DASM Study Guide-5

There Is No Standard for Agile Terminology
Disciplined Agile strives to be agnostic in its terminology.

It does not favor any methodology.
DA’s Generic Terms

DA uses generic terms for roles you likely have different names for.
Here are four common DA roles and their corresponding names from XP, Scrum and Spotify.
We have only listed the instances where a title different from DA’s is used. You don’t need to
know these terms or be familiar with their methodologies. The point is, what you are familiar
with may be different from the DA term.
To work with DA roles, your team may need to change their mindset and skill to transition into
DA roles.
Summary of Key Roles

A delivery team is made up of four roles:
• The team members main job is to build the product
• The architecture owner’s main job is to ensure that the team builds the product right
• The team lead’s main job is to coordinate the building of the product
• The product owner’s main job is to ensure that the team builds the right product
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Primary DA Roles
Primary roles are ones that we typically see on all teams regardless of the situation.
A few key points to keep in mind:

• DA explicitly brings in the role of architecture owner.
• The Product Owner (PO) should not be the team lead or the Architect Owner (AO).
• The PO is part of the team. Scrum typically does not include the PO as part of the team.
• Stakeholder is more robust term than customer, although we really love the word
customer.
Note: Chapter 4 of the Choose Your WoW book describes the rights and responsibilities of the
primary and supporting roles.
Supporting DA Roles
DA supporting roles and their responsibilities are listed below.
Note: Disciplined Agile addresses many of the roles that are common in modern organizations.
But, because every organization is unique, it isn’t possible to cover all potential roles.
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People Can Fulfill More Than One Role
There are many different types of roles, and people can hold more than one role.
Below are different roles based on the functional area.
What is a Disciplined Agile Scrum Master (DASM)?

A DASM is simply a DA Team Lead that practices the Scrum methodology.
Throughout most of this training, references to the DA term “Team Lead” and the course term
“DASM” are interchangeable.
Who does the DASM interact with?

They play an important role interacting and serving the team.
They also interact with stakeholders and neighboring teams. In addition, to effectively interact
with others, they must have people skills.
What does a DASM do?

A DASM …
• will lead and guide their team through their agile journey
• is qualified to work with one team on straightforward situations, scaling on a team level
and utilizing basic team coaching skills
• practices team-oriented agile and lean techniques
• applies the Disciplined Agile tool kit at a beginner level to solve problems and improve
processes.
How does the DASM serve the team?

The DASM serves the team by:
• Coaching team members in self-management
• Helping the team focus on creating high-value increments that meet the definition of
done.
• Ensuring that necessary events take place and are
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o positive
o productive
o within timebox
How does the DASM serve the product owner?

A DASM serves the product owner by:
• Helping find techniques for effective product goal definition and backlog management
• Supporting in backlog grooming and planning
• Keeping informed of project status
• Helping the team understand the need for clear and concise backlog items
• Facilitating stakeholder collaboration as requested or needed
How does the DASM serve the organization?

A DASM serves the organization by:
• Supporting product owner and team in achieving customer satisfaction
• Helping the team identify and address risks
• Helping with training and coaching in agile adoption
• Helping employees and stakeholders understand and work in their environment
• Removing barriers to progress
Leaders vs. Managers

Key concepts
• Teams need leaders more than they need managers.
• Managers still are important; they add value.
• There is some overlap between managers and leaders, but there are some important
differences too.
• Most great managers are also good leaders.
• Agile teams are led, not managed.
• Develop leadership skills so that you can guide, coach and support your team.
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What is Emotional Intelligence and why is it important?
Emotional Intelligence is the ability to understand your emotions and manage them in positive
and productive way. It’s also the ability to be able to understand, relate and work effectively
with others.
It’s important because it plays an important part in your success in leading a team.
While you may have the technical skills, or IQ, to do your job, you’ll need emotional intelligence
or EQ, to motivate, support, and guide your team to high performance.
Leaders with emotional intelligence

• Acknowledge and manage your • Show empathy and concern for others.
emotions in a positive way.
• Redirect negative thoughts and • Understand that it’s not just technical skills
behaviors to positive ones. (IQ) that make you a good leader. You’ll also
need Emotional Intelligence (or EQ).
• Think before you speak when • Motivate, support, and guide your team
emotions are high. toward high performance.
• Relate to and work effectively
with others.
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Here are some emotional intelligence skills you can build on:
Be Self Aware and Self Manage

Pay attention to what you are feeling (self-aware).
Manage your emotions in a constructive way so can build positive relationships (self-manage)
Promote Psychological Safety
Create an environment of psychological safety where the team feel safe to express themselves
and feel that they belong.
Show empathy for others’ emotions and concerns to establish healthy working relationships.
Embrace Diversity
The team is a mix of unique individuals with differing communication styles and personalities.
Help the team appreciate their differences.
Foster Joy
Recognize that a joyful team is a productive one.
Resolve Conflict
Recognize that some conflict can be constructive.
Help dissenting parties reach mutually agreeable solutions.
You are the mediator who steps in, resolves the issue, and keeps the project on course.
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Middle-up-Down-Management
The DASM supports the team by helping employees and stakeholders understand and work in
their environment. One way to do this is by following the lean management concept of
“middle-up-down management,” which can apply to the team lead, as well as to higher levels
of middle management.
Business stakeholders can clearly set the vision.
Mid-level managers create an ecosystem within which people work to implement that vision:
• They engage with business shareholders.
• They create an environment to facilitate the manifestation of management’s vision.
• They work with their teams to ensure the environment supports them.
• At the team level people self-organize to implement the vision.
To learn more, see Nonaka, Ikujiro (1988). Toward Middle-Up-Down Management: Accelerating
Information Creation. MIT Sloan Management Review, Spring 1988.
Team Working Agreements

Internal
A team working agreement defines their internal way of working and how they are willing to
interact with other teams.
External
External working agreements are sometimes defined in terms of service level agreements.
Types of Teams – Project vs. Product/Long-Standing team

The project vs. product/long-standing team issue is critical to organizations.
Most organizations will have both project and long-standing teams.
A long-standing team can take on short-term projects (it’s merely a big chunk of work).
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There Is No Standard for Agile Terminology

Disciplined Agile strives to be agnostic in its terminology.

DA’s Generic Terms

Summary of Key Roles

A few key points to keep in mind:

What is a Disciplined Agile Scrum Master (DASM)?

Who does the DASM interact with?

What does a DASM do?

How does the DASM serve the team?

How does the DASM serve the product owner?

How does the DASM serve the organization?

Leaders vs. Managers

Leaders with emotional intelligence

Be Self Aware and Self Manage

Team Working Agreements

Types of Teams – Project vs. Product/Long-Standing team

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