Silke disturbs the team — Panda Story — Episode #10
Ray arrives at the office quite relaxed, despite the annoying situation. It is Friday and he plans to talk to Howard and Ken to find a way together so that the demo for Silke can take place on Monday. On Fridays, the development team always meets for breakfast together. Ray goes to the kitchen to get a coffee, which he takes to the team room with the intention of joining everyone with breakfast. When he arrives in the team room, Ken and Howard are already sitting at the table drinking coffee.
Ken: “Hello Ray, good to see you, how are you?”
Ray: “Do you want an honest answer?”
Ken: “Always.”
Ray: “After yesterday and the issues with Silke I was pretty down, it feels like things are not going as they should. But complaining doesn’t help, so I’m looking forward to the demo and the fair.”
Ken: “I’m looking forward to that too, I’m curious what feedback you will get from the customers.”
Ray: “Unfortunately I won’t be going to the fair, Silke probably doesn’t have the budget for it or doesn’t want it.”
Ken: “That’s a real shame, why not, it would be so important!”
Ray: “Silke doesn’t see the need for it, she wants to present it on her own. Which brings me to my next point, unfortunately.”
Ken: “You should go!”
Ray: “Won’t happen, sorry. So the demo has to be on Monday, Silke wants to look at it so she can present it.”
Ken: “Review with the team is not until Tuesday, I don’t know if it will already work on Monday.”
Ray: “I’m afraid it has to…”
Ken: “Howard can’t you talk to Silke, I mean what do we do Scrum for if nobody sticks to it.”
Howard: “You’re preaching to the choir, Britta and I have already tried. Silke only has the fair and the announcements in mind. So how are you coming along with getting all the features from the announcements into the click dummy?”
Ray: “Yes, I’m curious about that too.”
Ken: “We’ve come quite far, we’ll still need today and then it should be ready, considering the frontend team has also managed everything, but I think so. I’ll meet with them again later today.”
Ray: “Glad to hear, I’ll try to schedule the demo for Monday afternoon, that would buy us some more time.”
Ken: “Let’s coordinate closely today so we’re ready for Monday.”
Ray: “Ok thank you.”
Ray finishes his coffee and then heads to his office. Ken and the rest of the team continue to work on the user stories for the trade fair in the morning, shortly before noon Silke unexpectedly comes into the team room and goes to Howard.
Silke: “Good morning Howard, how are things in the team?”
Howard: “I think good, at least it sounded like that at breakfast this morning.”
Silke: “Very good, so we are prepared for the fair?”
Howard: “We’ll know on Tuesday in the review, but I’m very confident.”
Silke seems very absent, not involved in the conversation. It seems as if something is still buzzing through her head.
Silke: “Tuesday…., well, as long as they can show me on Monday, we’re fine. Our competitor has just put out an announcement for the fair, so we’ll have to make some changes before the fair.”
Howard: “I’m afraid I’m not the right person to talk to about that, Ray as a product owner is more on the subject.”
Silke: “I can’t find Ray right now, I’ll tell the team directly.” <Silke looks towards Ken> “Ken come here please.”
Ken looks up and looks at Howard and Silke.
Howard: “Ken is developing an important feature for the show, please talk to Ray, he can evaluate it better.”
Silke: “Now that I’m here, I’ll discuss it with Ken straight away, with always done it that way.”
Howard: “And that’s what used to cause problems, the interruptions in the team. Now we work according to Scrum, which means that wishes and requirements regarding the product go through Ray.”
Silke: “I gave you the job as Scrum Master so that we can become agile here in the Backend team and react quickly to changes. What’s the point of Scrum if I can’t react?”
Howard: “Agile doesn’t mean ad-hoc, we need to keep the focus.”
Silke: “Where is Britta, I need to discuss this with her, she explained it to me differently.”
Ken, in the meantime, got up from his seat and went to the frontend team to have wrap everything up and test the last user stories.
Howard: “I don’t know where Britta is, but Ray is in his office, why don’t you try there first and tell him about the new requirements?”
Silke looks at Ken’s table.
Silke: “Now Ken is gone too. We’ll talk about that, Howard, after the fare.”
Silke leaves the team room of Team Backend again and goes, albeit reluctantly, to Ray’s office, Britta is also with Ray right now.
Silke: “Good to meet you both here, I’m not happy with Howard. I wanted to give a new requirement to the team for the fair, just like before. Howard thinks that’s not allowed because of Scrum.”
Britta: “Hey Silke, good to see you. Thanks for coming to Ray, he’s the right person to talk to when it comes to new features concerning the product.”
Silke: “I don’t like the way Howard wants to live Scrum, it makes us inflexible, it doesn’t correspond to reality.”
Britta: “Howard has had the right thought about changes, these go through Ray as Product Owner.”
Silke: “I would like us to put Scrum to the test after the fair.”
Ray: “I completely agree, this doesn’t feel right to me either!”
Silke: “So Howard is doing a bad job?”
Britta: “Let’s identify improvements together after the fair and see how we can use Scrum even better in the company to satisfy our customers.”
Silke: “A typical Britta sentence.” <smirks> “Anyway, Ray did you read the announcement from the competitor?”
Ray: “Yes I did, very exciting that they have that now.”
Silke: “What can we do to counter that? We also need something comparable to the fair.” <looks serious>
Ray: “Their idea is great and I think we can more than keep up with our features here. The teams are preparing it for the fair, we can show it on Tuesday.”
Silke: “You mean I don’t have to discuss it with Ken anymore?”
Ray: “I think we have thought of everything, the team has done a good job.”
Silke: “Ok, see you Monday for the demo, …. Monday please!”
Ray: “Tuesday is review, if we show it to you on Monday it might still be incomplete, please be aware of that.”
Silke: “As long as it doesn’t jeopardise the show. I have to keep going now.”
Silke leaves Ray’s office again. Britta and Ray agree that after the fair there is an urgent need to reflect on how Scrum is lived. The near disruption of Silke’s team is just one of many events that do not fit with Scrum. Britta will prepare a retro meeting with several teams and Silke to reflect on this.
