GIVING FEEDBACK & SCRUM

The purpose of feedback in a Scrum Team

Introduction – This presentation• This presentation outlines my views on why and how you

should give feedback in a Scrum Team

• This is based on my experiences in my context, and may or may not be applicable to you

Scrum Framework [1]

Feedback & Scrum• Feedback is a critical tool in growing the self-organizing

and genuine team

• Feedback can be given during the retrospectives, but also continuously whenever it is valuable

Why Feedback?• Why give feedback?

• The short answer: To intrinsically motivate the recipient

• The wrong answer: To express your displeasure/pleasure with the recipient

• The wrong answer: As a way to establish hierarchies, and as a way to evaluate people

• There are many wrong answers …

Motivation • Two types of motivation

• Intrinsic motivation• Extrinsic motivation

• Intrinsic motivation• Intrinsic motivation refers to initiating an activity for its own sake

because it is interesting and satisfying in itself [2]

• Extrinsic motivation• Extrinsic motivation refers to behavior that is driven by external

rewards such as money, fame, grades, and praise. [3]

My Definition of Feedback

“Communication with a willing recipient to nurture intrinsic motivation”

We want Intrinsic Motivation• Why do we want intrinsic instead of extrinsic motivation?

• "extrinsic motivation has some serious drawbacks: [4]• 1. It’s not sustainable - As soon as you withdraw the punishment or

reward, the motivation disappears.• 2. You get diminishing returns - If the punishment or rewards stay

at the same levels, motivation slowly drops off. To get the same motivation next time requires a bigger reward.

• 3. It hurts intrinsic motivation - Punishing or rewarding people for doing something removes their own innate desire to do it on their own. From now on you must punish/reward every time to get them to do it."

How to nurture Intrinsic Motivation?• “Self-determination Theory is centered on the belief that

human nature shows persistent positive features, that it repeatedly shows effort, agency and commitment in their lives that the theory calls "inherent growth tendencies.”” [2]

• SDT identifies three innate needs that, if satisfied, allow optimal function and growth [2]:• Competence• Relatedness• Autonomy

Competence “Seek to control the outcome and experience mastery” [2]

In Scrum this is tightly connected to the notion of cross functional teams, and to continuously learn from each other.

Relatedness “Is the universal want to interact, be connected to, and experience caring for others” [2]

In Scrum this is tightly connected to creating a genuine team with a common goal, and a common ownership.

Autonomy “Is the universal urge to be causal agents of one's own life and act in harmony with one's integrated self; however, note this does not mean to be independent of others” [2]

In Scrum this is tightly connected to the self-organizing team with the ability to choose how to solve problems themselves.

Reasons NOT to give feedback• You should never give feedback when the purpose of the

feedback does not gain the recipient• Yelling at someone because you are angry is not good feedback

• Pure appraisal is extrinsic motivation [4], and will not be optimal in the long run• Telling someone they are awesome might be nice, but will not be

beneficial in the long run, as it is extrinsic motivation

• Don’t give feedback just so that you can vent your feelings or feel good about yourself for saying something nice

Leave the Judgment to the Recipient• When giving feedback, focus on observations, and let the

recipient judge those observations

• You personal feelings on a topic is seldom beneficial to the recipient• Unless it is your feelings that are the observation – my feelings are

hurt because of this action

• When you judge someone, you are not looking at them as an equal – you think you have the right to judge them because you are somehow in a position to do so

Introspection• Ask yourself why you want to give feedback

• If the reason is any of the below, then don’t do it:• You are angry or frustrated at someone• You want to say something nice to someone• You want to establish that you are the expert and something by

giving someone else pointers• You want to establish power structures by either getting people to

fear you, or making them reliant on your praise• You want to make sure they understand they did something wrong

• There is only one reason to give feedback:• You want to nurture intrinsic motivation

How to give feedback• This is a science in itself, and there are many ways to give

constructive feedback, but this is my way:• Assure that the recipient is willing to receive feedback• Focus on observations without being judgmental• Describe the impact of those observations• Confirm with the recipient that you are in agreement about the

observations and their impact• Ask for the recipients thoughts and feelings about the observations

and their impact• Help the recipient come to some conclusions on what to do with

the information contained in the observations and their impact• Ask about if the recipient found the feedback valuable

How does this help intrinsic motivation?

• By giving feedback like this you allow the recipient to contemplate on actions taken and their impact

• If the impact is positive they can contemplate on what they did right, why they did it that way, and how they came to that situation

• If the impact was negative they can decide how they want to alter their behavior for the future, or what they need to learn to do differently for a more positive outcome

Feedback & The Scrum Team• Everyone in a Scrum Team should give feedback to each

other, regardless of roles

• This not only helps the team develop as an entity, but it also spreads knowledge and makes makes the team more cross functional

The Servant Leader“…servant leadership instead emphasizes collaboration, trust, empathy, and the ethical use of power. At heart, the individual is a servant first, making the conscious decision to lead in order to better serve others, not to increase their own power. The objective is to enhance the growth of individuals in the organization and increase teamwork and personal involvement.” [5]

• Scrum heavily emphasizes this type of leadership, and it also goes hand in hand with giving the type of feedback we have described here

Conclusion• Feedback is a critical component in developing genuine

Scrum Teams

• Feedback is NOT about you, it is about the recipient

• The purpose of feedback is to allow the recipient to nurture intrinsic motivation

• Don’t be judgmental in giving feedback

• Use whatever method you want to give feedback, but keep these overall goals in mind

References

[1] The Scrum Guidehttp://www.scrumguides.org/docs/scrumguide/v1/scrum-guide-us.pdf[2] Self-determination Theoryhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-determination_theory[3] Extrinsic Motivation http://psychology.about.com/od/eindex/f/extrinsic-motivation.htm[4] Studies Find Reward Often No Motivatorhttp://naggum.no/motivation.html[5] Servant-leadershiphttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_leadership