How Mature is Your Agile Team?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about maturity in agile teams. And I also revisited an earlier note “Communicate like adults". When I ask people how mature their agile team is, they usually refer to the team’s technical competence or understanding of agile methodologies. It’s good to have people on board who know how to scrum hard and who have figured out that it’s all about building better products people actually need.

Fair enough. But is a programmer who has been working in Scrum teams for years really “mature”? He might be a mature agile practitioner because he is focused on churning out increments in clean code, but is he also a valuable team player and a mature human being; does he contribute to the emotional safety and overall well-being of the team? Maybe he’s a jerk and the rest of the team hates him.

It is easy to remember the three pillars of empiricism: transparency, inspection and adaption. But when it comes to the core values that enable this empiricism – openness, courage, focus, respect, and commitment – the standards set in the Scrum Guide are quite high. Maybe I am “old school” but I believe everyone should strive for and live these virtues. How do they show in daily life? Just zoom out and see how your team behaves at meetings. There might be young, hot-shot teammates who want to dominate everyone else. And there are old people with big egos. In between there are “victims” and “saviours”.

Maturity is not a matter of age

Please don’t get me wrong. Maturity doesn’t have anything to do with age. I’ve encountered individuals who seem to have stopped walking with open eyes by the time they were 28. They have strong opinions but rarely ask questions. And I have met young people who seem to have been bathed in some “old soul water” when they were born. Keep them at all costs!

Of course, there is another trap – the perceived innocence and naivete of the young. This is not meant to imply that your experience is less than mine, but this is based on my experience, I have alread paid the price for my ignorance. I thought I was a mature human being when I was younger, at around 26. 25 years later, I seem to have backpaddled and my newly acquired midlife API has been busy questioning my maturity. For sure, I am much humbler now, I do not need to win all the time. But I’m still surprised when anger suddenly bubbles up, or I get sulky for no apparent reason. The difference is that I am aware, I have learned to stay in the present - or at least to return faster to a calmer state.

Why you should have older Scrum Masters on board

In this note I’d like to speak up for older, less experienced scrum masters (yes, me!). Of course, it’s important that the whole team becomes more agile, efficient, and disciplined. But truly excellent teams have personally mature team members. In fact, I think that less agile members with personal integrity will be much better agile practicioners in the long term. It is a long ride but we can do it. From increment to the next, all the way till the end.