Why I don’t like the term ScrumMaster
Chris Roddis-Ferrari @NottAgile
The ScrumMaster role
• Popular yet ridiculed
• Simple yet misunderstood
• Common sense yet evolutionary
It’s a tough role
• Facilitator
• Coach
• Parent
• Conductor
• No power
It’s an important role
The difference between success and failure for organisations that adopt a servant-leader approach is
how effective the ScrumMaster is in their role
Good to Great
A good ScrumMaster knows the responsibilities
A great ScrumMaster embraces the skills and mindset
RETRAINED• Respected
• Enabling
• Tactful
• Resourceful
• Alternative
• Inspiring
• Nurturing
• Empathetic
• Disruptive
Respected
• Embody Scrum value and principles
• Facilitate the adoption of the process
• Guide the growth of the team
• Act as a change agent for the team
• Acknowledge your mistakes
A good ScrumMaster holds their team to account
A great Scrum Master holds the team accountable for holding their teammates to account
A good ScrumMaster helps a team survive in an organisation’s culture
A great ScrumMaster helps change the culture so Scrum teams can thrive
Enabling
• There to help people do what they need to do
• Enjoy helping their team develop
• Enjoy team taking ownership
• Remove impediments
A good ScrumMaster asks to understand
A great ScrumMaster asks so the team can understand
A good ScrumMaster helps the team develop and grow
A great ScrumMaster helps the team develop their own growth pathway
Tactful
• A dead ScrumMaster is a useless ScrumMaster
• Transforming a team or organisation takes tenacity and patience, determination and resilience
• Sensitive and considerate to the situation they face
• Provoke difficult conversations with care and respect
A good ScrumMaster will help maintain team harmony
A great ScrumMaster will guide a team through disharmony to reach a new level of teamwork
A good ScrumMaster will say what needs to be said
A great ScrumMaster knows the power of silence
Resourceful
• Be creative and think outside the box to solve impediments
• Proactive and hate monotony
• Challenge assumptions
• Look outside your organisation
A good ScrumMaster ensures team members share their status efficiently with one another in the daily scrum
A great ScrumMaster ensures the daily scrum is an energising event that teams look forward to
A good ScrumMaster creates an environment where raising impediments can occur
A great ScrumMaster creates an environment where creativity can occur
Alternative
• Servant leadership, changes the hierarchy and challenges the traditions
• Break the mould
• Pioneer new techniques and strategies in search of excellence
• Challenge the status quo
A good ScrumMaster coaches the team to success
A great ScrumMaster also allows room for failure
A good ScrumMaster helps the team identify improvements
A great ScrumMaster encourages the team to be ADAPTIVE
Inspiring
• Radical change agents
• Inspire change around them
• Encourage a new best from people
• Infectively positive and ruthless towards greatness
A good ScrumMaster encourages teams to share skills
A great ScrumMaster encourages teams to share responsibilities
A good SrcumMaster makes sure the high value items are being worked on
A great ScrumMaster helps craft an inspiring Sprint Goal
Nurturing
• The team is a continual work in progress that is never finished
• Believe the team has unlimited potential
• Protective of the team
• Encourage the team to self manage (positive intent)
A good ScrumMaster helps every member of the team grow
A great ScrumMaster fosters the team’s growth
A good ScrumMaster will be indispensable to a team
A great ScrumMaster will become both dispensable and wanted
Empathic
• Understand why people have a particular view
• Listen to understand not to reply
• Vital for effective ceremonies
A good ScrumMaster will listen carefully to what is said
A great ScrumMaster will also listen carefully to what is not said
A good ScrumMaster facilitates cooperation between people
A great ScrumMaster facilitates collaboration
Disruptive
• Sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty (don’t forget tactful)
• Being a pain in the “neck” can be a good thing if done the right way
• We cant just tolerate scrum we must support it
• Defend the team without alienating others
A good ScrumMaster will push for permission to remove impediments to team productivity
A great ScrumMaster will be prepared to ask for forgiveness
A good ScrumMaster protects the team from distractions
A great ScrumMaster finds the root cause of those distractions and eliminates them
BELIEF
–Abraham Maslow
“In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety.”