This team is mine! My precious…

They’re my programmers, my analysts, they’re mine! Mine!! My precious!

I hear it sometimes during meetings or casual conversations in the hallway. Scrum masters talking about their team like they are showing off geek blink.

The tone of their voice is imperialist. You could tell that they can fix “the hot issue of the day” by commanding their troops to the urgent task; just by waving their hand. Maybe throw a programmer to a different type of work, or change the whole team direction for the rest of the iteration.

They act as a proxy to management and play the role of a resource manager. With none of the salary or other benefits.

What’s worse, it gives a bad name to Scrum. The team feels micro-managed and is unable to cope with change. They are told what to do.

But it’s easy for scrum masters to evolve into evil dictators if teams do not act like grow ups. Avoiding the daily stand-up if the scrum master is not there. Not preparing for the iteration review if the scrum master is sick, etc…

Both side show a lack of trust and communication. Maybe this could help?