How to be an effective Scrum Master?
Scrum Master
The
Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring Scrum is understood and enacted. Scrum
Masters do this by ensuring that the Scrum Team adheres to Scrum theory,
practices, and rules. ?The Scrum Master is a servant-leader for the Scrum Team.
The Scrum Master helps those outside the Scrum Team understand which of their
interactions with the Scrum Team are helpful and which aren’t. The Scrum Master
helps everyone change these interactions to maximize the value created by the
Scrum Team. The role of a Scrum Master is one of many stances and diversity. A
great Scrum Master is aware of them and knows when and how to apply them,
depending on situation and context. Everything with the purpose of helping
people understand and apply the Scrum framework better.
The
Scrum Master acts as a:
·
Servant
Leader whose
focus is on the needs of the team members and those they serve (the customer),
with the goal of achieving results in line with the organization's values,
principles, and business objectives
·
Facilitator by setting
the stage and providing clear boundaries in which the team can collaborate;
·
Coach coaching
the individual with a focus on mindset and behavior, the team in continuous
improvement and the organization in truly collaborating with the Scrum team;
·
Conflict
navigator to
address unproductive attitudes and dysfunctional behaviors;
·
Manager responsible
for managing impediments, eliminate waste, managing the process, managing the
team's health, managing the boundaries of self-organization, and managing the
culture;
·
Mentor that
transfers agile knowledge and experience to the team;
·
Teacher to ensure
Scrum is understood and enacted.
Becoming
an effective scrum master
When
work interruptions occur, Scrum Masters should lead collaborative efforts to
address impediments -- especially if they're external. For example,
requirements changes and technical issues stall work during both individual
sprints and the fuller development cycle. To address such problems, the Scrum
Master needs to be proficient with the development tools a team uses. A Scrum
Master with these advanced skills can help a software team greatly. Beyond
project management abilities, skilled Scrum Masters are also team leaders. They
build trust, promote healthy conflict, get commitment, ensure accountability and
maintain focus on sprint goals. To do so, they must understand the technical
product developers are building. If you're ready to advance your Agile
development career, study up on these essential Scrum Master skills and traits.
Involves
the team with setting up to process: A great Scrum Master
ensures the entire team supports the implemented Scrum process. The daily Scrum
for example is planned at a time that suits all team members. A common complain
about Scrum is the amount of 'meetings', involving the team with the planning
of the events will prevent at least some resistance.
Understands
team development: A great Scrum Master is aware of the different
phases a team will go through when working as a team. He
understands Tuckman's[2] different
stages of team development: forming, storming, norming, performing and
adjourning. The importance of a stable team composition is therefore also
clear.
Understands
principles are more important than practices: Without a
solid, supported understanding of the agile principles, every implemented
practice is basically useless. It's an empty shell. An in-depth understanding
of the agile principles by everyone involved will increase the chances of
successful usage of practices drastically.
Recognizes
and acts on team conflict: A great Scrum Master has read the
book 'The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team' by Patrick Lencioni. He therefore
recognizes team conflict in an early stage, can apply different activities to
resolve it, and even better, he knows how to prevent conflict.
Dares
to be disruptive: A great Scrum Master understands some
changes will only occur by being disruptive. He knows when it's necessary and
is capable to be disruptive enough to enforce a change, but without causing
irreparable damage.
Is aware
of the smell of the place: A great Scrum Master can have an
impact on the culture of the organization so that the Scrum teams can really
flourish. He therefore knows the movie ‘The Smell of the Place[3]’ by
Prof. Sumantra Ghoshal and can also apply the related workshop.
Is
both dispensable and wanted: A great Scrum Master has supported
the growth of teams in such a manner they don't need him anymore on daily
basis. But due his proven contribution he will get asked for advice frequently.
His role has changed from a daily coach and teacher to a periodical mentor and
advisor.
Let
his team fail (occasionally): A great Scrum Master knows when to
prevent the team from failing but also understands when he shouldn't prevent
it. The lessons learned after a mistake might be more valuable than some good
advice beforehand.
Encourages
ownership: A
great Scrum Master encourages and coaches the team to take ownership of their
process, task wall and environment.
Has
read: A
great Scrum Master has read all the stuff produced by e.g. Geoff Watts, Lyssa
Adkins, Tobias Mayer, Henrik Kniberg, Growing Agile and Gunther Verheyen.
Basically he knows whom to follow in his area of study.
Has
studied: A
great Scrum Master has studied the Trello board[4] that
Growing Agile has published. The Shu-Ha-Ri levels offer a very useful structure
to a knowledge base for every Scrum Master.
Is
RE-TRAINED: A
great Scrum Master recognizes himself in the acronym made up by Geoff
Watts[5],
RE-TRAINED:
o Resourceful, is creative in removing
impediments
o Enabling, is passionate about helping others
o Tactful, is diplomacy personified
o Respected, has a reputation for integrity
o Alternative, is prepared to promote a
counter-culture
o Inspiring, generates enthusiasm and energy in
others
o Nurturing, enjoys helping teams and individuals
develop and grow
o Empathic, is sensitive to those around them
o Disruptive, breaks the status quo, help create a
new way of working
Has
faith in self-organization: A great Scrum Master understands
the power of a self-organizing team. "Bring it to the team" is his
daily motto. Attributes of self-organizing teams are that employees reduce
their dependency on management and increase ownership of the work. Some
examples are: they make their own decisions about their work, estimate their
own work, have a strong willingness to cooperate and team members feel they are
coming together to achieve a common purpose through release goals, sprint goals
and team goals.
