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Active, Intelligent Management

Scrum Requires Active, Intelligent Management

Management is actively involved with Scrum on a daily basis. At the daily Scrum status meeting, management listens closely to what each team member reports as being worked on. This is compared to what management expects should be happening. For example, if someone has been working on a trivial task for three days, it is likely that that team member needs help. Management also listens for the velocity of the team : are they stuck, are they floundering, are they making progress? Management can step in and problem-solve if help is needed.


Management is also responsible for keeping the team working at the highest possible level of productivity. When decisions are needed in the daily Scrum, make them then even if you have incomplete information. It's usually better to proceed with partial information. If enough information isn't available, create a backlog item to make the decision.

When impediments are reported during the daily Scrum - and the team cannot resolve the impediment themselves - the Scrum Master is responsible for either solving it himself or causing it to be solved as soon as possible by personally escalating it to executive management of the organization. When the Scrum Master escalates an impediment, he makes visible to the organization a policy, procedure, structure, facility, etc. that is hurting rather than helping the organization perform its primary goal - to produce product.

Management is often surprised at some of the impediments. They were unaware that seemingly well-thought through initiatives, standards, structures, policies, etc. are getting in the way. The political turmoil that escalating impediments can cause shouldn't be underestimated. However, this lets the organization make the choice of what is the most important thing for them to do.