We hear self-managing teams so often it become a cliché

Explains how true self-management in Scrum requires active, disciplined effort from Product Owners, Scrum Masters, and Developers, not chaos or lack of structure.

Published on 9 May 2025

Written by Martin Hinshelwood

1 minute read

https://nkdagility.com/resources/FqiyqqNxjFS

We hear “self-managing teams” so often it’s become a cliché.

But here’s what gets missed:

Self-management applies to all Scrum roles.

Product Owners must self-manage how they engage with stakeholders, order the backlog, and shape the product vision.
Scrum Masters must self-manage how they serve the team, coach the organisation, and create the conditions for success.
Developers must self-manage how they plan, execute, and deliver the Increment.

This isn’t a passive concept.
It’s active, adaptive, disciplined work.

Scrum isn’t designed to be a loose, anything-goes framework.
It’s a social technology to deliver adaptive solutions — and that requires disciplined self-management across roles, grounded in clear alignment.

Where are you mistaking “self-management” for chaos or neglect?

Also published on: LinkedIn

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