Can your boss do your job? And could you do the job of anyone reporting to you?
I hope the answer is yes because there is evidence that people are the most productive and happiest when working for someone who could do their job.
Research from Harvard professor Amanda Goodall found that a manager’s technical competence was the leading factor in employee job satisfaction.
This shouldn’t be all that surprising. When someone has a problem, they want to bring that problem to a boss who will understand it and be able to help fix it.
However, this is in contrast to the emphasis many organizations put on having charismatic leaders.
Think about it this way: When you have a problem you need your boss’s help with, would you rather seek the help of a charismatic boss or of one with a deep understanding of your work?
Goodall’s research included 35,000 people in the US and UK. But it wasn’t a study of agile teams so we need to be careful extrapolating these claims to Scrum Masters or product owners.
Do Scrum Masters and product owners need to be able to do the job of their teams?
I certainly don’t think it hurts. The better a Scrum Master or product owner could do the work of the team (if needed) or has done it in the past, the better.
However, I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary.
Many agile team members I’ve spoken to actually prefer working with a product owner without technical expertise. They report that product owners with technical backgrounds are prone to telling the team how to do the work.
And I’ve worked with and seen some absolutely phenomenal Scrum Masters who did not have technical backgrounds at all.
But those Scrum Masters shared a common set of traits:
They had a profound respect for the work done by the team.
They were respected by the team for their proficiency in some other area, such as understanding the business, problem-solving, or how to get the best from a team.
They were interested in the work of the team rather than viewing it as a necessary evil or just some step on the way to a finished product.
They couldn’t be fooled by the team because they knew enough about the work of the team or they asked hard questions at the right times. (And because they were respected by the team, the team wouldn’t try to fool them anyway.)
Ultimately, professor Goodall concluded, “It is easier to train the best experts to be managers and leaders than it is to educate general managers in technical expertise build up over decades.”
Being able to do some of the work done by your team--or, minimally having a deep appreciation for the work and empathy for those doing it--will help your team succeed with agile,
Mike
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