I have recently read a
book my brother-in-law let me borrow titled First,
break all the rules *1.
It is written based
on results of a survey by Gallup of over 60,000 managers at 400
Corporations. The book is based on written
and actual in-person interviews. It has an
interesting concept regarding the difference
between Great leaders and Great managers.
In short, the definitions
are as as follows;
-Great Leaders focus OUTWARD. This includes
thinking about how the group, business unit, section, division, corporation,
community will interface, operate and thrive in relation to the external world as his/her group moves into the
future. The leader looks for upcoming obstacles, competition, market trends, and opportunities for growth within their realm. That realm could be at any level down to the smallest business unit or small group of people.
Great Managers focus INWARD. This includes thinking about the personal interaction
between the people and businesses in their care. This might include providing feedback on ways
to improve, recommendations for training, guiding career futures, and helping their
unit work efficiently as a group. In
some cases, managers will have direct impact on what and how the employees
under their care will grow and learn.
I spent some time
trying to figure out how to map these ideas to the Scrum Master, Coaching roles
and to the Growth Facilitator and Process Facilitator capacities of Open Agile and
had some trouble with the mapping.
This got me thinking.
This MAY be the reason
why corporations have such a hard time defining the roles and fitting them into
their structure.
Where does the OpenAgile Process
Facilitator fit? A Process Facilitator
is neither. Well, maybe more of a
manager?
What about the OpenAgile Growth Facilitator? Is that capacity more of a "leader"... Hmmm... doesn't quite fit.
What about the OpenAgile Growth Facilitator? Is that capacity more of a "leader"... Hmmm... doesn't quite fit.
The Scrum Master role is
even more obscure in this comparison.
The Scrum Master is not
managing anyone, yet still enforcing the rules of Scrum, encourages the
improvement of skills and agile techniques and assists to protect the team
members from outside interference. These
clearly appear at first glance to be Manager attributes. However, the Scrum Master is not a manager.
The Scrum Master is looking
outward for potential obstacles, working to try and grow Agile in the
organization and working hard to try and teach others as to its’ goals and
purpose. These appear at first glance to
be the role of a leader. However, the
Scrum Master is not a leader.
I now can see why
Corporations have such a hard time identifying the Scrum Master in their
organizations. Scrum Masters basically
don’t fit either category, yet most corporate hiring is done based on hiring of
“leaders” and “managers”.
Interesting (to me at
least) :->
Mike Caspar
References:
Open
Agile http://www.openagile.com