Values
rhythm: A
great Scrum Master understands the value of a steady sprint rhythm and does
everything to create and maintain it. The sprint rhythm should become the
team’s heartbeat, which doesn't cost any energy. Everyone knows the date, time
and purpose of every Scrum event. They know what is expected and how to
prepare. Therefore a complete focus on the content is possible.
Knows
the power of silence: A great Scrum Master knows how to truly listen
and is comfortable with silence. Not talking, but listening. He is aware of the
three levels of listening and knows how to use them. He listens carefully to
what is said, but also to what isn't said.
Observes: A great Scrum
Master observes his team with their daily activities. He doesn't have an active
role within every session. The daily Scrum for example is done by the team
itself. He observes the session and hereby has a more clear view to what is being
discussed (and what isn't) and what everyone’s role is during the standup.
Share
experiences: Great
Scrum Masters share experiences with peers. This might be within the
organization, but also seminars and conferences are a great way to share
experiences and gather knowledge. Of course writing down your lessons learned
is also highly appreciated. And yes, for the attentive readers, this is exactly
the same as for the Product Owner and the Development Team.
Has
a backpack full of different retrospective formats: A great
Scrum Master can apply lots of different retrospective format. This ensures the
retrospective will be a fun and useful event for the team. He knows what format
is most suitable given the team's situation. Even better: he supports the team
by hosting their own retrospective. To improve involvement this is an absolute
winner!
Can
coach professionally: A great Scrum Master understands the
power of professional coaching and has mastered this area of study. Books like
Coaching Agile Teams and Co-Active Coaching don't have any secrets for him. He
knows how to guide without prescribing. He can close the gap between thinking
about doing and actually doing. And he can help the team members understand
themselves better so they can find news ways to make the most of their
potential. And yes, these last sentences are actually an aggregation of several
coaching definitions, but it's sound quite cool!
Has
influence at organizational level: A great Scrum Master knows how to
motivate and influence at tactic and strategic level. Some of the most
difficult impediments a team will face occur at these levels; therefore it's
important a Scrum Master knows how to act at the different levels within an
organization.
Prevent
impediments: A
great Scrum Master not only resolves impediments, he prevents them. Due his
experiences he is able to 'read' situations and hereby act on them proactively.
Isn't
noticed: A
great Scrum Master isn't always actively present. He doesn't disturb the team
unnecessary and supports the team in getting into the desired 'flow'. But when
the team needs him, he's always directly available.
Forms
a great duo with the Product Owner: A great Scrum Master has an
outstanding partnership with the Product Owner. Although their interest are
different, the Product Owner 'pushes' the team, the Scrum Master protects the
team. A solid partnership is extremely valuable for the Development Team.
Together they can build the foundation for astonishing results.
Allows
leadership to thrive: A great Scrum Master allows leadership within
the team to thrive and sees this as a success of their coaching style. They
believe in the motto "leadership isn't just a title, it's an
attitude". And it's an attitude everyone in the team can apply.
Is
familiar with gamification: A great Scrum Master is able to
use the concepts of game thinking and game mechanics to engage users in solving
problems and increase users' contribution.
Understands
there's more than just Scrum: A great Scrum Master is also
competent with XP, Kanban and Lean. He knows the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and risks of every method/framework/principle and how & when
to use them. He tries to understand what a team wants to achieve and helps them
become more effective in an agile context.
Leads
by example: A
great Scrum Master is someone that team members want to follow. He does this by
inspiring them to unleash their inner potential and showing them the desired
behavior. At difficult times, he shows them how to act on it; he doesn't panic,
stays calm and helps the team find the solution. Therefore a great Scrum Master
should have some resemblance of Gandalf. The beard might be a good starting
point :)
Is
a born facilitator: A great Scrum Master has facilitation as his
second nature. All the Scrum events are a joy to attend, and every other
meeting is well prepared, useful and fun, and has a clear outcome and purpose.
Risk
Management:
The Scrum Master should be knowledgeable in common processes to manage risk.
They can facilitate that process, from risk identification through mitigation
and monitoring. Some risks are related to process, skills or technical debt.
All projects accept some level of debt. However, during development, issues can
arise that are impediments to tasks. These issues may result in risks that add
to quality, feature or UX debt. The Scrum Master helps to identify dangers, and
works with the development team to analyze, rank and communicate them. This
skill helps the product owner and stakeholders make decisions to best mitigate
or reduce the risk. A Scrum Master who learns, leads and listens, and applies
their knowledge of processes and associated tools where needed, is in the right
position to make the team run efficiently. These Scrum Master skills support
rapid, predictable delivery at every iteration. And that kind of software
delivery is ultimately why the team chose Scrum.
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