Disappearing project managers in agile mode

In the traditional project management mode, the project manager, as the core of the research and development team, is responsible for the quality, safety, progress and cost of the research and development project. At the same time, as the leader of the project team, the project manager should do a good job in the project planning, organization and control activities, which can be said to be the soul of the project team.

When project managers “encounter” Agile, however, it’s a different story. In the “agile” world, project managers seem to disappear into thin air. In the Scrum framework, only three roles are described: the ScrumMaster, the Product Owner, and the Development Team. The traditional project management responsibilities are divided among the Product Owner, the ScrumMaster, the Development Team, and other managers. The project manager has to face the problem of transformation.

Second, the transformation direction of the project manager under the agile model

The key roles in Agile also provide the possibility for project managers to develop. Here are three roles transformation suggestions for reference.

2.1 Convert to ScrumMaster

Many project managers can be good ScrumMasters if they can change from traditional command-and-control management.

2.2 Transition to product owner

Project managers can become product owners if they have solid business domain knowledge and the necessary management skills and are qualified to perform the duties of product owners.

2.3 Transformation to “Agile Functional Manager”

In a complex project management environment, consider acting as an Agile functional manager, taking a systematic view and assuming functional management responsibilities outside of the Agile team.

III. The path of project manager transformation — Scrum Master

A good leader must first be a good servant.

“– Robert K. Greenleaf

For Agile teams, the Scrum Master is a service-oriented, servant leader, and also serves as the team’s Agile coach, responsible for promoting and supporting Scrum, helping everyone understand the values, principles and methods of Scrum, Extreme Programming XP, Kanban and Safe, and guiding the team in their implementation. Agile processes that ensure team members follow the consensus of the team and are responsible for protecting the team from external interference, leading when individual team members are unable to effectively address barriers, removing barriers to team productivity, fostering high performance teams and driving continuous improvement.

The Scrum Master is the leader, implying the Scrum Master’s authority within the team, but the Scrum Master is not the manager, is not given any administrative authority, and is not in principle responsible for the success of the project. In Scrum, what services does the Scrum Master provide?

The Scrum Master serves the development team

  • Guide the team to understand the values and principles of Scrum and guide the team to adopt Scrum;
  • Coaches the team to practice Scrum through questions, conversations, reviews, feedback, etc.
  • Support agile teams to develop and follow team rules;
  • Lead the team to establish a consistent goal;
  • Assist development team to create high value products;
  • Lead the team for continuous improvement, assist team members to become outstanding problem solvers, help to drive productivity changes in the Scrum team, and build high performance teams;
  • As an agile team representative, communicate with management and other teams to protect the team from external factors.

The Scrum Master serves the Product Owner

  • Guide Product Owners to understand and practice Scrum;
  • Ensure that everyone on the team understands the Product Owner’s vision of the goals;
  • Bridging the gap between the development team and the Product Owner, guiding the Product Owner to drive product development directly, while promoting healthy team dynamics in terms of priority and scope;
  • Work actively with Product Owner to answer the questions raised by the development team in a timely manner to ensure that the team members have a consistent understanding of the items in the product backlog list;
  • Assist Product Owner to optimize product backlog and maximize product value through Scrum development experience;
  • Assist the Product Owner to make the best decision for the team and the product as a whole when significant issues occur that impede delivery.

Scrum Master on the road to transformation and cultivation

There are many advantages to a project manager transitioning to a Scrum Master. They generally have strong communication and coordination skills, strong risk identification skills, and a holistic view. Therefore, many project managers choose to make the transition to a Scrum Master.

At least four breakthroughs are needed in the process of transformation.

  • Number one: change from command-and-control thinking to trusting and letting go

Changing the traditional control mindset is one of the biggest challenges for the project manager as a Scrum Master. Agile principles and methods emphasize the self-organization and self-management of the team, emphasizing the equal relationship of the Scrum team, there is no division of management, team members trust each other, and all members are jointly responsible for the success or failure of the project.

