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Scrum Coaching For Better Productivity

By Kristen Baird


Software development using the scrum method requires the assembly of a five to seven members team working towards a single goal. The client gives clear guidelines for each project and a time frame. The team members dedicate all their time, skills and resources to deliver. Each project has clear and strict standards that must be met within a limited period of time. Scrum coaching helps in the successful execution of any project.

Coaching helps the sprinting team to capture the demands of the work at hand and develop a delivery strategy. The sessions help to create teamwork which is essential for the work at hand. Members can easily identify with engagement limits, rules and requirements of their project. They also understand the standards that must be met.

The coach will equip teams with necessary operational skills and tools so that they can set norms and rules to be followed during the operation. The sprint session is timed and all work is to be delivered within certain limits. Norms and rules are meant to prevent laxity that might delay the work or lower its quality.

There are hierarchies within every team. It takes time to understand the abilities, talents and temperaments of colleagues and begin to work together. The sessions help to create awareness on the need for respect among team players. Respect makes it easier to give instructions that are necessary for the successful completion of all projects.

It takes sometime before a team achieves peak performance. Each team is expected to undergo various phases of growth which are listed in the Tuckman-Model as Foaming, Storming, Norming and eventually Peaking. Research indicates that most teams will take about three sprint sessions to achieve peak performance. It is with this understanding that a coach gets the best out of a team.

Scrum teams are identified by several characteristics. They include the presence of rules and norms that have to apply to all members equally. This is aimed at creating a level playing field that eliminates pressure so that all members can easily deliver. These rules must be set during formation of such a team though they can be revised as the project progresses.

It is important for members of a scrum to be provided with necessary support and resources in order to deliver. An empowered team is one with members who possess necessary skills that enable them to deliver. These skills and resources must be balanced to avoid wastage, duplication and unhealthy competition.

Autonomy is crucial for any scrumming team to deliver on their stipulated project. The tenets of autonomy need to be outlined at the planning stage. It is at this stage that all resources required are evaluated and allocated. As the team organizes itself for the task ahead, it must assign roles to each member and determine their meeting schedule. Interference before completion kills the group morale and may derail the project.

Each team has limited membership where everyone is an active participant. This is the reasoning behind small teams and the absence of sub-teams. Each team is required to decide on the time for their daily meeting as well as location. They also define what Complete Work means, coding guidelines and tools necessary to execute each project. No single member takes responsibility for the failure of a project. Each member must be accountable.




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