The Future of Agile Roles: From Discrete Roles to Integrated Accountabilities

Help me think through how this episode applies to my situation. Start by asking what I am trying to change. Separate the episode's claims from your suggestions, and say when the notes do not support a claim. Use the transcript to find passages, then check the audio before quoting. Transcript: https://yuvalyeret.com/podcast/episodes/the-future-of-agile-roles-from-discrete-roles-to-integrated-accountabilities/transcript.md ## Published episode notes Has Agile has reached a phase of disillusionment? What does that mean for the future of agile roles such as Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches? Yuval shares some useful patterns he's seen in the trenches for how organizations are evolving their approach towards enabling and stewarding agility. 00:00 Introduction: Is Agile Dead? 00:40 The Future of Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches 00:59 Scrum Guide Companion for Leaders 01:15 VP Engineering as the Scrum Master? 01:29 Scrum Accountabilities vs. Roles 02:46 Market Trends and Leadership Changes 05:51 Focusing on Outcomes and Impact 07:26 Becoming a Keeper in Your Organization 09:20 The Future of Agility Accountabilities Resources: The Scrum Guide Companion for Leaders - https://www.scrum.org/resources/scrum-guide-companion-leaders The Keeper Test - https://jobs.netflix.com/culture Yuval's own journey to Scrum and his personal experience as a Scrum Leader - https://yuvalyeret.com/blog/scrum/yuvals-journey-to-scrum-expert-insights-tips/ The No BS Scaling w/ Agility Podcast - For leaders who aim to scale their organization with nuanced agility instead of the Agile Theater BS The Scaling w/ Agility Newsletter – yuvalyeret.com/insights Yuval's Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuvalyeret/ ## Transcript Automatic transcript of the published podcast audio. Recognition errors are possible. Speakers are unlabeled; do not attribute a passage to Yuval or a guest without checking the audio. Episode: https://yuvalyeret.com/scaling-ai-podcast/the-future-of-agile-roles-from-discrete-roles-to-integrated-accountabilities/ Source RSS GUID: substack:post:166725821 Source: published Riverside RSS audio enclosure Transcription: faster-whisper base.en, English ## Transcript [00:00:02] Is Agile dead? What is the future of Scrum, Agile? Are we in the face of this illusionment? [00:00:09] What is the path to enlightenment? How will we eliminate the Agile theater that accumulated [00:00:15] for many years of unsustainable Scrum Agile adoption growth? Specifically, what is the [00:00:21] future of Scrum Master's Agile coaches? Welcome to the Scaling with Agility, the podcast [00:00:28] for leaders who aim to close the curtain on all the Agile theater BS and instead use a [00:00:32] principle, nuanced approach to agility that achieves outcomes and drives impact, unevalure. [00:00:41] So what is the future of Scrum Master's Agile coaches? [00:00:45] More and more leaders are starting to see these as accountability rather than discrete rules. [00:00:51] They realize that the sort of leadership Scrum Master entails should be integrated rather [00:00:56] than provided by a dedicated. The Scrum Guide for Leaders goes into the considerations in [00:01:03] more depth. That's a companion that I wrote a couple of years ago to help leaders understand, [00:01:09] get ideas, some patterns for how to use Scrum, how to map Scrum to Gary Manizet. [00:01:16] One example is the VP of Engineering in the growing startup who decided to take on this [00:01:20] RTE role, which is essentially the Chief Scrum Master for the Agile release train, since they [00:01:26] felt it was up to them to provide this leadership. Remember, Scrum Agile capabilities does not [00:01:33] equate Agile roles. Remember, Scrum Agile capabilities does not equate Scrum roles. [00:01:42] This way of thinking is supported by the 2020 Scrum Guide update that changes the language [00:01:48] from Scrum roles to Scrum accountabilities. [00:01:51] Safe also sees itself as a dual operating system. The transparallel to the organizational structure, [00:01:59] which means that the Scrum Master and other roles should be seen as accountabilities. [00:02:05] And when leaders take these new ways of leading and showing up to heart, [00:02:08] it creates a healthy and sustainable level of agility. But getting there requires [00:02:14] support and coaching. Sometimes you do need someone dedicated to agility. Sometimes you don't, [00:02:21] it really depends on the situation of the team. There are situations where no one is passionate [00:02:26] about organization performance, self-agility and development. In this context, the right [00:02:32] move is, or might be, to have a person dedicated to these accountabilities. [00:02:37] But most of the time, these people are brought in to become part of the leadership team of a [00:02:42] larger group, rather than a team level role. So what does the reduction in force of Agile roles [00:02:48] that we're seeing out there in the industry mean? Is laying off all Agile roles assigned to the [00:02:53] company as achieved Agile Nirvana? Sometimes it is. Sometimes it is. What we're seeing right now in [00:03:00] the market is more often one of these scenarios. First one might be that the company woke up to the [00:03:09] reality that they are doing Agile rather than being Agile and see the Agile roles as part of the [00:03:14] problem. Companies that believe in their Agile way of working and have achieved the reasonable level [00:03:20] of agility want to continue to improve. But when looking to extend their runway in the current [00:03:26] microeconomic environment, they make the tough but necessary decision in their view to spend less [00:03:33] on the future of work on more and more on doing parent work. Another scenario we often see is [00:03:40] changing leadership and the loss of a formal or informal edge of champion that leads to a shift [00:03:45] in perspective about Agile. I