I am managing a team of 6 people that recently moved to Scrum.We have a Scrum Master (one of the developers in the team) and a Product Owner.Since I have quite a lot of free time (because a lot of management work that I used to do is now done by the Scrum Master and Product Owner), and since I want to remain technically relevant, I am doing some technical development work.I act as a part of the development team, commit to some of the stories in each sprint, and participate in all the meetings as a part of the team.Do you think it is a good idea? Can it contradict the self-organization of the team?
Being a team manager and a developer in a Scrum team
scrum;management
Have a read of Roy Osherove's developing thoughts on team leadership in an Agile world at 5whys.comHe talks a lot about three key stages a team goes through as it evolves from Waterfall to Scrum.Survival phase (where most teams I see are in) -- in which team has no time to learn -- requires a more command and control type of leadership to create that learning time from nothing.Learning phase  -- where a team has time to learn and is using it -- requires coach like leader, with bursts of control when things will take too long to learn the hard way (choosing no source control, for example)Self Organization Phase -- Where teams can solve their own problems -- requires more of a facilitator type of leader, that does not tell people what to do, but simply provides constraints and end goals. The team will get there on its own.When I came across Roy's ideas, at OpenVolcano '10, I was at a complete loss as to why my team had stopped improving. Then I realised that the team had crossed from Survival to Learning and I hadn't changed my style of management at all. I did so and it helped a lot.So I suggest figuring out which of those three phases you're in and managing accordingly.Also, make a decision now and be a leader or a developer. Don't fall into the trap of thinking you have spare time until you're well into the Self-Organisation phase. And, if you get there, realise that you're a good team leader (it's difficult) and move on to another team rather than reintegrating yourself.