Agile teams are not only able to accomplish iterative development tasks, they are also able to adapt, respond to change and grow. This requires our project manager to change the traditional way of management, to have an open mind, with excellent delegation ability, must give the team enough space of their own, to learn to “trust and let go”, to change to guide, support and service oriented agile thinking. Instead of telling team members how to do things more conveniently, accurately and efficiently, as in the past, we should arouse the desire and motivation of the team to change, and make the team realize “Why do we need to change? How?” , guide the team through their own growth, continuous accumulation of experience, continue to do things right.

The project manager is the servant of the team, removing obstacles, reinforcing the project vision through words and actions, and doing everything possible to ensure the success of the team.

Embracing the change in thinking is a critical step in the success of the project manager’s transition to Scrum Master.

  • Second: master the coaching skills, improve the ability of guidance

One of the key responsibilities of a Scrum Master is to act as an Agile Coach — both the development team and the product owner. Similar to a sports coach, the Scrum Master needs to observe the team’s implementation process of Scrum, stimulate the potential of each team member through coaching methods such as questions, conversations, reviews, feedback, etc., guide the team to solve the problems they encounter effectively, and make every effort to help the team to achieve a higher level of performance.

For problems that are within the team’s ability to solve, the Scrum Master delegates responsibility to the team members to solve them. For problems that the team cannot solve, the Scrum Master is responsible for solving them.

Scrum masters is to guide the product owner to understand and to perform the duties of the agile mode, and assist him/her in agile activity, to help the product owner management products expected, listen to and coordinate the product owner complains with change requests, and guide the team to carry out the improvement measures, to assist in the product owner to maximize business achievements of targets.

Therefore, the ScrumMaster must master the coaching and guiding techniques, and on the basis of communication with the team, inspire and guide the agile team to shift from project management to team success.

  • Third: strengthen the agile knowledge reserve, become the process authority

The Scrum Master is the Scrum Team Authority, fulfilling the responsibility of the process leader to help the Scrum team operate efficiently in a Scrum manner. Note, however, that the Scrum Master is the authority on the team, but only in terms of the process, or process. Unlike the project manager, the Scrum Master does not dictate to the team what to do or how to do it, nor is he responsible for ensuring that the work is done. Instead, he helps the team define and follow team work protocols and processes to ensure that the work is done. For example, the Scrum Master can remind the team that “the station meeting is not on time”, “the delivery is not on sprint schedule”, but it cannot tell the team to “pair code”, because that is the team’s right.

  • Fourth: integrate into the team, protect the team

The essence of agile is human interaction. As a member of an agile team, a Scrum Master should integrate into the team and avoid the status of being above others. Scrum Master should “unite” with team members and participate in Scrum. Find ways to help Scrum members collaborate highly with each other.

The Scrum Master is a transparent form of communication, working with team members without secret agendas and with open and transparent information that enables the team to review and adjust expectations and goals.

The Scrum Master is supposed to protect the team, just as a sheepdog protects the sheep from wolves. In order for the team to grow and operate efficiently, there are many times when the Scrum Master needs to help the team resist pressure from the business level, or improper intervention. For example, if the Product Owner wants to add a new requirement in an ongoing Sprint, and the new requirement will affect the delivery of the team Sprint, the Scrum Master will need to negotiate with the Product Owner to avoid changing the requirement during the Sprint, if it is really a very high priority requirement. Consider replacing low-priority requirements. The Scrum Master helps the Scrum team achieve a healthy balance between team protection and business needs.

IV. Transformation of Project Manager — Product Owner (PO)

Business people and developers must work together, every day on a project.

— The Agile Manifesto

For Agile teams, the Product Owner (PO) is a member of the Agile team and is the core of authorized product leadership, responsible for maximizing the value of the product developed by the development team. The Product Owner (PO) is responsible for deciding what products to develop and in what order, so on the one hand, the Product Owner (PO) must have a good understanding of the needs and priorities of stakeholders, customers, and users in the organization to ensure that the right solution is developed; On the other hand, you must collaborate and communicate with the development team and the Scrum Master to ensure that the features are completed.

