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> Try finding good managers. Is that necessary? I know 'Agile' isn't cool anymore, but at the heart of the Agile Manifesto is a suggestion that every contribut

> Try finding good managers. Is that necessary? I know 'Agile' isn't cool anymore, but at the heart of the Agile Manifesto is a suggestion that every contributor on the team should share in the management role rather than having a dedicated manager. Granted, it also suggests you need motivated people.

ryanklee 3y ago
The amount and kind of work that managers do cannot be distributed across a scrum team. It's literally impossible and attempts to do so would be abusive and would tank productivity.
timmg 3y ago
> Is that necessary? Yes, it is. First, you can't expect everyone on the team to have all context on everything. That would be an incredible waste of everyone's time. Second, even if everyone did, in most cases the individuals would disagree on priority -- someone needs to be the final arbiter. In practice, few people will make the "best decisions". They will often rationalize what they want. A leader needs to be there to "check" those decisions.
ljm 3y ago
Every contributor can share the product or delivery management role, sure, but it doesn't really follow that 1:1s, career discussions and compensation reviews are also handled by the team, and those are important functions served by a manager.
- randomdata 3y ago
  Career and compensation discussions would be had with what the 12 Principles refers to as the "business people". In a traditional organization structure the manager would act as a liaison between the business people and the development team, but it is suggested that the developers should talk to the business people directly (and daily!).
  - ljm 3y ago
    Which is ideal, but the manager or someone in an equivalent position is required to shield the team from undue interference. Empower the team to reach out for answers but make sure that doesn't create backchannels that can derail the project.
    - randomdata 3y ago
      It is the ideal of Agile. That doesn't mean Agile is (always) ideal.

ryanklee 3y ago

The amount and kind of work that managers do cannot be distributed across a scrum team. It's literally impossible and attempts to do so would be abusive and would tank productivity.

timmg 3y ago

> Is that necessary? Yes, it is. First, you can't expect everyone on the team to have all context on everything. That would be an incredible waste of everyone's time. Second, even if everyone did, in most cases the individuals would disagree on priority -- someone needs to be the final arbiter. In practice, few people will make the "best decisions". They will often rationalize what they want. A leader needs to be there to "check" those decisions.

ljm 3y ago

Every contributor can share the product or delivery management role, sure, but it doesn't really follow that 1:1s, career discussions and compensation reviews are also handled by the team, and those are important functions served by a manager.

randomdata 3y ago
Career and compensation discussions would be had with what the 12 Principles refers to as the "business people". In a traditional organization structure the manager would act as a liaison between the business people and the development team, but it is suggested that the developers should talk to the business people directly (and daily!).
- ljm 3y ago
  Which is ideal, but the manager or someone in an equivalent position is required to shield the team from undue interference. Empower the team to reach out for answers but make sure that doesn't create backchannels that can derail the project.
  - randomdata 3y ago
    It is the ideal of Agile. That doesn't mean Agile is (always) ideal.