Professional Scrum Master I (PSM I)People & TeamsMedium
During a Sprint Retrospective, the Scrum Team identifies a recurring pattern of conflict arising from misunderstandings about who is responsible for specific technical tasks within the Increment. This often leads to duplicated effort or tasks being left incomplete. What is the MOST effective way for the Scrum Master to help the Developers address this issue?
- ACoach individual Developers on improving their communication skills to prevent misunderstandings.
- BRecommend implementing a more detailed task tracking system with explicit assignment fields for every sub-task.
- CFacilitate a session where the Developers jointly create and agree upon a clear 'Working Agreement' document that outlines task ownership and collaboration norms.
- DSuggest that the Product Owner assign specific technical tasks to individual Developers to clarify responsibilities.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. Facilitate a session where the Developers jointly create and agree upon a clear 'Working Agreement' document that outlines task ownership and collaboration norms.
A Working Agreement (or Team Agreement) created and owned by the Developers themselves is a powerful tool for establishing clear expectations, collaboration norms, and responsibility for tasks within a self-managing team, directly addressing the conflict source.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. While communication skills are important, this doesn't address the systemic issue of unclear responsibilities and lack of agreed-upon norms.
- B. A more detailed tracking system might help, but it doesn't solve the underlying problem of the team not having a shared understanding and agreement on responsibilities.
- D. Assigning tasks by the Product Owner undermines Developer self-management and cross-functionality.
Working Agreements
Working Agreements are a set of explicit guidelines that a Scrum Team creates and agrees upon to define how they will work together, communicate, and resolve conflicts.
- Owned and created by the Scrum Team.
- Covers collaboration, communication, and decision-making.
- Helps foster self-management and reduce internal conflict.
Memory trick: Agreements are the Key, for Team Harmony to be.