1. Introduction Susan is an experienced Project Manager, certified with IPMA Level B. Unfortunately her colleague Sven left the company and Susan’s boss decided that she should take over his project. To handle the risk around uncertain requirements the company decided to manage the project according to Scrum. Motivated and full of energy Susan started to plan the project and initiated her first Scrum meeting. She prepared the project plans, informed herself about the status, took a look at the documents and spoke with the relevant stakeholders. After the meeting she told me what happened: “I started the meeting with a clear agenda, collected the status and asked about current open issues. Then I told the participants that I now have a clear overview about the project and that I will come back with a structured plan and a defined delegation of the open tasks. After the meeting Gaby, a team member, came to me and told me that the project will definitely fail if I continue in this way. - What is the problem? ” Susan is acting like an experienced Project Manager. She has a concrete vision and can bring it to life by taking over the responsibility, planning the implementation in a structured way and delegating tasks very clearly. She is definitely showing leadership, a particular type that fits less easily into an agile framework. Leadership is a worthwhile competency a Project Manager should have. In the ICB 3.0 [1] it is the first competency described among the behavioural ones. Although there are many articles and blog-posts on the work of Project Managers and ScrumMasters, e. g. Loeser [2], Strickler [3], Aguanno [4], Grant [5] and Deemer [6], we found no comparison of the behavioural competences of a ScrumMaster and Project Manager. Most articles focus only on the differences in tasks. Deemer [6], for example, provides a guideline on redefining the role of a Project Manager and converting it to the role of a ScrumMaster for a team by listing all the 22 l projekt MA N A G E M E N T aktuell 2/ 2011 38 KARRIERE Karin Kroneder, Ralph Miarka Is There Hope for a Certified Project Manager in an Agile World? Inspecting Behavioural Competences of Project Managers and ScrumMasters 1 At Siemens Austria we are determined to improve our project management across all business units. As part of this initiative we train and certify our key Project Managers according to the IPMA Standard. However, the increased rate of change in our markets - and the resulting fast-changing requirements - demand that we look also to agile principles and values for faster delivery of valuable products. We see that some line-managers appoint trained Project Managers to the new role called „ScrumMaster“. In this paper we investigate whether this instinctive procedure can be backed up by the qualification of the Project Manager. The objective of this paper is to provide you with a stone in the bridge that connects the “classical” project management and agile worlds by discussing some aspects of the compatibility of IPMA and agile values, exemplified by Scrum as the dominant agile framework at the moment. Based on the ICB 3.0, we will select some core behavioural competences of Project Managers and inspect how they relate to those needed by a ScrumMaster. We find that many behavioural competences support the proposed skill-set of a Scrum- Master, e. g. ”Engagement & Motivation” as well as “Values appreciation”. Others, like “Leadership” and “Efficiency”, need to be scrutinized by the Project Manager turned Scrum- Master, up to the point of apparently going against some of the behavioural patterns as described in the ICB 3.0. A Project Manager that turns ScrumMaster without adapting the skill-set would potentially fail in an agile environment. 1 Der Vortrag wurde auf dem 24. Weltkongress der IPMA im Jahre 2010 in Istanbul gehalten. Wir halten ihn für so interessant, dass wir um die Erlaubnis gebeten haben, ihn unseren Lesern zugänglich machen zu dürfen. Sowohl die Autoren als auch die IPMA haben unserer Bitte entsprochen. Dafür herzlichen Dank. Die Autoren schlagen eine Brücke zwischen dem klassischen Projektmanagement und der agilen Welt - speziell Scrum. Sie stellen die Frage, inwieweit die Verhaltenskompetenzelemente der ICB 3.0 auch für einen ScrumMaster gelten. Ihr Ergebnis in Kürze: Trotz einiger Unterschiede - etwa bei den Elementen „Führung“ und „Durchsetzungsvermögen“ - befähigen die meisten Verhaltenskompetenzen einen guten Projektmanager auch ein tüchtiger Scrum- Master zu werden. +++ Für eilige Leser +++ Für eilige Leser +++ Für eilige Leser +++ PM_2-2011_1-56: Inhalt 30.03.2011 9: 02 Uhr Seite 38 tasks of a Project Manager and identifying the ones in conflict with Scrum. Thus, we will address the similarities and differences of behavioural competences in the roles of an IPMA Project Manager and a ScrumMaster. 