Scrum Methodology

Scrum Impediments

Posted by admin under Scrum Basics

In Scrum, an impediment is anything that keeps a team from being productive. An impediment can literally be anything, from a team member who is slacking to a freezing team room. But if it’s blocking the team from performing to the best of its abilities, it’s an impediment.

To help maximize efficiency, the role of the ScrumMaster is completely dedicated to resolving impediments. The ScrumMaster works in various capacities, including helping the Product Owner prepare the backlog and ensuring that important Scrum artifacts are visible, but the ScrumMaster’s primary responsibility is to eliminate impediments and facilitate a team’s optimum performance. In this arrangement, it is the team’s responsibility to communicate what impediments are holding them back. This communication occurs each day in the daily Scrum, when team members report on what they’ve accomplished in the past 24 hours, what they plan to accomplish in the next 24 hours, and what impediments obstruct them. Scrum systematizes feedback to ensure that a ScrumMaster always knows exactly what challenges are keeping the team from success and can work to remove them.

It’s also possible for impediments to apply to an organization, particularly in regard to Scrum. Just like a broken keyboard, for instance, would prevent a team member from writing code, an organizational “culture clash” obstructs a smooth Scrum adoption. In scenarios like this, a company needs an advocate inside the company to help management recognize the benefits of Scrum. Basically, such an advocate would be acting like a ScrumMaster, removing barriers before a single Scrum team has been created. Still, even an organizational Scrum advocate does not ensure that Scrum will stick. But, like the ScrumMaster who works closely with a team to eliminate barriers, an internal Scrum advocate helps enact positive change and contributes toward a successful Scrum adoption.