Trombones and Agile. Wait… What?

So, this might be less about the trombone. It could be about any musical instrument. But, in my case, it happens to be a trombone. Actually, for many years, it was a bass trombone.

The funny thing about the trombone is that in an orchestra, concert band, or military band, the bass trombone very rarely caries the melody. It very rarely caries the counter melody. There are pieces where the trombone is featured, but really, not most of the pieces in these settings.

If you look at who gets the recognition and rewards, it’s the soloist. It’s not the bass trombone player. Believe me. But, being the bass trombone player, playing the music in front of me, I get a huge amount of personal satisfaction. You see, I know that for that soloist, for that melody, for that thing you reward: I’m the one who made it sound great. Yep. It’s true. The melody of pretty much every piece of music is hollow without the counter melody, the accompaniment, the supporting foundation that allows the melody to sound amazing. And I get to be the one to provide that.

It took me a long time in my career to realize that the role I play with my team is the same. I don’t want to be in the spotlight. Not that I’m not great at what I do – or at least think I am. I am pretty darn good at what I do. But what makes me great as the Scrum Master or Agile Coach is that it’s not about me, and I don’t want to be the focus of anything. I’m just the guy who helps the team be amazing. I’m the guy helping the team remove anything and everything that’s preventing them from delivering great quality code and delivering iterative and incremental business value every single sprint. I’m the guy helping everyone involved with the project work together.

If the team I’m on, the team I’m working with, succeeds, then I’ve succeeded too. It’s not about me. But it’s sure great to see the team succeed, and knowing that I played my part in helping them shine.