impediment – a hindrance or obstruction in doing something: “an impediment to progress”.
When you are an acting ScrumMaster or Agile Project Manager, it is common to seek out impediments so that you can help to remove them. Before you know it, impediments seem to be all around you ranging from the individual, team and organizational levels. A person can quickly feel consumed and overwhelmed by this new found responsibility.
A few years ago I was having a conversation with a colleague about all of the impediments I’d uncovered and how I needed to remove them as soon as possible. About half way through the conversation he interjected “These are not impediments, these are merely the tasks we need to complete our user stories”.
Then it dawned on me, I was so focused on removing impediments that I had begun to view our tasks as blockers to progress.
I was wearing impediment colored glasses.
Luckily for me I was pulled me back into reality before I started having conversations with the team on how every task was a blocker. I may not have made it out of the team room alive.
So how can you determine what is and what is not an impediment?
Tip #1 – People are not impediments
As tempting as it may be, do not label people as impediments. Once you label a person, you begin to subconsciously dehumanize. People can certainly be challenging to work with, but once you cross that bridge to labeling them as blockers it can be difficult to bring them back. If you find yourself doing this, you may very well be wearing impediment colored glasses.
Tip #2 – Impediments are often types of waste
If you find yourself struggling to determine whether something is or is not a blocker, try comparing it to the common types of waste in lean.
- Transport
- Inventory
- Motion
- Waiting
- Overproduction
- Over Processing
- Defects
These types of wastes do not always line up 1-to-1 with your blockers, but they can be a helpful guide in determining whether or not you are off base with your assessment.
Tip #3 – Ask your team what they think
It was a team member who pulled me back into reality, however not all team members are assertive. Who’s to say that the ScrumMaster is the sole designator of impediments? Ask your team what they think. It will give you the opportunity to do a bit of root cause analysis. Quite often, what you see as a blocker is only a symptom of something deeper.
These are just a few tips that I’ve found useful navigating the treacherous landscape of impediments.
What else has helped you identify blockers with your team?
