Some of my clients grow frustrated with their disengaged, unskilled Product Owners. In an effort to get the work done, they create a new Scrum role called “Proxy Product Owner.” This person’s job, in a nutshell, is to do the “real” Product Owner’s job for them, particularly the less glamorous parts: meeting with stakeholders, writing user stories, attending Scrum meetings.

One question I receive fairly often from harried ScrumMasters is: how do I help a poorly performing Scrum team member improve? What can I do to make that person perform better? To answer this question, you must decide if you agree with a key foundational belief in Scrum: the power of intrinsic motivation. People who have internalized Scrum values believe in intrinsic motivation.

My clients who are still unsure about Scrum often ask me, “What are the benefits we’ll reap from doing Scrum? What are the downsides to using it?” Oh my – I could write a book to answer this.

People often have preconceived notions about who can successfully implement agile practices and who cannot. Technology companies are “naturally” agile, right? And governmental agencies, hopelessly mired in bureaucracy, could never produce teams that function in a truly agile way.