2. Behavioural competences of a Project Manager Several literature on project management, like Barry [7] and Sommer [8] are referring to top skills for Project Managers. They identify that areas like communication, team building, problem solving are key success factors, even more than the “technical” ones. This has also been addressed by the IPMA [1]. The “Eye of competence” as described in the ICB 3.0 [1] covers those areas in 15 behavioural competences. The identification, definition and documented description of these competences are factors, which differentiate the ICB 3.0 from other project management standards. According to [9] the ICB 3.0 is, for instance, the only standard, which has a full mapping in all components of the element “Promote effective individual and team performance”. The 15 behavioural competences directly support performance of both, the Project Manager’s and the team’s performance. The relevance of those competences in everyday practice at Siemens Austria and the fact that they are part of the IPMA standard, was for instance an important influencing factor of the decision of implementing a combined certification together with the IPMA (Raschka [10]), where behavioural competences are a major part of the assessment. 3. The role of the ScrumMaster Scrum is a simple empirical framework to work on complex projects, where requirements, implementations and interactions emerge during the project. It is based on an iterative and incremental approach by demanding a potentially deliverable outcome within every constant time-box, which is called a sprint (Schwaber [11]). Basically, Scrum consists of three roles (ScrumMaster, Product Owner, and Scrum Team), three ceremonies (sprint planning, daily standup, and sprint review and retrospective) and three artefacts (product backlog, sprint backlog and burndown chart). It is particularly popular in the Information Technology industry. Scrum is based on self-organizing teams. The teams decide on the amount of work to commit for a sprint and the means of achieving the given commitment, including on how to distribute the work amongst each other. This gives the teams more responsibility and leads to increased focus, motivation and drive. The teams are composed of people such that all capabilities are present to turn the product requirements into a potentially deliverable increment. Additionally to the roles of Scrum Team and Product Owner, in Scrum there is the role of the ScrumMaster. The ScrumMaster is responsible to coach and empower the Scrum Team to focus on the product increment within the agreed framework. Schwaber and Sutherland [12] state that the ScrumMaster ❑ is responsible for ensuring that the Scrum Team adheres to Scrum values (commitment, focus, openness, respect, courage), practices, and rules. ❑ teaches the Scrum Team by coaching and by leading it to be more productive and produce higher quality products. ❑ helps the Scrum Team understand and use self-organization and cross-functionality. ❑ helps the Scrum Team do its best in an organizational environment. ❑ is a servant-leader for the Scrum Team. 4. Competences needed by a ScrumMaster Scrum relies on the competences of the Scrum Team to focus on regularly delivering valuable software increments. The ScrumMaster is there to empower the team to work in a self-organizing and responsible way to achieve the development goal. To fulfil this task according to the Scrum values, the following behaviours are advantageous: ■ the collaboration with the Scrum Team, the Product Owner and all other stakeholders. For example, the ScrumMaster spends a lot of time with the Product Owner helping to understand the real requirements, and helping to express those in a way that’s useful for planning; ■ the use of communication skills, including active listening, facilitation and presentation to manage the Scrum meetings, to address the Scrum values, practices and rules; projekt MA N A G E M E N T aktuell 2/ 2011 l 39 Anzeige PM_2-2011_1-56: Inhalt 30.03.2011 9: 02 Uhr Seite 39 ■ to apply coaching and empathy as the main means to support the Scrum Team. The ScrumMaster is aware of the personal and professional dynamics between the members of the team, and between the team and the organisation, and works to help the team maximize its effectiveness within these constraints; ■ to be supportive and helpful to the members of the Scrum Team as (s)he assumes that everyone tries their best “given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available and the situation at hand” [13]; ■ to support a learning culture and to see failure as learning opportunities and helps the team to design improvement experiments for each sprint; ■ the ability to reflect on own behaviour and help the team to reflect on theirs to encourage change. The metaphor of the ScrumMaster as a mirror of the team applies; ■ assertiveness and negotiations - w. r. t. to the Product Owner when (s)he demands more work than the team is capable of doing and w. r. t. the organization to remove impediments, however not w. r. t. the team. There the ScrumMaster should use coaching and teaching techniques to gather support from the team for changes; ■ to do not make decisions, instead guides