As a ScrumMaster sprinting with your team, how you react to the “bad” days: when someone is cranky, there is conflict or things just don’t feel right– can affect how quickly the team gets back on its optimal track. Sometimes, the way we “maximize the amount of work not done”, is in the way we react to the bad day situation. The less we need to intervene the better: the best outcome is the team gracefully and undramatically getting back on track as part of their mature self-organization.

So consider this approach: much like a summer thunderstorm that comes in fast over the lake, hits hard and goes away, perhaps, when we react to an uncomfortable interaction on the team, our best first line of defense is to treat is as we would treat weather. Perhaps it is a temporary and sometimes event to be endured with cheer and humor that will soon pass. Teams are made up of people and the best teams learn to live with each other’s idiosyncrasies. This weather may just be a step on the team’s learning about itself. And the best coaching in that moment might be to just observe it as it floats by.