Three Forms of Leadership Authority in David's Tales

Authority, Leadership
and Power
Scrum Masters’ Tales
Ilan Kirschenbaum
Agile coach and co-founder @ practical-agile
twitter: @kirschi_
email: ilan@practical-agile.com
blog: http://fostnope.com
Company site: www.practical-agile.com

Friday, December 28, 12

David and
Goliath
Extraordinary form of
leadership
With what kind of
authority?

Osmar Schindler (1869-1927): David und Goliath, 1888
Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliath


King David &
Bathsheba
Disputed form of leadership
with unquestionable
authority

Bathsheba in her bath- Pablo Veronese
Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathsheba


David and
Saul
Emerging leadership
overthrowing authority

Julius Kronberg David och Saul
Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul


Three powerful forms of leadership

Three distinctively different types of
authority

Three styles, one person in different
roles


Who is Ilan?
•S/W Engineer
•20 years in s/w (developer,
architect, product manager and
other roles)
•Father
•Agile coach
•Blogger
•Co-Founder at “Practical-Agile”
•Co-Organizer of “Agile
Practitioners IL” group


In Search of the
Perfect Scrum Master


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbSpAsJSZPc


Authority

Influence

Power Leadership


Authority


Authority

Authority from above

Authority from within

Authority from below


Authority from above

David, in David and Bathsheba

Permission given by legal right or by
an organization or manager

This is what we usually mean when we
say Authority


Authority from within

David, in David and Goliath

The inner conviction to be able to
perform a task


Authority from below

David, in David and Saul

The permission given by subordinates
and peers


Power


Power: The observation and
manipulation of task, time, space &
resources to influence others for action


Power, Authority & Language

You must ... How about ...

You failed to do We made a
your task mistake

I decided to ... We need to decide


Leadership


Leadership

The ability to combine authority and
power suitable for the situation in
order to influence a group of people


The Scrum Team


Dave Loper
The Team Sam Moss

Where does the Scrum Master go?

Kew Aye

Dotty Net


The Team Sam Moss


Kew Aye Dotty Net Dave Loper


The Team
Sam Moss



The Scrum Master operates in the
boundary between

what’s in the team

what’s outside the team


The scrum master protects the
boundaries:

Task

Time

Space

Resources


The scrum master protects the
boundaries:

Task - backlog, DOD, priorities, ...

Time - ceremonies, sprint, ...

Space - ceremonies, team room, ...

Resources - members, systems, ...


The Scrum Master protects the team

From the world outside

From itself

This, with respect to task, time, space,
and resources


Leadership Within
Boundaries


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Miwb92eZaJg


The boundaries are a range, not a thin
line

Start from a familiar “ordered” system

Evolve to the complexity model


Tuckman’s model of
team development
Performing

Forming

ing
rm
St

No
or
m
in
g


Tuckman’s model of
team development
Performing
Maintain the
complex system
Forming Observe

ing
emerging
Educate on boundaries
Scrum while rm
Make sense of
respecting
St

No
boundaries with
existing process
or

emerging
m

norms
in
g


Leadership through Authority and Power
Within

Within

Within
Above

Above

Above
Power

Power

Power
Below

Below

Below
Authority Authority Authority

Performing
Maintain the
complex system
Forming Observe

ing
emerging
boundaries
Educate and rm
use existing Make sense of
St

No
process boundaries with
or

emerging
m

norms
in
g


Dave Loper is an experienced Java developer.
Since starting Scrum he feels he is working
too hard; the other team members are not up
to scratch; there are too many meetings

Kew Aye is a tester in the same team. Since
starting Scrum she feels she lost the big
picture; she is way too busy towards end of
sprint; her opinion is not heard

What should Sam Moss, the SM, do?


The Scrum Team,
Continued


The Team
Where does the Product Owner go?
Sam Moss


Pete Owen


The Product Owner also operates in the
boundary between

what’s in the team

what’s outside the team


The Product Owner defines the boundaries
of the task

What do to (user stories)

When to do it (priorities)

How to validate it (Acceptance Criteria,
DoD)

How to react to changes (Grooming)


The Scrum Master and Product Owner
mutually work on

What to do

How to do it

Reacting to emerging changes on
task, time, space & resources

Who does what


A good Product Owner

exercises mostly Authority From
Within - through unique knowledge

Within

Above

Power
Below
Builds authority from below
Authority

exercises power by making tough
decisions on scope (task)


Pete Owen is a veteran Product Manager.
Since moving to Scrum he is
overburdened with team meetings, and
has little time to do his ‘real’ work.

Sam Moss, the Scrum Master, asked
Pete to meet daily 5 minutes before the
Daily Stand-up to focus on the #1
priority for the day.


Dilemmas of Becoming
a Scrum Team


The Team
Where does the Team Leader go?
Sam Moss

Terry Lopez

Pete Owen


The Team
Where does the Team Leader go?
Sam Moss


Pete Owen

Terry Lopez


The Team
Now there are two teams
Sam Moss


Pete Owen

Terry Lopez


Two’s company, Three’s a crowd

The team beyond the development team
needs to manage its own boundaries

Build mechanism to influence task,
time, space and resources


This management team deals with:

Task: Coding standards; Vacations;
Upper management requirements

Time: Its own regular and irregular
meetings

Space: Sitting arrangements (PO, SM,
TL); Meeting place

Resources: Dev team; systems; ...


Example for possible mechanisms

(PO, SM, TL) retrospect regularly

(PO, SM, TL) meet daily, just before/
after the dev-team standup

Phase out the TL role

Reshuffle the teams


Managing boundaries (and not people)
requires a different type of leadership


This kind of leadership assumes

Develop authority from within

Encourage authority from below

Dampen authority from above

Observe sources of power, and adjust
to this framework


It’s like moving to a new country, where
you don’t know the language and
culture.

Known assumptions may appear
inadequate


http://www.ted.com/talks/
derek_sivers_weird_or_just_different.html


Good Scrum Masters

Lead the team to become self
managed, accountable and
productive.

Inspire the Scrum team to live by the
Agile values and principles, and the
Scrum framework.

Servant, will do whatever is needed to


Q&A


Thank you


References:
Authority, power and leadership. Anton Obholzer, The Unconscious At Work, Routledge 1994, ISBN
0-415-10206
The organization of work. Vega Zagier Roberts, The Unconscious At Work, Routledge 1994, ISBN
0-415-10206
http://www.ofek-groups.org/index.php? ‫הרהורים בנושא גבולות - תיאוריה ויישומה, תיאוריה ויישומה. גבי בונויט‬
option=com_content&task=view&id=41&Itemid=65
The Official SCRUM Rulebook, Ken Schwaber & Jeff Sutherland http://www.scrum.org/Scrum-
Guides
Bruce Tuckman, Tuckman’s stages of group development http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Tuckman's_stages_of_group_development
Videos:
Reebok Terry Tate Commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbSpAsJSZPc
Dave Snowden, How to organise a children’s party http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Miwb92eZaJg
Derek Sivers, weird or just different, http://www.ted.com/talks/
derek_sivers_weird_or_just_different.html
Images:
Osmar Schindler (1869-1927): David und Goliath, 1888, Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Goliath
Bathsheba in her bath- Pablo Veronese, Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathsheba
Julius Kronberg David och Saul, Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul


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