This subchapter answers the third research question: does Scrum, an agile software development method, address concepts needed by the knowledge worker to increase his personal productivity? Table 17 maps the keywords of the Scrum concepts to the personal productivity concepts. The Scrum concept keywords were derived from the descriptions of each concept in Deemer et al. (2012) (see table 4).
Table 17: Mapping the keywords of the Scrum concepts with the personal productivity concepts
Scrum Concepts
Scrum Concept Keywords (Deemer et al., 2012)
Personal Productivity Concepts
Product owner product vision communication prioritizing
vision
social interaction effectiveness
Scrum Concepts
Scrum Concept Keywords (Deemer et al., 2012)
Personal Productivity Concepts
identifying value
analyzing return of investment defining the task
networking with stakeholders decision making effectiveness effectiveness planning, action relationships decision making Team autonomous accountable self-organizing collaboration autonomy accountability action collaboration ScrumMaster manages interruptions and distractions
collaboration flow collaboration Product backlog prioritized defining the task plan effectiveness planning planning Sprint scheduling timebox planning planning Sprint planning effective meetings sprint goals definition of task definition of done commitment task planning collaboration goals planning planning commitment action Sprint backlog commitment
tasklist
commitment action
Scrum Concepts
Scrum Concept Keywords (Deemer et al., 2012) Personal Productivity Concepts Product backlog refinement effective meetings breaking items down gathering requirements effort estimation collaboration action planning planning Daily scrum review
collaboration
performance measures collaboration
Sprint burndown
tracking progress performance measures
Sprint review feedback show-and-tell
performance measures collaboration
Sprint retrospective
improve the process learn from experience
self-development self-development
The Scrum process starts with the product vision. A vision can mobilize people by arousing their emotions and helps focus their actions (Goleman, 1999). Input from customers, the team and other stakeholders is used to create the product backlog (Deemer et al., 2012). The product owner needs to build relationships with the customers, team and other stakeholders to effectively gather requirements. It is important for the product owner to develop dependable pathways to stakeholders (Kelley, 1998). The product owner is responsible for prioritizing and refining the product backlog (Deemer et al., 2012). The product backlog should be prioritized to produce the right product and the highest return of investment for the organization. It is important that the product owner knows how to be effective, how to identify key result areas and prioritize from the perspective of current activities, projects and the vision of the future (Allen, 2001).
A sprint is a cycle of work which is timeboxed. The concept planning emphasizes the importance of scheduling the most important items first and timeboxing them. For performance measures the team measures progress during the sprint with the sprint burndown and daily scrum meetings which allows the team to learn how much they can finish in a sprint (Deemer et al., 2012). The team is aware of their time use and they can use the sprint retrospective meetings to discuss how to improve their effectiveness and efficiency. The retrospective meetings are used for the team for continuous improvement of the Scrum process and the work habits of the team (Deemer et al., 2012).
Each sprint starts with a sprint planning meeting where the team selects items into the sprint (Deemer et al., 2012). The sprint planning meeting is used as a tool to make the team
define tasks and the definition of done for each item. The concepts action, planning and goals describe practices useful for the team in sprint planning. The goals for each sprint need to be identified so the team knows what success looks like. During the sprint the team works from the sprint backlog which cannot be changed after the sprint has started (Deemer et al., 2012).
To be an efficient and effective team, the members need to have the skills of collaboration. They are dependent on each other to make a contribution to the organization. In Scrum the team should be autonomous and accountable to deliver what they commit to in a sprint. The environment in the organization needs to support self-organizing teams, and give the team freedom to choose their methods and tasks. The team needs to be autonomous to have the intrinsic motivation to strive to excel and ever improve their productivity. A Scrum team is composed of knowledge workers and knowledge workers are the only ones who can manage their own knowledge. It is important that all team members are accountable for the success of the team. The Scrum master protects the team from interruptions and distractions. He makes sure that the team members can get into a state of flow to focus and get things done. The Scrum master also facilitates the team meetings and any conflicts that come up.
The product owner uses 5-10% of the sprint for product backlog refinement which prepares the team and product backlog for the next sprint (Deemer et al., 2012). The product backlog refinement is tool to help the product owner plan and schedule the work to increase effectiveness. At the end of the sprint the team reviews the sprint with stakeholders and demonstrates the results (Deemer et al., 2012). The sprint review is a place where the team can get feedback from the stakeholders, to help them improve the product and the Scrum process. The aim of a sprint is to create a potentially shippable product increment which can get feedback from the customer (Deemer et al., 2012).
Table 18 shows an overview of the mapping of the Scrum concept keywords with the keywords of the personal productivity concepts. The mapping shows that Scrum addresses fifteen personal productivity concepts (see table 12). The table also shows the ratio of personal productivity keywords that the Scrum concept keywords address to get an idea of the extent of the match. Scrum addresses all the keywords of the personal productivity concepts of effectiveness, planning, collaboration and performance measures.
