The Agile Pocket Guide: A Quick Start to Making Your Business Agile Using Scrum and Beyond

Chapter 1

Servant Leadership

You have been chosen to be the next leader of the Agile Team simply because you embody three basic attributes that any successful leader needs: servant leadership, trust-building skills, and an awesome ability to communicate and facilitate. Your ability to lead and coach others springs from your humility and accommodating attitude. You are willing not only to do what it takes to be the best but also to take the low road and serve others through your work. People know they can count on you, and your ability to hold and regain people's trust enables you to build a team of trust, transparency, and accountability. You are a great communicator and protector of the team. Your ability to resolve conflicts among team members as well as business folk allows you to command an audience that trusts your judgment and relies on your ability to protect the team's work from outside influences, filtering only that which is beneficial and helpful to the work at hand. You are an educator in that you coach and teach the business people and product owners how to supply your team with the right amount of information and feedback. You are not haughty, nor are you overbearing. You are the right person for this job.

Your job is to:

• Remove obstacles or resolve dependencies between team members and teams.
• Remind the team of mission/value statements for each project.
• Ensure that the team adheres to the defined rules of Scrum or processes accepted by the team.
• Protect the team ...