Now for a little bit of the "mom" part of Agile Mom. I just attended a college fair with my older son, the soon to be high school senior. One of the presenters talked about the types of parents that colleges are seeing these days. There is the "helicopter parent" - those who hover at close distances, then swoop in to rescue their child. There is the "Black Hawk parent" - a slightly more destructive and obvious form of the helicopter parent. And, more recently, the term "velcro® parent" has appeared, to describe the parent that won't let their child fail, or even try something new that may allow for the potential of failure.
The admissions representative talking tonight introduced another term, new to me. "Hummingbird parents" stay nearby, but don't dart in unless there is a life-threatening issue. She went on to describe how hummingbirds will push their children out of the nest, and not allow them back in. When the parent is done parenting, they have a child who can take care of itself.
The hummingbird allows their offspring room for failure. As we in the agile community know, failures provide us with chances to learn, and therefore grow. The small bird also encourages their children to be responsible. If only all team members and product owners could take responsibility for their actions.
What describes you as a parent, and as a scrum master? Do you encourage responsibility? Do you keep the team safe, yet allow for the small failures that provide for growth?
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