Table 18: Overview of the mapping of Scrum concept keywords and personal productivity concept keywords
Personal Productivity Concepts
Keywords of the Scrum concepts (mapped to the keywords of personal productivity)
Keywords of the Personal Productivity concepts (see table 12)
Keyword mapping ratio (scrum keywords/personal productivity keywords)
Vision product vision
(purpose)
Purpose, passion, dreams
1/3
Social interaction communication communication,
leadership, compassion, 1/5
Personal Productivity Concepts
Keywords of the Scrum concepts (mapped to the keywords of personal productivity)
Keywords of the Personal Productivity concepts (see table 12)
Keyword mapping ratio (scrum keywords/personal productivity keywords) followership, empathy
Effectiveness prioritizing, identifying value (value), return of investment (key result areas)
key result areas, prioritizing, value
3/3
Planning defining the task (process), plan, schedule, definition of done (process), gathering requirements (collect), effort estimation (plans) schedule, collect, process, plans 4/4
Relationships networking with stakeholders
mentor, networking, role models, friends, family
1/5
Autonomy autonomous team (independent will, autonomy support) independent will, autonomy support, authenticity 2/3
Accountability accountable team (responsibility)
responsibility,
accountability as a tool to achieve
1/2
Collaboration effective meetings, collaboration (working together, support, perspective of others), show-and-tell (knowledge sharing) knowledge sharing, meeting management, perspective of others, support, working together 5/5
Flow managing interruptions
and distractions
focus, attention, interruptions, distractions
2/4
Goals sprint goals (setting goals)
setting goals, achieving goals
1/2
Commitment commitment (making commitments)
making commitments, managing
commitments, saying
Personal Productivity Concepts
Keywords of the Scrum concepts (mapped to the keywords of personal productivity)
Keywords of the Personal Productivity concepts (see table 12)
Keyword mapping ratio (scrum keywords/personal productivity keywords) no
Action task planning (getting things done), breaking tasks down (getting things done), self- organizing (delegation)
getting things done, procrastination, delegation 2/3 Performance measures tracking progress, review
track progress, review 2/2
Self-development learn from experience, improve Scrum process
competence, learning, knowledge,
improvement
2/4
Decision making decision making decision making, intuition
1/2
The mapping was only based on the Scrum concepts described in the Scrum Primer by Deemer et al. (2012). The limitation of this approach is that external factors which influence the Scrum framework are not included in the mapping. For example to have successful autonomous teams the environment of the organization must support the autonomy of their employees. Creativity is needed when designing, defining the task and detailed task planning. Part of improving the Scrum process is managing time better which is addressed by the personal productivity concept of time use. These are examples of personal productivity concepts which are addressed indirectly by the Scrum framework. Lee (2012) identified four success factors in Scrum which were influenced by the personal qualities of team members and prior experience, team autonomy, learning curve, team attitude, access to help from external experts and characteristics of tasks (Lee, 2012). These success factors indicate the need to look beyond the Scrum concepts themselves when looking at the personal productivity concepts contribution to the productivity of software development using Scrum. The personal qualities of team members, prior experience and learning curve can be mapped to the personal productivity concept of self-development. Team attitude can be mapped to perspective where the mind-sets and experiences of the individual influences the team attitude. Access to help from external experts shows the importance of relationships for all team members for networking, mentors and role models. The mapping from the concepts of the Scrum framework to the personal productivity concepts gives an insight into how the personal productivity concepts are being used indirectly in software development agile methods. It also answers the research question. Scrum addresses the concepts needed by the knowledge worker to increase his personal
7 Personal Productivity Concepts
This chapter takes a deeper look at the twenty-six personal productivity concepts identified in forty personal productivity self-help books. These following sections give an overview of all the discussions about each concept from the forty read self-help books. The self-help books mostly agreed about the definitions, skills, techniques and methods for each concept. Many of the books called the concepts by different names but described them the same. The sections are ordered by the commonality of the concepts as can be seen in table 13. Collaboration
Collaboration is defined as working with other people to achieve an objective (Goleman, 1999). The worker has only part of the knowledge needed to get his work done (Goleman, 1999; Kelley, 1998). He is effective only if other people make us of what he contributes (Drucker, 1966). Different people bring new perspectives and knowledge to a situation (Goleman, 1999). People can accomplish more together than alone (Henry, 2011; Maxwell, 2009). All workers need help and support, teaming up or getting a partner can increase accountability and help workers achieve goals (Bennington & Lineberg, 2010; Chandler, 2011; Greenblatt, 2009; Holden, 2012; Meier, 2010; Moran & Lennington, 2013; Perry, 2012; Stack, 2004). Understanding the personality types of people can help identify the right partner for a situation (Scott, 2004).
