Tales of a mobile Scrum master
By: Peter Harding
Tags: Blog, Delivery, Changes In Life, Agile Transformation, Scrum Master

August 2017 I opened a brand new door in my career, I had entered the world of Financial technology and Agile transformation Talent acquisition, of Big Data, the Cloud, Solution architecture and Scrum mastery…I can not lie, I was out of my depth by a country mile.

Having come from Contact Centres, with a passion for Learning Development coaching success and training, I knew I had at least one element on my side, people engagement. Get out start talking, ask questions, listen to the answers use my initiative, be proactive, learn from mistakes, keep moving forward.

Fast forward a year and its like I’ve never been anywhere else; I’ve gained my Agile foundation cert, built a website (albeit a terrible one, but a website all the same) learnt to write code and can converse deeper than small talk with everyone from Architects to Delivery leads, from front end developers to DevOps engineers. Most of all though, I have successfully managed a project, I have unwittingly it become a Scrum Master

Another year on and I am transformed; no longer the fish out of water. I am changing the way my team operates, from 2 stations below the top. Pushing my leaders to change, be better. Challenging how we are viewed by the wider organisation. Taking the lead on initiatives, not asking just doing and delivering! Being asked to run projects for the mothership, driving change within an archaic HR system that supports 200K people. I am the very fibre of transformation, Talent acquisition may not be the playing field you thought Scrum works in but let me assure you, you’d be wrong. I am transparent, adaptable and everything is constantly under inspection. I deliver incrementally, I make sure testing before release is prioritised and continuous, reiteration is key in keeping what works and bin what doesn’t.

Then came 2020 — WALLOP! Like a roundhouse to the face everything changed. Went from closing in on the pinnacle for my career so far; conversations of promotion to Global Talent lead for the organisation. From becoming a certified PSM1 having the qualification that matched my abilities, proving the doubters wrong, I was on a roll. In C.O.D terms i’d levelled up!

…..then out of left field came Covid, and with that the economy grinding to a halt, leading to my furlough then to redundancy although dare I say some unscrupulous leadership decisions also played a significant part in this I believe.

Bringing me to the title of this ‘monoblog’. Where I find myself present day. After a frantic couple of months and now at the sharp end of 30 job rejections; all for roles I am certainly capable of nailing too, (Talent Acquisition manager, Learning Development manger, consultant or associate, Training Manager consultant or associate, Organisational development support, Employee engagement lead, advisor, People partner, Developer relations, HR associate, Contact centre Sales manager, team leader) I have taken a role as a delivery driver, couriering for the likes of Amazon and DPD. I am not ashamed of this role, true it is not what i had planned to be doing but its is simple by design with repetition and consistency the key elements. I also enjoy driving and as newly self employed I am solely accountable for my actions and output.

But what I have found most interesting is the ability I have found to utilise my Scrum skill set in this role; stripping down the framework to fit my needs has allowed me to re engineer my approach to this job, breathing new life into a potentially dark destination. Its simple;

- I am self organising. I chose how best to accomplish my day

- I break my shift into Value based priorities. Stagger what must be done 1st, hardest to easiest drops.

- My shifts are now broken into time boxes to maximise my efficiency but also allow me to reflect and change if needed

- As I work through my week I am looking for iterative development of my own processes; how can i get better at this, then do it.

Whilst all the while maintaining the need to be Transparent, sharing what I am doing so that my colleagues can also benefit, and potentially cement my abilities in with the head office, see if there is a growth potential for me.

Inspecting what I am doing, how and if its fit for purpose at regular intervals, and looking for adaptations that need to be made for CI.

True I haven’t yet run a retrospective but I’m working out the benefits of sitting on my own surrounded by post it notes only I’ve written, discussing the points with myself, but if you have any suggestions I’m all ears.

Regardless, I am a mobile Scrum master, it is breathing new life into something that in all honesty was beginning to destroy my moral. I am using Scrum outside of the norm, way outside, but it’s working. I feel more alive through it, that my career may not be where I want but that it’s not over just yet.

I was originally just a man with a van. Now I’m a man with a van and a plan….