Scrum Master
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The Scrum Master is a servant leader that is responsible for “…promoting and supporting Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide.”[3] and ensuring that Scrum is understood and used properly by the Scrum Team.
Responsible For
- Facilitating Scrum events as requested or needed
- Service to the Product Owner:
- Ensuring that everyone in the Scrum Team understands the goals and product domain as well as possible
- Ensuring that everyone in the Scrum Team understands product planning in an empirical environment
- Educating the Product owner about how to setup and manage a Product Backlog to maximise value
- Helping the Product Owner to be effective at Product Backlog management
- Service to the Development Team:
- Coaching the Development Team to be effective at self organising and using cross functionality to their best advantage
- Helping the Development Team to produce high quality products
- Removing impediments that are obstructing the Development Team’s progress
- Coaching the Development Team if Scrum is not fully understood
- Service to the Organization:
- Leading and coaching during the organisation’s Scrum adoption
- Planning Scrum implementations
- Helping the organization to understand and use Scrum effectively
- Acting as a change agent with other Scrum Masters within the organisation to help increase the productivity of Scrum Teams
Sprint Planning Topic One (Why)
- Works as part of the Scrum Team to understand the value and form the Sprint Goal
Sprint Planning Topic Two (What)
- Ensures that the event takes place and that the Scrum Team knows the purpose and intention of Sprint Planning
- Educates the Scrum Team to keep the Sprint Planning event within the time-box
- Collaborates as part of the Scrum Team to understand the work of the Sprint
Sprint Planning Topic Three (How)
- Supports the Development Team as they determine how the work will be delivered in the Sprint
During The Sprint
- Ensures that the Development Team have their Daily Scrums, (although the Development Team is responsible for conducting the Daily Scrums.)
- Teaches the Development Team to keep the Daily Scrum within the 15 minute time-box
- Ensures that other people not in the Development Team do not disrupt the meeting
Sprint Review
- Ensures that the event takes place and that the attendees understand its purpose
- Educates the attendees to keep the event within the time-box
- Collaborates as part of the Scrum Team with the stakeholders to determine what to work on next as an input to the next Sprint Planning event
- Participates as part of the Scrum Team to review how the market place or potential use of the product may have changed, and what is the most valuable thing to do next
- Participates as part of the Scrum Team to review the timeline, budget, potential capabilities and market place for the next anticipated release of the product
Sprint Retrospective
- Ensures that the event takes place and that the attendees understand its purpose
- Ensures that the Sprint Retrospective is positive and productive
- Educates the attendees to keep the event within the time-box
- Participates as a peer team member representing the Scrum process
- Encourages the Scrum Team to improve its development process and practices, for example, adapting the definition of done
Attributes
The key Attributes of the Scrum Master include:
- Facilitation Skills are useful and the Scrum Master may be asked to facilitate events on occasion, which may help to ensure that everyone has an “equal voice” within a “safe” environment.
- Coaching Skills may be needed if a Scrum Team needs additional support to use Scrum well, or is experiencing some difficulties. Skills can include Active Listening, Coaching Conversations and Influencing skills to help coachees learn from their environment and discover their own path to becoming effective.
- Systems Thinking awareness may be beneficial to help the Scrum Masters appreciate the wider system around them and gain a deeper understanding of the underlying causes to superficial symptoms or dysfunctions.
Practical Tips
| Not A Project Manager | In traditional organizations there may be a tendency to think of the Scrum Master as another technical project manager or leader of the team, which is a misunderstanding of the role.
This role provides support for the Scrum Team and the organization in their use of Scrum, and is not accountable for the delivery of the product Increment. Hence, this role can pose a challenge to organisations that are used to having single person accountabilities. |
| Full Time | Good Scrum Masters tend to have a natural coaching interaction with the Development Team, and can protect them from the wider organization if they are not supported adequately.
Full time Scrum Masters will provide deep understanding of the role within the organization’s context and build a wealth of experience of what works and what doesn’t for particular situations. Whereas part time Scrum Masters, or shared role Scrum Masters tend to only build a superficial understanding of the role and have limited effectiveness. |
| Indepdendence | Avoid mixing the roles of Product Owner, Development Team member and Scrum Master, as a Scrum Master most often has to be impartial to provide good servant leadership rather than be compromised with their own agenda. |
For more information on the role, consult the Scrum Guide.