the team, although identifies when decisions need to be made, if the team is avoiding commitment; ■ to be disciplined and goal oriented; ■ to address conflicts and to help the parties resolve conflicts. As ScrumMaster, Susan talks to the Product Owner to initiate the working relationship. Together they inspect the Product Backlog, consider the team’s velocity and identify - on the basis of estimations in which the whole team participates - what might be delivered at the release date. Then Susan would talk to the team to prepare for a retrospective. Facilitating the retrospective, Susan would learn very much about the interaction of the team and the current issues the team has and the next experiments to improve the current process framework. Then she would facilitate a planning session, where the team commits to a certain amount of the highest priority work for the next sprint. On a daily basis, Susan would help the team to fulfil their commitment by removing obstacles, encouraging communication and facilitating the relationship with the Product Owner. 5. Adapting competences rightfully At first sight all of the competences of the ICB 3.0 [1] could fit to ScrumMaster competences - and most of them obviously do. Going deeper in the definition and in daily practise we find some competences not needed or which need to be adapted on the way to Scrum. Here, we extract four behavioural competences and their definitions according to the ICB 3.0 [1] and explain the reason for not perfectly fitting to the Scrum approach. ■ 2.01 Leadership: According to the ICB 3.0 [1] “leadership involves providing direction and motivating others in their role or task to fulfil the project’s objectives”. Displaying leadership with the project team and other interested parties is seen as a vital competence for a Project Manager. This indicates a “person-centric” approach of managing a project and is shown in delegation of tasks, natural authority and performing reward and recognition. Deemer [6] refers to the Project Managers job responsibility of “Assign the work to team members” not needed in Scrum or even in conflict with Scrum. ■ 2.04 Assertiveness: According to the ICB 3.0 [1] “assertiveness is the ability to state your views persuasively and authoritatively …”. What has to be avoided in Scrum in combination with this competence is the approach of using this competence to strengthen the Project Managers own authority in the sense of being the one who makes all the decisions. On the other hand the concretion of assertiveness defined as “the Project Manager avoids being led or manipulated by others into taking or recommending decisions not in the interest of the project” [1] is also what Deemer [6] refers to be fine in Scrum as “Help remove blocks that the team is not able to resolve by themselves”. The personal interpretation and use of this competence in everyday life has a major impact on the fact if this competence supports or conflicts with Scrum. ■ 2.09 Efficiency: According to the ICB 3.0 [1] “efficiency is the ability to use time and resources costeffectively to produce the agreed deliverables and fulfil interested parties expectations”. Efficiency in the sense of “extent to which time is well used for the intended task” is definitely a needed competence for a ScrumMaster. But in the adequate behaviours defined in the ICB 3.0 [1] the Project Manager is responsible for managing the efficiency in the way that the tasks are planned, delegated, monitored and resource-optimized. The ScrumMaster is not responsible for planning the project and delegating the tasks. In Scrum organized projects the team is an integrative part of the planning and is self-optimizing using their own resources - it is not the Scrum- 22 l projekt MA N A G E M E N T aktuell 2/ 2011 40 KARRIERE Fig. 1: Supporting competences for ScrumMasters PM_2-2011_1-56: Inhalt 30.03.2011 9: 02 Uhr Seite 40 Master’s task to manage the team or to decide which work needs to be done [6]. ■ 2.13 Reliability: According to the ICB 3.0 [1] “reliability means delivering what you have said you will to the time and quality agreed within the project specification. ” Reliability is a key competence in project management covering responsibility and consistency. According to the adequate behaviours of this competence there is one important sentence, which indicates a difference to Scrum. According to the ICB 3.0 [1] the project manager “feels responsible for project success on behalf of all the interested parties.” This could be interpreted in the way “the Project Manager is the project ( → ICB)” vs. “the project team is the project ( → Scrum)”. The ICB often refers to the project team and the team is clearly a key party in the ICB approach - but more in the sense of “to be managed” than in the sense of “being self-organized”. Leadership (2.01) is the competence, which contradicts Scrum values the most. The competences 2.04, 2.09 and 2.13 are not per definition incompatible with Scrum but in combination and close connection to “Leadership” it