7 Tips to become a better Scrum Master
A Scrum Master keeps product development and the whole team on track. However, this is not all about the role of the Scrum Master. While Scrum Masters act as coaches, helping the whole team with understanding of the Scrum Framework, they require specific servant leadership skills to become successful and assist teams effectively work toward accomplishing their goals. In this blog post we will share seven tips to become a better Scrum Master. However, before we start let's answer two questions: "Who is a Scrum Master?" and "What are their main responsibilities?"
A Scrum Master is a person who leads a Scrum Team through several sprints or short bursts of work to develop products and achieve goals. Scrum Masters are there to guide the team through Scrum Events, help with understanding of the Scrum Framework, coach the team in self-management and cross-functionality and ensure that all Scrum Events take place on time, are positive and productive. At the same time, they help organizations to successfully adopt Scrum and remove barriers between stakeholders and Scrum Teams. They assist Product Owners with finding the most effective techniques for Product Goal definition and Product Backlog management.
Here is the list of main responsibilities of a Scrum Master:
- Participate in sprint reviews and capture feedback
- Help to plan sprint meetings
- Facilitate daily standups
- Monitor sprints and find areas of improvements
- Administrate Scrum Board
- Work with reporting tools
- Provide consultation to stakeholders and Scrum Team members on better collaboration
- Make sure that the Scrum Team functions at the highest level
For Scrum Masters it is not enough to understand responsibilities and follow best practices to succeed. Our seven tips will help to become a better Scrum Master and successfully lead teams through all Scrum Processes and Events.
Understand Scrum Framework and its purpose
With solid knowledge of Scrum Framework, its role, principles and events, you will be able to guide your team through all Scrum processes effectively. However, remember that neither Scrum nor Agile comes with a rule book. Effective Scrum Masters help their teams to adapt to the situation and make the collaboration and working process as efficient as possible in their Scrum environment.
Possess servant leader skills
Leaders who put others first are servants. People who possess servant leadership skills have instinctive desire to help others, meet their needs, give and receive feedback on a regular basis, help others to boost their confidence. For successful Scrum Masters such skills are important as their main task is to help teams be effective in their Scrum Environment. Scrum Masters are there not to control, but to provide guidance through coaching, and make team's environment more productive.
Be coach and mentor
Scrum Masters help teams to better understand Scrum principles and practices. Through coaching and mentorship, they help teams become more productive and grow confidence among employees.
Promote collaboration and foster feedback
Effective collaboration and regular feedback are the guarantee of success. By giving and receiving feedback Scrum Masters not only keep track of the project development but also unobtrusively guide the team through Scrum Events, help them stay productive and foster effective communication between stakeholders and Product Owners.
Take the most out of every retro meeting
Each retrospective is a chance to discuss ups and downs and find out what exactly and why did not work and what your team did well. This helps to identify where you need to improve before the next sprint. As a result, you can coach your Scrum Team and refine your leadership skills.
Cooperate with Product Owners
Scrum Product Owners regularly communicate with stakeholders and are responsible for determining which product backlog items or goals the Scrum Team should work on. Strong relationship between Scrum Masters and Product owners ensures a smooth transition from selecting the tasks to work on to accomplishing Scrum sprints.
Never stop learning
By following the latest trends and practices, you will stay up to date and will easily introduce new approaches and broaden your skills as a Scrum Master. To be successful you need to learn and always be open to refine your approach. Feedback from stakeholders and new knowledge will help you become a better Scrum Master.
As a Scrum Master you should always remember the Scrum Framework cannot fit all situations. Scrum practices that would work in one scenario might be a complete failure in the next one. Thus, your task as a Scrum Master is to help your teams stay productive in their Scrum environment and adapt to situations. Thus, your Scrum implementations should always allow experimentation and flexibility to find the best fit for the team and project.