COLLABORATION2.0
Do Big Tech Layoffs Mean It’s Scrum Master Game Over?
Big Tech Layoffs and Diminishing Value Could Spell the End — But There’s Hope — Join Collaboration2.0!
Have you seen a day pass without the news on Big Tech layoffs or ‘The End of Scrum’ and ‘The Death of Agile’. The headlines paint a doom and gloom picture for the Agile People. In an unprecedented wave of change, the tech industry is experiencing a seismic shift.
But don’t hit the panic button just yet! Let me share how my new project can help you finding your way in the complex world!
The Perfect Storm: Big Tech Layoffs and Value Crisis
But first, let’s analyze a bit what’s happening. I see the root of the “End of Scrum” and “Agile is Dead” twofold:
- The Big Tech layoffs — resulting from the shift in investors strategies to put profit over growth.
- The lack of perceived value added by Scrum Masters or Agile Coaches — leading to those roles being heavily impacted by the layoffs
Let’s take a closer look at the layoffs:
The layoffs sweeping through the tech industry are staggering. Giants like Google, Amazon, and Meta have announced significant job cuts, with thousands of positions axed seemingly overnight.
- Google announced historic layoffs that impacted ~12,000 positions. — The Pragmatic Engineer
- By cutting 5% of staff, Microsoft reduces its headcount from 221,000 to around 211,000 — The Pragmatic Engineer
- Meta laid off 11,000 employees (13% of its workforce) at once in November 2022, what happened to have been quite costly for the company — Fortune
- In December 2023 Spotify laid off 1500 workers, 17% of staff, employees in a bid to reduce costs and boost margins. SPOT shares surged 13% at the news. Surged, not plunged. — Yahoo Finance
And the news keep on coming…
This massive downsizing is not only a result of economic pressures but also a reevaluation of roles that are deemed non-essential.
Companies like Capital One decided to cut all the whole Agile Practice from their workforce. This is their statement from January 2023:
“The agile role in our tech organization was critical to our earlier transformation phases, but as our organization matured, the natural next step is to integrate agile delivery processes directly into our core engineering practices,”
The company shared plans to eliminate its “Agile” job family and integrate it into existing engineering and product manager roles, it said in a statement.
— Reuters
Now we have other roles that need to learn to foster collaboration and alignment between the leaders and the teams.
On the other hand, did we mature enough in Agile as Tech Industry to be able to fire the Agile Coaches?
Do you think Scrum Masters add value?
Allen Holub who likes to dis Scrum and Agile, famously said:
“Agile has come to mean doing half of Scrum badly and using Jira.”
I wouldn’t say it’s thoroughly off. The perceived value of Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches hasn’t been great for a while.
All in all, we deal with a big hit for the Agile roles.
My take on it is that many companies fell into the trap of creating a bubble of infinite growth. Isn’t it similar to the dot-com bubble of the 2000s? For years, investors flooded their money into companies to stimulate the revenue growth. Nobody talked about the profit. It would come in the future.
Well, people, the future is now!
High-speed growth followed by a high-profile layoff
Let’s take Spotify as an example.
Spotify more than doubled its headcount during the past three years.
But now, with investors more focused on profitability not growth Spotify has turned its focus to cutting the workforce costs.
Investors are more focused on profitability than growth.
The problem we face right now
Let’s define our problems we face:
- People are tired of frameworks — the Scrum Masters trying to win the competition of “the best Scrum implementation” are making matters worse.
That’s not the point. Nobody cares. - Agile and Scrum done for their own sake — It was the SHU phase in the Shu-Ha-Ri. We needed to follow the rule as we were not the experts. We were all learning and trying to implement Scrum perfectly. Which led to seeing the process for the process’ sake.
- Certain Agile maturity — some executives believe that after the “Agile transformation” of their companies, the teams can self-manage without the need for a dedicated Scrum Master.
My channel was part of this movement. At the beginning I was focused on explaining Scrum as by the guide. And it’s ok, we needed to learn by following the rule. Now, though, we are ready to break it and set our own rule.
Collaboration2.0 — Beyond Frameworks
The biggest value we provide for the companies is fostering the collaboration and alignment. Not making teams adhere to a given framework.
Companies aim for agility, flexibility, products that delight their customers, and a workplace where people excited to work in.
Whether you are a Scrum Master, Agile Coach, a Developer that wants to hone their soft skills or a Manager, you want to improve the way you work.
I see that there are some basic skills that can make the difference in a workplace:
- Fostering Collaboration — we work together from pinpointing the problems to collaboratively iterating on the solutions.
- Alignment — we want to make sure people are aligned, speaking the same language, and understanding the expectations. This alignment is crucial at all levels.
- Communication — we prioritize open and transparent communication, ensuring that everyone is informed, engaged, and able to contribute effectively. We do this by establishing the communication channels and reviewing the documentation.
- Facilitation — we provide the tools and guidance needed to streamline processes, remove obstacles, and ensure that teams can work efficiently. As opposed to create more meaningless long meetings with no outcome, we ensure outcome is achieved and clear actions defined.
It’s time to move away from focusing too much on the way to achieve the product goals and actually achieve them. Think what we can do so all the pieces of a software development puzzle can create the best result for our business and its customers.
Let’s work this one out together. I am opening a limited number of seats for the first iteration of the #Collaboration2.0 project.
I created a Discord community, where we will have a chance to collaborate live. I’ll share exclusive posts and materials plus — something I’ve never done before — I will host lives with online training and where you can ask me anything!
Who is it for? Not only for Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches who want to elevate their game, but also for Product Managers and Engineering Managers who are increasingly more responsible for the collaboration and alignment of the teams. For UXers, Devs and QAs who want to help drive decision making and unstuck their teams.
It’s for anyone who wants to get liberated from the infinite loop of meetings and start driving value and decision-making rather than schedule more meetings.
Grab your seats! Closing the inscriptions by the end of June. First welcome live will be on Wednesday, 3rd of July!
