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There is an interesting discussion on the Scrum Alliance Google groups about Advice Needed for Difficult Developers. According to Anita, the group member that raised the issue, she is finding the developers on her team very combative, unprofessional and rude. She is finding that they say they want to “use Scrum” but as the ScrumMaster is finding difficulty getting the team on the same page and getting them to work collaboratively together.

Respondents have given a lot of helpful advice. One respondent said that he thinks it is effective to give people feedback on how they are behaving and points us to Esther Derby’s blog. Esther is an agile coach and wrote an interesting blog post on Why Group Dynamics and Interpersonal Skills Matter. A few of the interesting points that Esther makes are:

“High-tech companies succeed by out learning and out innovating the competition. Group dynamics directly the affect the ability of a team to think, learn, and innovate together.”
• “Groups that avoid conflict won’t be able to face tough issues or handle the creative conflict that generates new ideas.”
• “Groups that are highly competitive won’t share ideas and build on other’s ideas. People won’t share the credit for success, further decreasing the chance for creative collaboration.”
• “Groups that defer to a person of higher status will miss many good ideas, and fail to tap and develop the talents of the entire group.”
• “Groups that haven’t learned to work well together will take the first workable solution to avoid unsatisfying and uncomfortable interactions.”
Source: Esther Derby Blog

Sometimes games can be an effective way to explore how teams solve problems together, how they innovate and how they deal with pressure, and gives a ScrumMaster or agile coach clues as to how they can help them learn and what they will need to be successful with Scrum. Angela Druckman, a CollabNet CST and agile mentor, describes in her blog the “Ball Point Game” and some of the success she has achieved with it.

Continuous learning and coaching is also important if your team is feeling stuck. For free webinars about Scrum and Agile visit http://blogs.danube.com/scrum-webinars/.

Typically HR practices are rooted in popular misunderstandings of behavioral psychology and what motivates individuals in a work environment. Studies of human motivation reveal typical practices such as micromanagement and performance appraisals are counterproductive in the long run. When filling Scrum roles, HR departments and hiring managers will often overemphasize credentials and skills and give insufficient weight to the chemistry of the team and letting the team play a key role in the hiring process. Because Scrum is based on teams that are empowered and self-organizing, oftentimes, employees that appear negative under the restrictions of a forced hierarchy or traditional management can often excel when set free on the right Scrum team because they are often suppressed leaders.

Within organizations using Scrum there can be some confusion as to how people management aspects such as grievance/disciplinary procedures, annual reviews etc should be handled. (See this discussion on Google groups…http://groups.google.com/group/scrumalliance/browse_thread/thread/42c97a2651aa570d)

When we refer to Scrum teams as being “self-managing” teams we do not mean that team members can decide to give each other a raise, or fire another team member. This is normally considered an HR or management task. However, for a Scrum implementation to be successful and for an organization practicing Scrum to be a truly extraordinary organization, there must be a collaboration between HR and Scrum teams when making Scrum organizational decisions. If you are interested in learning more about HR’s role in the process and how HR can work with Scrum teams to be successful, check out this article by Michael James, a CollabNet Certified Scrum Trainer and Coach: http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/vzocgh