“While I’m Forced to Work Remotely, It’s Not OK to Say I’m Struggling”

The ‘Are you Serious’ series tackles Scrum misconceptions. All its articles have this theme and cover a specific topic.

Image by Ri Butov from Pixabay

Your job may be on the line. Your oldest daughter may struggle with her virtual school work. You may know how your grandmother misses your weekly visits, adding to her loneliness. You may fear that your brother could get infected while he’s on chemo. You may dread what will happen to the country, on the brink of an economic collapse. It may be OK to voice all of this. But you still have to deliver.

Perhaps your CEO that brought this message: “These are trying times. We acknowledge your struggles. But we also look at the opportunities. If we can continue to deliver, we will be ahead of our competition when all of this is over.”

What happens to your carefully crafted Scrum Team? What happens to the Scrum Values of commitment, courage, focus, openness and respect?

What happens to:

“Self-organizing teams choose how best to accomplish their work, rather than being directed by others outside the team.”? — Scrum Guide 2017

What happens to:

“Only the Development Team can assess what it can accomplish over the upcoming Sprint.”? — Scrum Guide 2017

Now is the time to embrace Scrum even more than before.

Embrace the Scrum Values

To continue to deliver high-value products at a sustainable pace, you need to embrace the Scrum Values:

“When the values of commitment, courage, focus, openness and respect are embodied and lived by the Scrum Team, the Scrum pillars of transparency, inspection, and adaptation come to life and build trust for everyone.” — Scrum Guide 2017

You should acknowledge that your team has changed. Most of the team members live in a new reality. These people should have the courage to express how this reality impacts them. The team should be open to what this entails and respect impact on productivity.

Your environment is increasingly complex

Your product environment doesn’t cease to be complex because everyone has to work remotely during a pandemic. On the contrary, the environment only became increasingly complex.

This isn’t the time to abandon Scrum. Don’t fool yourself. Don’t try to make long term plans for your teams. Don’t fall into the trap of false security. This security is absent!

“In complex environments, what will happen is unknown. Only what has already happened may be used for forward-looking decision-making.” — Scrum Guide 2017

If you fail to acknowledge this, you will only push your team over the limit. This is unsustainable and you are setting yourself up to work on the wrong things while burning up your people.

Instead, accept the added complexity and take this into account when you plan your Sprint and set your Sprint Goal. The changed circumstances impact team collaboration and people’s capacity to do their work. You can’t expect to be as productive as you were while also taking care of two small kids or worry about your sick husband.

At the other side of the spectrum, you have people that forget to take regular breaks and work longer than they used to do. A team should be mindful that this situation may not be sustainable either.

So — How to maintain productivity?

If you expect no impact on your productivity, then you are naive. During this crisis, people aren’t simply working remotely. They are forced to work from home while a pandemic spreads. Some are isolated, others are confined to their homes with partner and kids.

There are ways to continue to deliver the same level of value. To do this, you should pick your battles and focus on what matters most. You should drop the stuff that’s not needed and work on the items that bring the highest value. Incidentally, this was always the intent of Scrum:

“Scrum (n): A framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value. “ — Scrum Guide 2017

Cut dead wood from your Product Backlog and focus on what matters most. Verify relentlessly if you are indeed focusing on the right items. Ensure that you actively involve stakeholders at the Sprint Review.

On top of this, create an awesome Sprint Goal and make this leading for your Sprint. Build your Sprint Backlog to meet the Sprint Goal. When you are sprinting, don’t commit to completing the Sprint Backlog. Instead, focus fully on the meeting the Sprint Goal. Happily toss away things that don’t help to get closer to this.

At the same time, continue to invest in your people and your team. The new circumstances require a different approach.

Conclusion

We live in difficult times and people have to deal with a variety of worries and issues. If you wish to get the most out of the current situation, acknowledge that your world became increasingly complex. Scrum is a framework to deliver high-value products in a complex environment. This includes:

• Embracing empiricism — you will face more uncertainties than before. Accept that this can change the way you work;
• Following the Scrum Values — most of the team members live in a new reality. These people should have the courage to express this, the team should be open to what this entails and respect the consequences;
• Working with self-organising teams — the new reality doesn’t alter the fact that self-organising teams are best equipped to address complex product environments;
• Working at a sustainable pace — if you want to achieve long-lasting productivity, then you need to work at a sustainable pace. What used to be sustainable previously may be unsustainable now.

Don’t fall into the trap of false predictability, making long-term plans. Instead, take one step at a time in a time of increased complexity.

For further reading on this topic, see:

[embed]Your Team Has to Work Remotely. Scrum Master: Time to Step Up! Help your team and organisation through these hard timesmedium.com

[embed]Scrum Master: the Crisis Has Changed Your Team — Your Leadership Approach Has to Change Too The current pandemic has a profound impact on your team and you should respond to the changesmedium.com

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