A good Scrum Master or Agile Coach is like a good home cook.
The ability to open one’s fridge, see many items that are not edible on their own or in their current state, and then create a delicious and nutritious meal is a wonderous thing. This morning, I made myself French toast for breakfast. I used stale bread, overripe fruit, and a handful of ingredients from my pantry. I didn’t look up a recipe or prepare for it beforehand by getting exactly what I needed. I keep a few long-life items in stock and then bring them together in different ways to fill in the gaps that my fresh food leaves.
The same ability can be seen in the best facilitators. Someone who can be asked to design and facilitate a meeting with little to no notice is an incredible (and unfortunately rare) sight. The best facilitators know a selection of techniques intimately and can combine them in many different ways to deliver what their team or client needs. In the old normal, I would expect these to be the same people who always carried a selection of Post-it notes and Sharpies in their bags. Retromat is a fantastic tool for designing sprint retrospectives, but the ability to design one on paper without looking up details shows a genuine depth of knowledge.
Once a facilitator has the knowledge and experience to create a meeting in such a manner, they can also change the meeting design during the meeting as they notice the participants ebbing and flowing through their plan. Kim Morgan from Barefoot Coaching would call this ‘dancing in the moment.’
While making my breakfast, I realised the only soft dairy I had was some cream cheese. I added some sugar to it, and although not exactly what I wanted, it was much better than not having it. When a facilitator changes the next activity because the team has uncovered something unexpected, it may not be perfect. Still, it’s better than sticking with a plan that doesn’t enable them to explore this new information. Watching the people you support move in a direction different from the one you planned requires a level of awareness that comes from trying and reflecting upon the outcomes.
When we talk about reflective practices in the agile space, we’re often talking about groups of people, be it teams, departments, or the whole organisation. As the Scrum Master is usually the person facilitating the sprint retrospective and the Agile Coach facilitating retrospectives for the wider organisation, neither role is typically involved in the group reflections. At what point do coaches get to inspect and adapt their ways of working? Unless you are fortunate enough to have an excellent community of practice as a coach, you’re unlikely to have anyone to support you through your own adaptation. So, if you recognise this scenario, here’s an approach you can take for self-reflection after you’ve facilitated a meeting.
What I Did
· What approaches did I use? What alternatives might I have tried?
· In what ways did I practice the model, value, or principle I intended to?
· Who led the conversations, me or the team?
What I thought
· At what point(s) did my mind wonder? Where did it go? What triggered it?
· When did I feel most engaged in the facilitation?
· What was my level of presence during the facilitation?
How I Felt
· What emotions did I experience? Were any of them for the team?
· How did I feel about myself during the facilitation?
· How did my emotions affect my focus?
My Mindset
· What might have made this facilitation more successful?
· What values and principles were not fully honoured?
· Which conversations engaged my attention the most?
My Relationship with the Team
· What dynamics did I encounter in my relationship with the team?
· What level of responsibility did I feel to deliver results for the team?
· What input did I receive from the team regarding my facilitation?