is necessary to adapt them. Nevertheless, as stated by Aguanno [4] - “the PM role (when done properly) pretty much covers the job of a ScrumMaster”. The vast majority of the IPMA behavioural competences fairly support the Scrum idea. 6. Conclusions The 15 behavioural competences are an excellent and valuable basis for bridging IPMA and Scrum. The main difference between Project Managers and ScrumMasters projekt MA N A G E M E N T aktuell 2/ 2011 l 41 Fig. 2: Closeness of IPMA behavioural competences according to ICB 3.0 with respect to Scrum Anzeige PM_2-2011_1-56: Inhalt 30.03.2011 9: 02 Uhr Seite 41 seems to be in managing a process by one person versus managing a process in a team-centric way. Managing a project via a central-person approach needs competences like “leadership” and “assertiveness” in a much stronger sense than in a team-centric approach. Competences of the ICB 3.0 [1] that are forcing leadership and connected skills are therefore to be reflected upon and adapted before acting as a ScrumMaster. Values are key. Applying most of the behavioural competences of the ICB 3.0 [1] with Scrum values in mind and the awareness of subtle differences would enable a Project Manager to become a successful Scrum- Master. Additionally, the Product Owner also performs many tasks of a Project Manager. Thus the role of a Product Owner could also be a good fit for a Project Manager. In the ICB 3.0, the IPMA has shown that behavioural competences are as valuable as technical and contextual competences. The guideline that is provided for Project Managers is very valuable. During our research for this work, we have not found an equivalent for the Scrum roles. By investigating this topic further, the IPMA could further engage with the agile and Scrum community and offer complementary insights and practices. 7. Appendix A - relating leadership behavioural patterns The ICB 3.0 [1] contains for each competence also behavioural patterns for a Project Manager. Table 1 lists the recommended behavioural patterns for the competence 2.01 “Leadership” of a Project Manager and relates those to the required behaviour of a ScrumMaster. ■ References [1] IPMA: ICB - IPMA Compentence Baseline Version 3.0. International Project Management Association, 2006, www.ipma.ch [2] Loeser, Anne: Project Management and Scrum - A Side by Side Comparison, 2006, http: / / hosteddocs.ittoolbox.com/ AL12.06.06.pdf [3] Strickler, Jon: Project Manager to Scrum Master. April 17, 2008, http: / / agileelements.wordpress.com/ 2008/ 04/ 17/ project-manager-to-scrum-master/ [4] Aguanno, Kevin: Project Managers vs. Scrum Masters, Agile Project Management Matures. 2009, www.projecttimes.com/ agile/ project-managers-vs-scrummasters-agile-project-management-matures.html [5] Grant, Lisa A.: How Does a Scrum Master Compare to a Project Manager? PMI Community Post, March 26 th , 2010, www.pmi.org [6] Deemer, Pete: Manager 2.0: The Role of the Manager in Scrum. InfoQ, July 23 rd , 2010, www.infoq.com/ articles/ scrum-management-deemer [7] Barry, Timothy: Top 10 Qualities of a Project Manager. 2009, www.projectsmart.co.uk/ top-10-qualities-projectmanager.html [8] Sommer, Dennis: The next Generation Project Manager. 2008, www.projectsmart.co.uk/ the-next-generationproject-manager.html [9] GAPPS - Global Alliance for Project Performance Standards, Mapping ICB 3.0 to GAPPS standards. 2010, www.globalpmstandards.org [10] Raschka, Wolfgang: Combined certification IPMA - 22 l projekt MA N A G E M E N T aktuell 2/ 2011 42 KARRIERE Adequate behaviours for a Project Manager Relation to a ScrumMaster Can delegate tasks, has confidence in others and coaches them to develop and live up to others expectations Does not delegate, however, “has confidence in others and coaches them” Has a vision, expresses it very clearly, supports it well and brings it to life Product Owner w. r. t. the product, Scrum Team w. r. t. the way of doing the work Has natural authority, people listen to him and have confidence in him It depends, what “authority” means here, “people listen to him and have confidence in him” Delegates SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound) work packages appropriate to a team member’s capabilities and gives them the freedom to do it their way Does not delegate work packages, however, “gives them the freedom to do it their way” Is a skilled moderator Needs to be “a skilled moderator” and facilitator Combines power and charisma Does not have power though “charisma” is helpful Is inspiring, makes people proud to work with him “Is inspiring, makes people proud to work with him” is helpful Knows how to reward and take corrective action in ways acceptable to the team members Does not reward nor takes corrective action. Helps the team to find corrective actions Takes total responsibility, delegates responsibilities and tasks accordingly Not applicable. Supports the team and Product Owner in fulfilling their responsibilities Secures the project’s objectives and protects team members in negotiating changes Partly