out at me:
Scrum Master is to manage all the agile ceremonies, track agile team performance (burn down), right size estimates and commitments, coach teams on thoroughness [sic] of stories and breakdowns, make sure no individual is idle without work, identifying [sic] and remove blockers for individuals on the team, communicate dependencies and receive commitments from dependent teams, all while keeping development teams motivated.
Ah, where do I start? I guess the line that triggered my convulsive reaction was “make sure no individual is idle without work”. Wow, this flies directly in the face of so much that I have learned about agile, agile teams, and the Scrum Master role. And I had so many questions!
First of all, is it the Scrum Master’s job to make sure no one is idle?
Should Scrum Masters Make Sure No One is Idle?
I get that delivery of value is important. And that idleness could be inversely correlated to value delivery. But is it up to the Scrum Master? And is it even feasible to make sure no one is idle?
How does one ensure that no one is idle? In today’s hybrid environment, team members spend more time working from home than in an office. Should the Scrum Master be checking for keyboard activity?
How do you define idleness anyway? Would someone sitting at their desk thinking be considered idle? Would the use of pair programming cause one person to look idle while the other is busy?
If a team member did jumping jacks or pushups, would they still be considered idle?
I suppose that a Scrum Master could get creative in their attempt to stamp out idleness. When the Scrum Master is working in the same office as the team, they could simply walk around to monitor whether anyone is idle. We could even provision them with a tazer or cattle prod to give a small energy boost to any team member who appears idle. This is how DALL-E envisions the relationship between Scrum Master and team member.
The challenge is that workers spend most of their time working remotely these days. But I have a solution for that as well. And it can be automated.
Since many organizations today track keystroke activities for their employees, it would be pretty simple to mandate that workers all use a special electric shock-capable desk chair. Then when a period of idleness is detected, say 60 seconds, the Scrum Master could be prompted to deliver a small electric shock.
That would get the blood flowing and motivate the team members. I suppose you could also automate the entire process and deliver the shock automatically. That would make the Scrum Master even more productive (or redundant).
Funny and not really too far-fetched. There are already programs in place to monitor people and penalize them in ways that are shocking.
But the overwhelming response I had to this was that if we have Scrum Masters monitoring people, why don’t we simply call them project managers instead? And if the team is not self-organizing, we should not use the terms agile and Scrum to describe them. They are neither.
Frankly, it reminds me of a job I had working in a pizzeria when I was in high school. We were all told to look busy when the big boss was around. Even if we were not busy. It was more about giving the appearance of being busy.
Which is complete nonsense, particularly when you are dealing with knowledge workers. Should we jiggle our mouse to look busy when working remote? Should we do jumping jacks to look busy on the days we are in the office?
This Scrum Master Job Description is Off the Rails
There were a few other parts of this job description that caused me to react:
- “Manage all the agile ceremonies” — This could be just a poor wording choice but the Scrum Master facilitates ceremonies or makes sure the team does. They don’t manage the ceremonies — that is more project manager language.
- “Track agile team performance (burn down)” — While in some cases, it may be helpful for the Scrum Master to help the team create or update a burndown, it is really up to the team to use tools like burndown charts to manage themselves. The Development Team tracks their own progress.
- “Right size estimates and commitments” — I am not sure what the statement means to be honest. It sounds like the Scrum Master should use their own judgment to change the estimates made by the team and this would be a really bad idea. Second-guessing the team is consistent with the PMBOK, not with Scrum or Agile Principles. Let the teams come up with their own estimates or drop estimation altogether.
- “Communicate dependencies and receive commitments from dependent teams” — This is a bit of a judgment call. A good Scrum Master will teach the team to do this work rather than being the glue that connects teams.
- “Budget management” — Budgeting is not one of the responsibilities of the Scrum Master. It is specifically called out as a responsibility of the Product Owner, though that would be the most appropriate person in Scrum to take it on.
- “Vendor Management Agreement and Accounts Payable” — I suppose that could fall into the category of other duties as assigned?
- “Project management of digital features”, “Action Item Tracking” — It sounds like they are looking for a project manager.
- “Jira Administration for the Digital Org” — See my article about Scrum Masters not being the Jira Lackey.
Bottom Line — Scrum Masters Today Are Being Asked to Act Like PMs
It seems that Scrum Masters are evolving, or at least the responsibilities of the person being called a Scrum Master is evolving. I think it would be better if we removed the Scrum and Agile words and simply call this person what they are. We can call them a delivery lead. Or simply call them a project manager since that is what is being described.
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Anthony Mersino is the founder of Vitality Chicago, an Agile Training and Coaching firm devoted to helping Teams THRIVE and Organizations TRANSFORM. He is also the author of two books, Agile Project Management, and Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers.