I am honored to be one of three candidates for election to the Scrum Alliance Board of Directors. Please click through to learn more about me.

The Scrum Alliance requires a 500-word statement from would-be candidates.

They collect all the nominations and then select three candidates that they feel are a good fit. From there the candidates run for the office.

If you are a Scrum Alliance member, I am asking you to vote for me in this election.

Will you vote for me?

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You can VOTE FOR DAN here!

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You cannot answer that without more information. And so I think it is very important for all Scrum Alliance members to have access to the essay I wrote to the organization, to signal my interest in the role of Board Member.

In that spirit, here is the 500 word essay statement I wrote to Scrum Alliance in response to being notified I was a nominee. I hope you can locate yourself in the wider idea of a great Scrum Alliance. If you vote for me, you can expect me to follow through on the specific set of ideas in the essay below.

The wider Scrum community includes SA and other credentialing organizations. Agile is maturing and rapidly changing shape. The SA can either play it safe or boldly step out in conviction of purpose and deep commitment to a noble cause.

It’s possible for the SA to play a pivotal leadership role in shaping the evolution of the wider community. To do that, the SA has to stand for something. This concept goes far beyond slogans, mere branding, or “positioning” in “the market”. In the marketplace of ideas, the SA has the opportunity to inspire members, fascinate observers and influence other credentialing organizations towards a noble cause and purpose. This game is ours to lose. We can inspire, or we can expire. To inspire, we must step out boldly, and clearly articulate our highest purpose.

And what exactly is our noble cause ? “Transforming the world of work”. This slogan is catchy, yet vague enough to be potentially meaningless. The 2010-11 strategic plan discusses what the SA intends to do and how it intends to do it. What is missing is the why. Where is the why? The organization needs to do some refactoring, and articulate the why of the SA. “Transforming the world of work”… into what? In service to what? If the SA can articulate the truly noble cause and purpose, it can become a lightning-rod, the premier membership society of world-changers, the very organization that all great people want to be a part of.

Articulating the why– the noble cause– can help align the many forces that are acting upon the SA, including internal forces. Absent a clear statement of why, the SA is indistinguishable from other credentialing organizations. Great people seek meaning, authenticity and purpose. If the SA can deliver, it can become a society of great people making a huge difference. As a BOD member, I plan to help focus the attention of the organization on specific points of leverage.

Scrum Coaching is the most important leverage point for SA. Agile coaching is developing into a profession, and is literally held back by the absence of a specific code of coaching ethics. The generic SA ethics statements are not enough. I believe that creation of a set of Scrum Coaching Ethics is essential, and I plan to encourage development of that wider community discussion, worldwide, as a BOD member.

A second point of leverage is “Scrum beyond Software”. This space is complex, and has real potential for huge growth. As a BOD member I plan to take a leadership role in helping to clarify what SA thinks, says and does while collaborating with others in this important space.

The final leverage point is positioning the SA as the membership society that collaborates with other organizations in the important work of world-building. SA is in a position to change the world by aligning with other great organizations. If elected I intend to strongly encourage this.

Thanks for reading !!

One other thing you need to know about me is that I am passionate about Agile community building. Since 2007 I am involved in planning and convening meetings of Agile Boston, a user-group community in Boston. We run an event called GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM. This is a 1-day event that honors the co-creators of Scrum (Jeff and Ken) and provides a day of Scrum education to all members.

Links:

Dan Mezick Bio

http://newtechusa.net/dan-mezick/

Dan Mezick Blog

http://newtechusa.net/blog

Agile Boston Community

http://www.agileboston.org

Agile Coaching Ethics

http://newtechusa.net/category/agile/agile-coaching-ethics/

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