Ajay Kabar, Sr. Director - Agile Transformation, Xebia
Influence rather than your position is a more powerful exercise to earn your team’s respect and the key to achieving success, whether in projects or at the organizational level. Influence is a skill and as part of the strategy, it is equally applicable to a Scrum team – Product Owner, Scrum Master and the Development team. Each has its role to play when it comes to influencing the other to bring out business value, smoothening of processes, and maximize ROI.
In the article Influence and the Scrum Team, Mr. Kabra elaborately talks about how influence has more de-facto power than formal position. As he correctly states that one’s position cannot make his people or team do things in his way. The article stresses those underlying factors that are necessary in order to become an influential person, such as the ability to understand social psychology, organizational behavior, and its dynamics.
In the content, the reader will find in bulleted points the features that helped the author in developing his influencing skill. Besides, he or she will find the importance of nurturing the skill, how each role of a Scrum team influences the other and how a project can be made successful in entirety.
To read the article in full length, read here.