Collaborators need to have mutual enjoyment, respect, shared experiences, openness, reciprocity and trust to work well together (Allen, 2001; Goleman, 1999; Koch, 2008)(Tan, 2012). It is important that collaborators have a shared vision and know what they expect from one another (Covey, 2004; Covey et al., 1994; Henry, 2011; Selk, 2009). Collaboration is a balance of give and take, the worker should always look for the win-win solutions to conflicts and problems (Covey, 2004; Covey et al., 1994; Goleman, 1999; Stanier, 2010). In all interactions workers should first seek to understand and then be understood, both sides are right but are looking at the issue from different perspectives (Bono, 2000; Covey, 2004; Covey et al., 1994). It is important to hone the habits of meeting management for efficient collaboration, unnecessary and unproductive meetings are a waste of everyone´s time (Gleeson, 2009; Harvard Business Essentials, 2005; Leland & Bailey, 2008; Stack, 2004)
Action
Action is defined as the process of doing something to achieve an aim ("Oxford Dictionaries," n.d.). The worker creates long-term results by the actions he takes every day (Bennington & Lineberg, 2010; Moran & Lennington, 2013; Pash & Trapani, 2011). The worker has greater control over his actions than his results (Lewis, 2012; Moran & Lennington, 2013; Stanier, 2010).
It is important that the worker enjoys the process of getting things done and builds momentum with small wins and results (Duhigg, 2012; Lewis, 2012; Meier, 2010; Pash &
Trapani, 2011). The worker should break tasks, projects, ideas and commitments into actionable items by defining the next physical action (Allen, 2001; Drucker, 1966; Harvard Business Essentials, 2005; Leland & Bailey, 2008; Meier, 2010; Pash & Trapani, 2011; Perry, 2012; Selk, 2009; Stanier, 2010; Tracy, 2013). He should do one task at a time, limit distractions and finish it (Babauta, 2008; Bono, 2000; Drucker, 1966; Harvard Business Essentials, 2005; Maxwell, 2009; Meier, 2010; Pash & Trapani, 2011; Stack, 2004; Tracy, 2013). The worker needs to complete tasks so he does not get distracted by unfinished business remaining in his mind (Allen, 2001; Chandler, 2011). The worker might find it helpful to create a definition of finished for some tasks so he knows when they are complete (Leland & Bailey, 2008).
Tasks can be kept in simple lists which should be checked daily (Allen, 2001; Babauta, 2008; Kelley, 1998; Tracy, 2013). Similar tasks should be batched together and common tasks streamlined to increase efficiency (Babauta, 2008; Gleeson, 2009; Henry, 2011; Pash & Trapani, 2011; Stack, 2004). The worker should delegate tasks which do not help him create value or use his strengths (Gleeson, 2009; Leland & Bailey, 2008; Stack, 2004). By delegating the worker can reduce his workload and stress level, build trust with others and share knowledge (Harvard Business Essentials, 2005).
Procrastination is a bad habit which the worker should replace by a do it now attitude (Gleeson, 2009). The worker often procrastinates if the task is unpleasant or uninteresting, he doesn‟t know where to begin or he is afraid of failure (Harvard Business Essentials, 2005). Perfectionism and analysis paralysis can also be reasons for procrastination (Gleeson, 2009; Meier, 2010; Perry, 2012; Stack, 2004). A good trick to start getting things done is to commit to a small amount of time for a task and use a timer (Holden, 2012; Leland & Bailey, 2008; Meier, 2010; Pash & Trapani, 2011; Stack, 2004). The motivation to do a task shows up after the worker has started it, he should not wait to feel like doing it (Chandler, 2011).
Perspective
Perspective is defined as a particular attitude towards or way of regarding something, a point of view ("Oxford Dictionaries," n.d.). The worker„s default perspective is to view everything in relationship to himself and confuse his experience of how things seem with reality (Paul & Elder, 2013). The body influences how the worker thinks and understands a situation and his thoughts create feelings which color his experiences (Chandler, 2011; Meier, 2010; Stanier, 2010). Experiences are cataloged in accord with fears, desires, prejudices, stereotypes and hopes (Paul & Elder, 2013). The worker can create mental habits to be critical of his perspective, seek to understand others and be able to change his perspective (Covey, 2004; Paul & Elder, 2013; Tan, 2012). Mindfulness training can be used to create mental habits to change perspective (Goleman, 1999; Tan, 2012). Another way to change perspectives is to ask different sets of questions, adopt a different set of assumptions or change mind-sets by wearing different hats (Bono, 2000; Meier, 2010). A hat represents a specific type of mind-set, so by putting on a new hat the worker changes it for example Bono (2000) yellow hat for positivity and optimism.
