Bob Galen

One of the challenges when leveraging Scrum is knowing where to go when you’re in trouble. Let’s define trouble first:

• You’re in over your head.

• You’ve encountered a situation for the first time.

• You’ve just gotten back from a certification class.

• You’re not in a safe culture.

• You’ve got many problems hitting you at once.

So, when you’re faced with such adversity or seemingly intractable situations, where do you go? As you dig deep inside yourself, where do you look?

Here’s my secret sauce for handling these circumstances as a Scrum Master and coach.

First, I take a deep breath and try to get quiet. I’ve discovered that reacting quickly, without thinking, is never a good idea, although it is sometimes highly attractive. The counterpoint to this—getting quiet and finding a direction—is counterintuitive.

Second, I review the basics of Scrum. I’ve found that I often react to complex problems with complexity thinking and a sense of urgency and panic, or I’ll consider quite complex interaction patterns that I might apply. In other words, I get sucked into the chaos. When this happens, I remind myself to center on the fundamentals.

But center on what, specifically?

To me, the fundamentals in Scrum revolve around Empiricism: transparency, inspection, and adaptation, combined with the five Scrum Values: Commitment, Courage, Focus, Openness, and Respect.

I try to create transparency so that the system can reflect upon itself. So that, whatever the challenge I’m facing, it becomes clearer. A big part of this is staying curious to discover, rather than to act. So, discover root cause first, then explore possible reactions to it with my team.

I remind myself to reestablish my commitment to the team and dedicate myself to an effort focused on helping first (not resolving). I remind myself of the commitment to our stakeholders and customers, who are depending on us to sort through things, and to commit to myself that I can gather the confidence to guide the team toward a solution.

I remind myself to have the courage to tell the truth. In other words, if I don’t know, then say I don’t know. Or if I need help, I ask for help. Or if the problem is outside the system, then I have the courage to face it head-on and treat it as an impediment.

I remind myself to focus on the challenge at hand. To not be deterred by other, cascading problems or context complexity. To be relentless in the pursuit of a better state or a solution. Not alone, but by engaging the team and the organization. So, helping everyone to have a singular focus.

I remind myself to keep an open mind to whatever happens. To have the mind of a problem discoverer rather than a problem solver. Much of the challenge when dealing with the chaos is that we aren’t open to different possibilities for different solutions. We’re stuck in what has “always worked.” Instead, I remind myself to look beyond the usual.

And finally, I remind myself to stay respectful. Respecting the ability of the system to repair itself from within rather than through outside intervention. And respectful of myself by remaining calm and focused amid the chaos. In fact, I respect everything I encounter and never judge, staying open to the discoveries that empiricism can uncover.

I guess to me, the fundamentals are my Scrum Lighthouse.

If I find myself getting lost, I look to the fundamentals for guidance. They’ve never let me down.

When I react to chaos with chaos, I get sucked into it. But when I react to chaos by centering on the fundamentals, I’ve always found my way. I hope you find yours as well.