4.1 Main responsibilities of the Product Owner

4.2 The transformation and cultivation of the product owner

Product Owner is a new and very important role for an enterprise or team in transition to Agile. As the core of product leadership, decision makers of agile teams have higher requirements on the ability of people who play the role of product owner. They not only need to have solid domain knowledge, but also need to have strong interpersonal skills, decision-making ability and sense of responsibility. These requirements also have many convergences with the requirements of traditional project managers. Therefore, it is also a good choice for project manager to transform into product leader. Of course, whether the project manager can assume the role of product owner also depends on the product type of development work, such as component development type, business development type product.

So what are the key elements of this transformation?

  • First: define the role and fulfill the responsibilities of PO

The first step is to recognize and define your responsibilities as a product owner and fulfill them. Internally responsible for defining user stories and prioritizing team backlogs, and maintaining the conceptual and technical integrity of the features and components for which the team is responsible. In particular, perform a high level of participation in team to-do list management and team presentations and retrospectives. External communication as an important interface between the development team and external communication.

  • Second: keep learning, consolidate domain knowledge

A product owner is the person who owns the product. He or she is responsible for the product, not just the features, features, or documentation. He or she is related to the entire product. Therefore, the product owner must have appropriate business domain knowledge, understand the market, have product foresight, and be able to conceive the vision of the product and lead the team to achieve the vision.

  • Third: Efficient communication, team integration, and high value product delivery

As the key person between the stakeholders and the rest of the Scrum team, the Product Owner needs to have good communication skills and be able to communicate and motivate the team to implement in a straightforward, easy-to-understand manner. While the product owner does not need to drive the technical decisions, he/she needs to understand the scope of the follow-up and work with the development team to help make the decisions. At the same time, as a member of the Scrum team, it is important to have a sense of holism, to engage with the team as much as possible, and to work towards the common goal of high value delivery.

Of course, in addition to the competence characteristics of the project manager, in order to truly play the function of the product owner, the project manager also needs to be given the qualification of the product owner and be responsible for the direction of the product. It is best if the management can assign a product owner, but if not, it must delegate responsibility to someone (in this case, a project manager in transition) with authority and direct responsibility for the success or failure of the product.

V. The road of project manager transformation — agile functional manager

The traditional project manager has enormous responsibilities, such as project scope, task, budget, quality, risk, procurement, etc. Scrum recognizes the complexity of project management and divides the traditional project manager responsibilities between the Scrum Master, the Product Owner, and the development team. Where work assignments and daily project decisions revert to the team, project scope and responsibility to the Product Owner, and quality management is shared between the team members, the Product Owner, and the Scrum Master.

But we need to know, in addition to product research and development related to the transaction, there is more to the top, derived from the Scrum team outside of work needs to manage, such as external trade exchanges, management reporting, project business purchasing and supplier management, and from the political, operational, security, financial, legal and strategic risk management, etc., Organizations still need project managers who work with agile teams, let’s call them “agile functional managers,” but who are not responsible for product development management, but more in the direction of agile project functional management.

The setting of this role, of course, is not a requirement specified in Scrum, but depends on the enterprise itself. And each agile functional manager can support several agile teams depending on the enterprise.

Six, the summary

The transition directions of project managers under the agile model discussed above only provide some possible suggestions. Of course, in addition to the three transition directions given above, project managers with technical background can also choose to become a member of the development team, or even develop into technical experts at the organizational level. All roads lead to Rome. Traditional project managers, combined with their own will, will certainly find their own development direction under the agile model. The above are some thoughts in the implementation of agile, to the confused PM, if there is any improper, please give me advice!

Author: IDCF community FDCC certification student Jia Yancui

Follow the public account and reply to “FDCC” to understand and participate in the certification