Scrum Masters serve as coaches and facilitators, removing distractions that impede teams from delivering value. They are not traditional leaders or managers, yet many organisations still perceive the Scrum Master role as conventional leadership and treat them as managers who control and dictate tasks.
The Scrum Master ensures that the team comprehends and utilises the Scrum framework to achieve their goals and objectives. They must apply Scrum principles and guide the team through Scrum practices. Initially, teams should adhere strictly to Scrum practices as outlined, but these practices evolve as they develop better collaboration methods. The Scrum Master embodies and upholds Scrum principles and practices, acting as the team’s conscience, even when these principles are inconvenient.
Scrum Masters must remind teams not to defer bug fixes or asset polishing until later sprints, as each sprint delivers a vertical slice of the service being worked on. This approach can reduce the workload for subsequent sprints and minimise the risk of delayed product or service releases. Additionally, Scrum Masters should encourage teams to prioritise the most critical tasks to ensure timely product or service releases.
Scrum Masters foster a sense of ownership within their teams, knowing when to assist and when to allow teams to struggle. They understand that overprotecting the team may hinder growth and independence. For example, a Scrum Master might help a team identify and understand a problem but then allow the team to develop a solution independently.
Scrum Master responsibilities include addressing impediments, monitoring progress, facilitating planning, reviews, and retrospectives, promoting continuous improvement, enhancing communication between stakeholders and teams, and ensuring transparency regarding impediments.
When individual events rarely delay projects, numerous smaller issues can accumulate, extending the overall project timeline. For instance, a minor delay in obtaining suitable materials or missing a deadline for a critical component can cause cascading delays throughout the entire project.
Scrum identifies every obstacle to progress as an impediment. By forming cross-disciplinary teams, Scrum aims to resolve many of these impediments. For example, if a designer and a programmer share the same sprint goal, the programmer is more likely to assist the designer in overcoming an impediment.
Cross-disciplinary teams include individuals from various disciplines, such as design, programming, and QA, who collaborate to achieve a sprint goal. This interdisciplinary approach fosters idea-sharing and leads to more innovative solutions.
Cross-disciplinary teams typically resolve most obstacles independently throughout the day. The Scrum Master’s role is to highlight impediments to ensure they are addressed. Impediments can include technical challenges, resource constraints, interpersonal conflicts, and organisational issues.
The Scrum Master tracks progress and compares it against the goal, promptly notifying the team if they fall behind; consequently, this helps the team stay on track and make necessary adjustments or corrective actions. The Scrum Master also assists the team in identifying areas of struggle and taking steps to regain progress.
The Scrum Master ensures the smooth execution of planning, reviews, and retrospectives. Besides facilitating team meetings, the Scrum Master ensures these meetings adhere to the agreed-upon time limits. To maintain efficient meetings, Scrum Masters must continuously develop their skills and enable teams to operate independently.
The Scrum Master must be an effective communicator, capable of managing and facilitating team discussions. They must be organised, keep track of tasks and progress, and be able to recognise and resolve conflicts within the team. Additionally, they must identify potential problems and take preventive measures to avoid hindering the team’s progress.
The Scrum Master advocates for continuous improvement, encouraging team members to enhance their performance. Scrum Masters act as facilitators, sometimes identifying preferred solutions before the team but refraining from implementing them directly. They help teams independently identify and solve problems, teaching them this crucial skill. Scrum Masters often coach teams to streamline communication between stakeholders and teams.
The Scrum Masters ensure effective communication between stakeholders and teams. Stakeholders focus on return on investment, profit/loss calculations, sales projections, and budgeting, while development teams discuss technology, gameplay, and artistic vision. Language differences can hinder honest communication between these groups.
The Scrum Master enforces boundaries, wards off distractions, and sometimes alerts others to emerging problems. Overbearing attitudes can stress teams, while passive attitudes may prevent teams from recognising and addressing impediments.
Scrum Masters trust their teams, coaching and facilitating them to achieve their best results. Being a Scrum Master is challenging but rewarding. They must be persistent and stubborn in resolving team issues, often requiring personal intervention with individuals resistant to change.
Scrum Masters must consistently remind managers about the purpose of Scrum and the reciprocal commitments between stakeholders and team members. Effective coaching requires sensitivity to avoid offending and raising barriers.