had a chat yesterday with a client of mine that shared with me they are [00:03:53] going to switch roles from a sort of a COL role for their organization to a role more focused on a [00:04:02] specific challenge that the company is facing now. Their belief, their assumption is that the [00:04:10] work that they've done, the stewardship that they've provided to the organization to nurture the [00:04:19] agility culture, the approach to self-management and adaptability that is strong enough in the [00:04:30] organization that regardless of who comes to replace them, the culture would be sustainable, [00:04:37] the stewardship culture would be sustainable. And indeed, I've seen situations where that is the case. [00:04:44] But a lot of the time, all we've relied upon is agility by mandate, by inflicting a process change [00:04:55] on people. If that has been the approach of the transformation leaders or even scrumsters and [00:05:02] agile coaches that have been encouraged or even told to enforce a process, the moment we take [00:05:13] that away, that would be the moment that we would lose momentum about the agility. [00:05:24] So in those types of environments, when the agile champion leaves, this would lead to a shift in [00:05:31] perspective and investment in agility. Another scenario is companies where people in agile [00:05:39] roles are making an impact, but either don't care or struggle to provide transparency to this [00:05:45] thing in a way that will resonate with business people, think the CFO. In the current context, [00:05:51] this isn't a very sustainable strategy. And that's why I've been talking recently so much about [00:05:58] focusing on outcomes and impact and connecting whatever it is that you're doing, whatever activities, [00:06:07] deliverables, events, artifacts, connecting them to expensive problems that the organization is facing. [00:06:16] So my recommendation to you, if you're in one of these agile or generally enablement roles, [00:06:22] whether you call this scrumster, RTE, agile coach, product ops, I recommend you focus on a couple of [00:06:29] things. I suggest what I've seen work is people that focus on improving the effectiveness and [00:06:38] results, the outcomes and impact created by your, by your team, your edge or list and your [00:06:45] whole organization in a way that is impactful to the business. Ideally in a quantifiable way, [00:06:53] try to find, to understand what is the constraint? Where would an investment move the needle for [00:07:00] things that the business cares about? This is where things like evidence-based management [00:07:06] can come in handful or the work on outcome mapping or impact mapping for whatever use. [00:07:11] We have a lot of tools that help us connect to value. Let's do that for our work as well. [00:07:16] Let's not focus on agile as a checklist. Let's focus on agility is a way to drive outcome in you. [00:07:24] It might be frightening. It is a frightening time for Agilis. But you, despite what you think [00:07:34] you might hear, one thing you should consider asking your team, your stakeholders, your leadership [00:07:40] is the question that is used in Netflix, the keeper question. How hard would you fight to keep me? [00:07:47] The answer in the conversation might be tough to hear and maybe you should start with asking [00:07:51] it yourself in front of the mirror. But it will provide the transparency and need to [00:07:57] inspect and adopt your focus. Are you a keeper? What should you do in order to become a keeper? [00:08:06] If you're in a big organization with the formal or informal agile role community of practice, [00:08:12] I recommend you make this a topic you work on together. How do you become [00:08:17] a keeper role in the organization? What are the shifts? What are some things [00:08:23] you just stop doing in order to become keepers? The optimistic in me hopes that as a community, [00:08:32] we will use whatever is going on right now as a wake-up call. That will positively impact what [00:08:38] we focus on and the value we bring to organizations. So that we focus less on training, certification, [00:08:47] the vanity of agile, whether that's story points, burn down charts, talk a lot about it. [00:08:56] You know my perspective there. But instead that we will start to focus on outcomes, [00:09:01] start to focus on how do we find the right mix of enablement, support, leadership. [00:09:12] Essentially what we're talking about here is the sort of leadership we want to see in an organization [00:09:17] driving a Julie. My opinion is it's pretty clear and I've seen that in organizations that I work. [00:09:27] We will see fewer people in agile roles. I think if you look at the team level or even group level [00:09:37] roles, we will see we will see instead of people in these roles, we will see these as accountability [00:09:45] that the leaders, existing leaders of this group, stick on. Whether it's team leaders, program [00:09:53] managers, development managers, VPs, those people will start to take on more and more of the [00:10:01] strong mastery, agile coaching, accountability, and will provide leadership to the organization. [00:10:08] And this would be complemented by organizational level, strong mastery, coaching, agility capabilities. [00:10:19] The larger the organization, the more it makes sense for it to have an internal consultancy, [00:10:26] shared service in agility or for information, it's hard, you want to call it that. I think [00:10:34] that's what I've been seeing in more and more organizations and that's where I've [00:10:39] banked the future of their agility, accountability is going. You've been listening to the scaling with [00:10:46] agility podcast, I'm a valier. ## Source boundary These are the published show notes from the podcast feed. They are a starting point for discussion, not a verbatim record of the conversation. The transcript is machine-generated and may contain errors or unlabeled speakers. Check the audio before quoting anyone.