The Scrum Master is a servant-leader for the Scrum Team. The Scrum Master Role is to helps those outside the Scrum Team understand which of their interactions with the Scrum Team are helpful and which aren’t. So the Scrum Master helps everyone change these interactions to maximize the value created by the Scrum Team.
Scrum Master Role towards the Product Owner
- Ensures that the product owner is maintaining the product backlog—knows where to keep it, the appropriate frequency, and depth of updates.
- Helps the product owner write product backlog items and acceptance criteria if needed (that is, holds a story-writing workshop for product owners to learn the user story format).
- Reminds the product owner of the value of grooming sessions and offers to schedule and facilitate these discussions.
- At any chance, brings the product owner together to directly discuss implementation issues and ideas with the team; refuses to be the go-between between the product owner and team members at all costs.
- Influences the product owner to test/accept the team’s sprint features as soon as they’re complete, not waiting until the end of the sprint to see new functionality.
- Includes the product owner in all Scrum meetings.
- Asks that the product owner share important business collateral with the team (product vision, roadmaps, and so on) and assists the product owner in preparation if needed.
- Encourages a visible product backlog to which everyone may contribute.
- Reminds the product owner to prepare the backlog for the next sprint cycle (decompose backlog items, write acceptance criteria, get an estimate from the team if needed). So regularly checks in and offers assistance to the product owner.
Scrum Master Role towards the Development Team
- Removes obstacles, and then encourages team members to remove their own obstacles.
- Blocks and handles interruption from any source, protecting the team members from the distraction
- Protects the team construct: cross-functional, dedicated, empowered team
- Does not allow team members to be taken from the team
- Recruits missing skill members for the team upon the team’s advice (or enables and encourages existing team members to learn new skills)
- Helps them discover new ways of working (for example, helps the team adopt Extreme Programming practices)
- Encourages investigation into tools and infrastructure that supports the lean concept of building quality in
- Supports pairing and learning within the team
- Supports learning across teams; challenges the organization to build in learning opportunities for teams
- Educates team members on the benefits of test-first mindset
- Empowers team members; encourages risk-taking; delegates
- Inspires the team to realize greater potential
- Applies adaptive leadership styles appropriately
- Utilizes open, collaborative, and honest communication style
- Allows the team to self-organize whenever possible, eventually leading to team self-management
- Encourages the team to take responsibility and supports the team’s single identity and goals
- Helps the team develop good problem-solving skills
- Displays a positive, trusting attitude, enables transparency and collaboration
- Helps the team plan realistically
- Helps the team to increase efficiency and reduce time spent in meetings—get in, get out
Scrum Master Role towards the Organization
- Displays openness with every action. No hidden agendas. The good, bad, and ugly news are treated equally.
- Is respectful of others, even in questionable situations.
- Has courage, not afraid to speak up for the team, the project, and the customer; respects people but is not intimidated by them.
- Meets commitments—does what he or she says he/she will do
- Understands the importance of focus so that the team may finish sprint goals
Scrum Master Role towards Sprint Execution
- Schedules and invites appropriate stakeholders for scrum meetings:
- Proactively identifies stakeholders who are interested in the sprint’s outcome.
- Sends invitations well ahead of time, so that stakeholders can elect their preference of attendance.
- Try to balance and bring flexibility e.g. if the product owner or a key stakeholder can’t attend a critical meeting like sprint review, the Scrum Master may decide with the team to push the meeting out for another day.
- Helps the team deliver high-quality features by facilitating actions toward improved communication, a focus on quality, updated tools, and creative practices.
- Works with the team and product owner so that they are prepared for sprint planning.
- Handles logistics for meetings (meeting rooms, food, supplies, and so on).
- Follows up on parking lot and action items after meetings; works to improve facilitation for next time.
- Establishes common goals for meetings and encourages participatory decision making and team consensus.
- Removes obstacles that prevent the team from achieving their sprint goals.
Scrum Master Role towards making Progress Visible
- Work with the team so that they know and understand their velocity for effective planning, commitment, and delivery
- Ensure that the team is making its sprint status visible
- Help the product owner gather data in order to understand and publish release status
- Escalate obstacles in a timely fashion so that they’re quickly resolved
- Keep track of obstacles that haven’t been resolved; revisit at a later, perhaps more appropriate time
- Alert management to the costs of lingering obstacles, when possible
- Work with the team and product owners (possibly collaborate with additional teams) to devise a release plan that is workable, flexible, and amenable to the business:
- Create a baseline for a number of sprints
- Reports on release and release burndown
Scrum Master Role towards educating Others as well as Self
- Realizes that he is first and foremost a change agent—someone who is not afraid to challenge the old ways for the sake of improving the process, influencing better outcomes, and enriching people’s lives.
- Schedules training for various people—team training, product owner training, manager training—so that everyone in the organization is aware of what Scrum is and knowledgeable of how to support teams.
- Finds additional teaching opportunities via running the sprint—every meeting, every backlog session, and so on. Sees the opportunity to teach others about Agile practices and mindset.
- May find himself challenging traditional human resources practices to align them with a newer, more agile way of working.
- Regularly challenges the team and the organization to find its own solutions rather than provide the solutions himself/herself.
- Understands the Agile and Scrum mindsets and continuously educates himself
The Scrum Master Skills
- Listening to others with Empathy
- Healing of relationships
- Awareness and self-awareness as a leader
- Use of persuasion rather than relying on positional authority
- Conceptualization—the ability to keep the bigger picture in mind and think beyond day-to-day realities and short-term goals
- Foresight—an intuition that enables you to link lessons from the past with the current state and future decisions
- Stewardship—being open and serving others
- Commitment to the growth of others
- Building a community as a viable life form
Facilitation Skills
- The facilitator is responsible for the container, not the content.
- Defines a clear purpose and deliverables for each meeting before starting.
- Reviews the meeting’s purpose and outcome with the participants.
- Opens the meeting with a strong start.
- Does a check-in activity at the beginning and at the end of the meeting.
- Explains and uses the parking lot.
- Scrum Master is not too attached to his plan. If it happens not to be working, he adapts it to the situation or the team’s needs.
- He expands and narrows the space to improve people’s understanding and get all their different opinions.
Summary
- A ScrumMaster for two to three teams is the only recommended combination.
- The Product Owner should never act in the ScrumMaster role. The two roles have conflicting goals.
- The combination of ScrumMaster and manager often creates a lack of trust and makes the team too reliant on the manager’s decisions, instead of taking responsibility themselves. Hence don’t club these roles.
- The ScrumMaster should not be a team member. The ScrumMaster will miss the bigger picture and in most cases will prefer team member duties over ScrumMaster ones. Hence don’t club these roles.
- ScrumMaster is a leadership position. Therefore it requires creativity, vision, and intuition to succeed.
- Focus on self-organization; it’s your ultimate goal.
- Believe in people; so trust them to make it by themselves.
- Be a good guide during Agile transformation; stay only one step ahead at a time. Build a community, heal relationships, and listen to others.
- Facilitation makes communication more efficient.
- Define a goal, deliverables, and expected results.
- Coaching is more powerful than explaining, sharing experiences, or giving advice.
- The goal is not to be fast in the short term but to improve in the long term.
- Observing, listening, and not interfering are the most important aspects of a great ScrumMaster’s job.
- Any action, such as coaching, facilitation, teaching, or removing impediments, can wait until it’s clear which approach is the best choice.
- Remove impediments by helping the team to remove them.
- Facilitation is more than running a meeting, reading a book, or going to a facilitation class.
- Coaching is not about your experience but rather the ability to ask good questions. Hence be prepared to ask good questions so that you can bring best out of the team.
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