The perspective of realistic optimism and positivity is recommended for personal success (Goleman, 1999; Koch, 2008; Loehr & Schwartz, 2003; Meier, 2010). Realistic optimism
2003; Schwartz, Gomes, & McCarthy, 2010). For example noticing opportunities, adventure and challenge instead of threat, danger and fears about survival (Loehr & Schwartz, 2003; Maxwell, 2009; Tracy, 2013). Realistic optimism can be used for motivation and to counter catastrophizing (Meier, 2010; Stanier, 2010; Tracy, 2013). Catastrophizing is when a worker imagines moving forward and becomes frozen with anxiety by looking at the cascade of worst case scenarios (Meier, 2010; Stanier, 2010; Tracy, 2013). When the brain is happier and more positive it shows higher levels of intelligence, productivity and creativity (Lewis, 2012; Vanderkam, 2010).
Other mind-sets that support the workers search for personal success are the abundance mind-set and growth mind-set (Meier, 2010; Stanier, 2010). With an abundance mind-set the worker perceives that there are more opportunities and more resources than he sees (Meier, 2010; Selk, 2009). The worker should not let assumed constraints limit his experience (Blanchard et al., 2005; Meier, 2010). Assumed constraints are beliefs that are based on past experience that limit the workers current and future experiences (Blanchard et al., 2005). The worker´s present reality stems from what he deliberately pays attention to (Lewis, 2012). With a growth mind-set the worker sees the potential to shape things, grow his abilities over time and learn rather than attributing results to innate ability (Meier, 2010). The worker must believe in his skills to use them at their best (Goleman, 1999). Planning
Planning is defined as the process of specifying future resources and actions the worker needs to achieve specific objectives and scheduling to minimize delay and waste (Smith, 2011). Working from a plan reduces mistakes, saves time, provides focus and minimizes the Zeigernik effect (Baumeister & Tierney, 2011; Holden, 2012; Moran & Lennington, 2013). The Zeigernik effect is when uncompleted tasks and unmet goals pop into one´s mind, once the worker has decided what to do about the task this stream of reminders stops (Baumeister & Tierney, 2011). The Zeigarnik effect asks the conscious mind to make a plan, not necessarily to finish the task right away (Baumeister & Tierney, 2011).
The worker should collect every should, need to, ought to and going to, write them down and review them regularly (Allen, 2001; Babauta, 2008; Gleeson, 2009; Koch, 2008; Leland & Bailey, 2008; Lewis, 2012; Stack, 2004). The items should be processed, prioritized, and categorized for example by type, by role in life or by objective (Allen, 2001; Babauta, 2008; Covey et al., 1994; Gleeson, 2009). A tickler file can be used to send reminders to the worker in the future (Allen, 2001; Pash & Trapani, 2011; Stack, 2004). A tickler file can be organized by month and day, so all reminders for a specific day in a month get grouped (Allen, 2001; Pash & Trapani, 2011; Stack, 2004). References should be organized in a system so they can be fetched when needed (Allen, 2001; Babauta, 2008; Gleeson, 2009; Pash & Trapani, 2011; Perry, 2012).
Items that need more than one step to finish should be considered as projects and need to be planned (Allen, 2001; Meier, 2010). There are five steps to planning: (1) defining purpose and principles, (2) outcome visioning, (3) brainstorming, (4) organizing, and (5) identifying next actions (Allen, 2001; Bennington & Lineberg, 2010; Stanier, 2010). It is important to have clearly stated objectives and plan to achieve those objectives (Chandler, 2011; Gleeson, 2009; Henry, 2011). The worker should build mistake recovery time into
projects and create backup plans (Chandler, 2011; Kelley, 1998; Stack, 2004). The worker should keep deadlines realistic and rather overestimate the time a project will take (Bennington & Lineberg, 2010). Tasks should be prioritized and time managed to deal with those priorities (Gleeson, 2009).
There are different methods recommended for scheduling. Daily scheduling methods include planning daily to-do lists, choosing three outcomes for each day and scheduling specific timeboxes for actions for roles, projects or objectives (Leland & Bailey, 2008; Meier, 2010). Weekly scheduling using timeboxing is recommended to get the big picture (Covey, 2004; Covey et al., 1994; Vanderkam, 2010). Timeboxing is when large blocks of time are allocated to the important actions to allow for more sustained attention (Bennington & Lineberg, 2010; Drucker, 1966; Gleeson, 2009; Meier, 2010; Moran & Lennington, 2013; Tracy, 2013). The most important tasks should always be scheduled first (Babauta, 2008; Harvard Business Essentials, 2005; Scott, 2004). The worker should only schedule part of the day to leave time open to deal with crises, opportunities and the unexpected (Harvard Business Essentials, 2005). The worker should also schedule using his personal rhythms to organize his depleters and restorers to keep him from burnout (Greenblatt, 2009).
Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is defined as the workers knowledge of his own internal states, preferences, resources and intuitions (Goleman, 1999). Internal states are thoughts, emotions and