Scrum Masters as Sri Ganesha’s pundits #agile #xp

You would probably not associate a god from the Indian pantheon with an Agile methodological, and there are many things that can be learned for Scrum masters from Ganesh.

In Scrum the Scrum Master focuses on 4 key areas:

• remove impediments
• buffer against distracting influences
• enforcer of rules
• focusing team on tasks

Ganesha is the Lord of Obstacles, both material and spiritually. And is worshiped as the remover of obstacles, although he also places obstacles in the path of worshipers. The Scrum Master also removes the impediments and places obstacles in the path of the team members. Ganesha fans his ears constantly to symbolize that often words are spoken, but one is not receiving inside. This is what happens when the length of the meetings is too long, or it digresses off-topic. This is also what the broken tusk is said to symbolize, with oneness of mind and single-minded devotion you can achieve everything. In your team you can keep your focus by focussing the energies on the ability of the team to create results, and allowing the members to achieve.

Image source: Vijay Bandari – Wikipedia, Anamika S