In traditional waterfall-style #projectmanagement environments, a #projectmanager manages all elements of the #project and communicates with #projectstakeholders on behalf of the people who are actually doing the work.  

In many project management environments, the customers are often the last to know what is happening and have to wait until the very end of the project before they see what has been built and whether it meets their needs.  

The #agilemanifesto values customers over contracts and seeks to bring the #productowner, #developers and #customers together as frequently as possible to ensure that the team are delighting customers frequently and consistently.  

Bringing customers into the same room as the people who are solving their problem or creating the product they need ensures that the experts in the organisation are receiving feedback directly from the people they serve.  

It also helps build trust between customers and organisations because they are included in the process, from start to finish, and are able to see valuable outcomes at the end of each sprint.  

So, in an ideal world, people would get on like a house on fire and organisations would not fear bringing customers into the same room as developers but often, companies are reluctant to do this and prefer having intermediaries such as project managers, product owners, sales people, etc. meet with customers instead of the developers.  

It's simply a matter of old habits dying hard.  

So, how do you as a #scrummaster work with the organisation and the team to bring customers and developers together? How do you facilitate those interactions and help grow engagement from product stakeholders and customers?  

In this short video, John McFadyen walks us through how scrum masters can help bring developers and customers closer together.  

John has worked on some of the highest performing #scrum teams in the world as both a scrum master and #agilecoach. He has also worked at the coalface of some of the UK and Europe's largest, most complex #agiletransformations.  

For more information on John McFadyen, visit https://www.johnmcfadyen.com or connect with John on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnmcfadyen/ 

If you like the idea of becoming a scrum master, visit our Certified Scrum Master course page on https://www.agilecentre.com/courses/scrum-master/certified-scrummaster/ 

If you are already a scrum master and want to upskill, visit our Advanced Certified Scrum Master course page on https://www.agilecentre.com/courses/scrum-master/advanced-certified-scrummaster/  

If you have several years' experience as a scrum master and want to both validate and certify your professional skills, visit our Certified Scrum Professional Scrum Master course page on https://www.agilecentre.com/courses/scrum-master/certified-scrum-professional-scrum-master/  

If you like the idea of mentored and coach-driven skills development, visit our Agile Coach Academy on https://www.agilecentre.com/courses/agile-coach/agile-coach-academy/  

If you have identified #coaching as a valuable skill to develop, visit our on-demand Introduction to Coaching course page on https://academy.agilecentre.com/courses/introduction-to-coaching  

#agile #agileprojectmanagement #scrum #projectmanagement #customers #developers #scrumframework #agilecoach #scrummaster