Scrum Impediments
Laszlo Szalvay of Danube talking about "impediments" in the context of Scrum:
"In the Scrum method of agile development, a scrum impediment is defined as anything that stands in the way of a team's productivity. This can literally be anything, from a team member who isn't pulling his or her weight to an uncomfortably warm team room. But if it's keeping the team from working at optimal efficiency, it's an impediment.
Luckily, Scrum dedicates an entire role to the resolution of these impediments: the ScrumMaster. The ScrumMaster works in a variety of capacities, such as helping the Product Owner prepare the backlog or radiating Scrum artifacts, but the primary responsibility of a ScrumMaster is to remove scrum impediments and facilitate a highly performing team. To help the ScrumMaster achieve this, the team is responsible for communicating what barriers are impeding their progress. This occurs each day in the daily Scrum, when team members report on their accomplishments for the past 24 hours, goals for the next 24 hours, and what scrum impediments stand in their way. This systematized feedback loop ensures that a ScrumMaster always knows what is keeping the team from success and work to remove them."