applicable. Protects the team members when negotiating changes demanded by the Product Owner Controls team members’ behaviour in a conscious and constructive way, has discipline and allows time for communication Does not control behaviour. Acts like a mirror to enable the team members to control their behaviour. Facilitates communication Engages the team members in decisions or has valid reasons for making decisions alone Does not make decisions alone, but engages the team members to make decisions Adopts a leadership style appropriate to the specific team and work situation, is open to feedback “Is open to feedback” and provides feedback to the team members Acts as an example and is acknowledged as a leader in the team and by other interested parties “Acts as an example” is a good behaviour for a ScrumMaster Acts and speaks calmly, formulates responses well and with authority Behaviour helps a ScrumMaster Keeps calm during a crisis, avoids visible panic Behaviour supports a ScrumMaster Tab. 1: Relating behavioural patterns of leadership of a Project Manager and a ScrumMaster PM_2-2011_1-56: Inhalt 30.03.2011 9: 02 Uhr Seite 42 PM@Siemens. 2009, www.refresh09.com/ UserFiles/ File/ 16_6_ry_wolfgang_raschka.pdf [11] Schwaber, Ken: Agile Project Management with Scrum. Microsoft Press, Redmond, Washington 2004 [12] Schwaber, Ken; Sutherland, Jeff: The Scrum Guide. scrum.org, 2010, www.scrum.org/ scrumguides/ [13] Kerth, Norman: Project Retrospectives: A Handbook for Team Reviews. Dorset House Publishing Company Incorporated, 2001 [14] Gfrörer, Stefan G.: PMP & CSM: Was ein Scrum Master vom Projectmanagement Professional lernen kann! ? (und vice versa! ? ). 2009, www.xpdays.de/ 2009/ downloads/ PMPundCSM.pdf [15] Watson, Jeff: Project Manager, Scrum Master, or are they one in the same? Discussion on LinkedIn, 2010, www.linkedin.com/ answers/ business-operations/ projectmanagement/ OPS_PRJ/ 611543-1643668 Keywords Behavioural competences, ICB 3.0, IPMA, Scrum, Scrum- Master Competence elements of NCB 3.0 All behavioural competence elements (4.2) Autorin Dipl.-Ing. Karin Kroneder studierte an der TU Wien Informatik. Sie ist IPMAzertifizierte PM Executive (Level A), PMI cert. PMP, zertifizierter SCRUM- Master und von 1999-2002 IFPUG-zertifizierter Function Point Spezialist. Die Autorin ist seit 20 Jahren bei Siemens tätig: Projektleitung von IT & Softwareentwicklungs- und Rollout-Projekten, Leitung eines internationalen PM Offices, Assessorin für PM@Siemens-Zertifizierungen. Zurzeit ist sie Projektmanagerin bei Siemens Österreich, Human Resources für Siemens CEE Projekte und Assessorin für PM@Siemens-Zertifizierungen. Interessen: Projektmanagement in der Softwareentwicklung (Ansätze aus dem agilen Projektmanagement, Aufwandsschätzung, Projektmetriken), Aspekte der Projektmanagementzertifizierung, strategisches Projektmanagement/ Projektmanagement Offices Anschrift Siemens AG Austria Human Resources Global Shared Services Siemensstraße 90 A-1211 Wien E-Mail: Karin.Kroneder@siemens.com Author Ralph Miarka works as an independent consultant, coach and trainer for agile software development. He is a Certified Scrum Professional, Scrum- Master and Scrum Product Owner as well as a certified Project Manager (IPMA Level C), understanding several methods of project management. Previously he worked for the Software Development and Engineering division of Siemens IT Solutions and Services where he was a key driver of agile change projects. Currently he supports a multi-national healthcare company in their change process towards agile and lean software development. Address E-Mail: Ralph@Miarka.com projekt MA N A G E M E N T aktuell 2/ 2011 l 43 GPM Qualifizierungslehrgang IPMA Level D/ Projektmanagement-Fachmann GPM® Die State-of-the-Art-Qualifikation von PM-Profis für PM-Profis aus allen Branchen. Abschluss mit IPMA Zertifikat. mit dem vollen Programm (10 bzw. 11+1 Tage). Frankfurt/ M Start am 03.09.2011 Karlsruhe Start am 17.09.2011 Mannheim Kick-Off am 25.05.2011 Auch als Kombi-Lehrgang IPMA D+C/ B buchbar. GPM Qualifizierungslehrgang IPMA Level C/ B / (Senior) Projektmanager GPM® Prüfungsvorbereitendes Seminar für praktizierende Projektmanager. 5 Tage (2+3). D-Zertifikat erforderlich. Starttermine : Mannheim Start am 04.07.2011 Mannheim Start am 26.09.2011 Teilnehmerportal : http: / / www.pm-zertifizierung.de/ ...mehr als nur „PM auf Englisch“ 3 Tage vom 21.-23.03.2011 in Frankfurt/ M. MS Project 2 Tage * Mehr als solide Grundlagen für künftige Profis Mannheim: am 18./ 19.04. + 23./ 24.05.2011 MS Project 2 Tage * Praxisorientiert für weit fortgeschrittene User Mannheim: am 19./ 20.05. + 16.+ 17.06.2011. * Weitere Termine s. Homepage (monatlich). Berater, Coaches und Trainer für Projektmanagement projektpartner management gmbH 68167 Mannheim · Fon 0621 178906-0 · Mail office@projektpartner.de · Web Anzeige ❑ ESI International GmbH ❑ GPM Deutsche Gesellschaft für Projektmanagement e.V. Wir bitten um Beachtung. Beilagen in diesem Heft PM_2-2011_1-56: Inhalt 30.03.2011 9: 02 Uhr Seite 43