Overview
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Taken from Jurgen Appelo’s Delegation board description |
differentiate the following 7 levels of delegation:
A delegation board example
Lets consider an example for 4 activities we would like to have a picture about the delegation level to use.
Roles involved (with some implicit hierarchy by CIO) – CIO, Manager Software Development (MSD), ScrumMaster, Development Scrum Team.
Example activities are:
- Hiring decision – if the team can hire one more team member. How should all roles be involved in deciding about a candidate
- Agile process changes – e.g. if the team would like to switch to ScrumBan instead of Scrum
- Holiday approval – how is the decision path for standard holidays (e.g. up to 2 weeks)
- Team event – based on a given team budget, how can the team decide on a team event to do
With the help of delegation poker for all constellations (CIO with MSD, MSD with ScrumMaster, ScrumMaster with Team) and for all activities the delegation board can look like the following example:
(1=Tell, 2=Sell, 3=Consult, 4=Agree, 5=Advise, 6=Inquire, 7=Delegate)
Task | CIO with MSD | MSD with ScrumMaster | ScrumMaster with Team |
---|---|---|---|
Hiring decision | 5 | 4 | 4 |
Agile process change | 6 | 5 | 4 |
Holiday approval | 7 | 5 | 4 (future 5) |
Team event | 6 | 5 | 5 |
Some explanation:
Read the table headline from left to right for the delegation flow (delegation flows from the CIO to the Team). This means – the CIO needs to be involved in a decision made by the MSD, the MSD needs to be involved in a decision made by the ScrumMaster, the ScrumMaster needs to be involved in a decision made by the team in what way.
E.g. for a holiday approval the CIO delegates it completely to the MSD, the MSD would like to be involved with an advise – as the MSD has an more global overview for all teams. The ScrumMaster currently comes to an agreement with the team about the holiday – considering the advise by the MSD.
The future 5 means – the team should get the full power to decide using advises from roles having a broader overview.
What’s the value of it?
Implicit gets explicit – all involved get a common understanding on how to come to a decision for an activity. Using delegation poker fosters communication and converts implicit assumptions about how decisions should be made to explicit agreements.
Faster decisions – all agreed on how to decide for an activity. This removes waste by avoiding to many recipients via e-Mail distribution lists and large meetings with an attendee list showing, that roles and responsibilities are not clear. You know whom to involve when and how to come to a decision.
Knowledge transfer – about roles and responsibilities. I often faced the problem that it’s not really clear what a role implies and all assume something about it. The delegation board shows for a role how it’s involvement looks like. It’s not a replacement for a role description, but clarifies already a lot.
Questions to answer
My learnings
- It’s helpful to think about high level activities before you play the delegation poker and create the delegation board.
- Delegation poker is highly recommended to share perspectives and creates a common understanding
- Reserve some time and leave enough space for discussions. You will safe the time afterwards.
Further investigations
- Delegation Poker – material for download and a detailed explanation by Jurgen Appelo
- Management workout Delegation Boards – a wonderful description by Jurgen Appelo
- My post – ScrumMaster. Clarify roles to boost your teams productivity
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This is highly complicated stuff. I’m really struggling to understand, but I might have gotten it totally backwards 😉 Great brain exercise if nothing else =)