In our last post we saw the typical role played by a manager traditionally. We also saw how this leads to more of a top down control with some minor variations. We also discussed how in an Agile world most of the role definition and the tasks that they do undergo a change. Some of the day to day transactional tasks like task reporting, task division etc. are no longer done by them. Some others like providing feedback change the way these are done. In addition, they have to do some more tasks. These are classified under servant leadership, as discussed in our post on Scrum Master. There is also significant segmentation of the roles of Product Owner and Scrum Master.

Let’s visit the old SCO model and see how strategic, coordinative and operational activities are carried out by the team and Scrum Master and Product Owner in this regard.

The Team :

• Strategic : The team makes decisions regarding which practices it would use, how much work it can commit to during a sprint, identifies obstacles and opportunities for growth that would help technical architecture of the practice.
• Coordinative : The team is self organizing. They use variety of tools like daily stand up, sprint retrospectives and sprint backlog for internal coordination and others like sprint planning, project or product backlog and sprint review with the marketing leadership/ product owner.
• Operational : This is left for the team to identify for themselves. However, number of XP Practices like refactoring, test driven development, shared code etc. However, the choice is left for the team.

Scrum Master or Process Coach:

• Strategic : Scrum Master is in charge of the Scrum Process/ Agile Framework. She checks that the values are being followed or not. She helps the team identify obstacles and remove them. In short, she is in charge of the productivity of the team.
• Coordinative : Scrum Master or Process Coach can sometimes work as a coordinative mechanism with other departments. Intra-team coordination is generally left to the team unless two team members specifically ask Scrum Master or Process Coach to intervene. In some situations, some tasks in this domain require expertise or responsibility that goes beyond the spirit of Scrum Master. These can be things like interviewing new people for the job, giving individual performance feedback, recommending salary appraisals, being responsible for attrition and individual growth etc. Typically, organizations employ a Manager. A Manager can sometimes work as Scrum Master + other tasks or do only “the tasks” while Scrum Master goes about monitoring the Scrum Process.
• Operational : This is not defined. Scrum Master or Process Coach can use tools at their disposal like observance, notes etc. to do their work. As most of their work is thought process, speaking and engagement - defining exact tools is slightly wishful.

Product Owner: 

• Strategic : The success of the product is product owners responsibility. She is responsible for gathering customer requirements, prioritizing them, setting the release schedule, getting the right product built. In short, the strategic success plan has to come from the product owner. She can sometimes as a part of this, discuss with the team, the skills and requirements for this success.
• Coordinative : The product owner engages with the team at sprint planning, sprint review and by drafting a project backlog. She is also available through out the sprint for any questions and discussions. The team works at any given time as per the priority defined by the product owner.
• Operational : The operational tasks of Product Owner involve gathering requirements, gathering market feedback, prioritizing requirements, communication and tracking product success.

Manager 2.0 :

• Strategic : Focuses on Value Creation. We find focus on creating processes as per Lean Principles, a great starting point. Hence, a Manager 2.0 would focus on:
  • Eliminating waste
  • Building quality in processes and systems - making systems mistake proof
  • Creating a culture of respect for all people
  • Focus on the value for the end customer
  • Optimizing the whole
    • We will expand on this in the posts on Lean Engineering Principles.
• Coordinative : A Manager can take on the responsibility for arranging resources, people, interviewing, feedback, appraisals - all the tasks which if done by Process Coach/ Scrum Master would actually hamper their ability to inspire trust. In a way, a manager’s job becomes more difficult than a Process Coach/ Scrum Master. They have to not only do some tasks which require certain authority and reporting, but also keep the environment trust worthy and open.
• Operational : This does not differ much from operational tasks that they do anyways. However, significant percentage of their tasks are thinking and communication based. Hence, appropriate choice of tools is more important.

Overall, Manager 2.0 would be responsible for creation of a value based people driven culture. They also would be responsible for scaling Agile and helping the team identify appropriate practices. There main role is best summed up this way “They create a self organizing team and empower it so much, that they themselves are no longer needed. Hence, its more of a self burning role.“

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