Dealing with new teammates and conflict as a Scrum Master...

As a seasoned scrum master with over five years of experience, I had seen my fair share of team dynamics. I had witnessed the emergence of leaders, the struggles of introverted team members, and everything in between. But the story of one of my newest junior developers, Julio, and how he broke out of his shyness and become a thought leader on our team is one I’d love to share.

Onboarding new developers isn’t new for me. I’ve had my fair share of experiences at some of my previous companies onboarding new devs, but Julio was different. When he first joined our scrum team, he was incredibly shy and timid. He was new to coding and being a developer, having only learned through a series of coding bootcamps. To make matters worse, he was joining a team of tenured developers, where the next newest developer had been with the company for 2 years.

At first, Julio struggled to find his footing on the team. He would rarely speak up during our sprint planning meetings, and when he did, his ideas were often dismissed or overlooked by the team. As his scrum master, I knew I had to help him overcome his shyness and gain the confidence he needed to succeed.

During our one-on-ones, I would listen to Julio's concerns and offer guidance on how he could contribute to the team. I encouraged him to speak up during our meetings and share his ideas, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem. I also made sure to pair him up with more experienced developers who could mentor him and guide him through the project.

Slowly but surely, Julio began to come out of his shell. He started to contribute a bit during our meetings and retrospectives. As he gained more confidence, he started to take on more responsibilities, leading his own tasks and collaborating with other team members. At one point, I had taken a day off and arranged everything for Julio to even lead our Daily Scrum Meeting. It seemed like things were getting going.

That's when Paschel, our lead developer, entered the picture. At first, Paschel was hesitant to welcome Julio with open arms. He was invested in our existing REST APIs base and wasn't as well-versed in GraphQL, the language that Julio was more familiar with. He initially met Julio with a bit of abrasiveness, which only added to Julio's initial shyness. I could tell that there was some tension between them due to their differing views on the code base. As their scrum master, I recognized that this tension could lead to conflict and potentially derail our team's progress, and it did, during a sprint retrospective.

I knew I needed to act quickly to defuse the situation and build bridges between them.

Here are the steps I took to address the conflict:

1. I Acknowledged the tension: During our retro, I acknowledged the tension between Julio and Paschel in front of the entire team. I thanked them for their dedication to the project and recognized that they had differing views on some of the code base.

2. I Encouraged open dialogue: I encouraged Julio and Paschel to share their thoughts and concerns with each other and the team. I made sure they knew that their opinions were valuable and that everyone on the team was invested in their success.

3. I Facilitated a conversation: During a meet-after conversation between Julio and Paschel, I acted as a facilitator to ensure the discussion remained respectful and productive. I asked open-ended questions to encourage dialogue and listened actively to both sides.

4. I Found common ground: Through this conversation, Julio and Paschel were able to find common ground and identify areas of agreement. They recognized that their ultimate goal was to create a high-quality product, and that they both had valuable insights to contribute.

5. I Encouraged ongoing communication: After the conversation, I encouraged Julio and Paschel to continue communicating with each other and the rest of the team. I made it clear that conflict was natural and that addressing it in a respectful and constructive manner was critical to our success.

Over time, Paschel began to see the value in Julio's insights and contributions. He recognized that GraphQL was here to stay and that transitioning to work with and integrating some GraphQL would ultimately benefit the team. He even started to seek out Julio's input on other user stories and acknowledged the value that his fresh perspective brought to the table.

With Paschel and Julio working together, our team became even more high-functioning, with both developers becoming thought leaders in their respective areas of expertise. They collaborated to lead our team in working with new platforms and embracing new ideas. In fact, our team was so inspired that we rewrote our working agreements to embrace these new ideas and support innovation.

In the end, I was proud to see Julio go from a shy and hesitant newcomer to a confident and respected member of our team. Through hard work, dedication, and collaboration, our team was able to overcome challenges and embrace new ways of thinking, ultimately producing a high-quality product that we were all proud of.