Masters of the Scrum Universe

[#1]

If you have not read my first article here is a link to it for context.

Remember the three-legged stool analogy from my previous article well we are going to cover the second stool leg, my experience as a Scrum Master.

I have been a Scrum Master and I have had the opportunity to support a number of Scrum Masters within the software development industry. In my experience, the individuals that make the best Scrum Masters are those that want to support everyone in any way they can. Known as the servant-leader of teams within organisations they serve the Development Team and the Product Owner while leading best practices within the Scrum framework.

I have worked within a few organisations that have adopted the Scrum Master role without adopting the rest of the framework. The majority of the time, those organisations incorrectly implement the Scrum Master duties within another role, such as a member of the Development Team or the Product Owner, while not prioritising their duties as the servant-leader. This ultimately ends in the team and product suffering or the roles within the Scrum framework not attaining an efficient cohesion.

You want to be a Scrum Master? Be a servant-leader; coach your team, teach your Product Owner, help your team to find the right tools for developing the product, understand and accept your limitations (your are not a product or development expert), facilitate the resolution of conflicts (talk-the-talk 😊), educate your product stakeholders on the benefits of Scrum, build a secure environment for your team to work productively.

In my next post, I’ll be talking about my experiences with the strongest stool leg of all, the Development Team.

[Scott Theus]

Hi @[deleted],

It's interesting to read that in your experience "the majority of the time, those organisations incorrectly implement the Scrum Master duties within another role, such as a member of the Development Team or the Product Owner;" with those to roles mentioned specifically. Was that by chance, or are those the roles you commonly see combined with the Scrum Master role? 

I've seen the Scrum Master combined with the Project Manager, and as a member of the dev team, but rarely do I see the PO and the Scrum Master in one position. TBH, I think a PO combined with the Scrum Master would be a nightmare and would inject a large amount of bias into the Scrum team.

Thoughts? 

[Deleted user]

Hi @Scott Theus,

Those are the roles I have commonly seen combined, though I have seen the Project Manager role combined with the Scrum Master role. On average those combinations have been more successful so I was not able to give a thorough opinion on that particular combination. 

Oh yes, a PO acting as a Scrum Master quickly breaks down as decisions and tailoring of the framework is biased towards the product as you mentioned. 

As a member of a dev team, what are you experiences when interacting with the other roles. 

Thanks for taking the time to read my article Scott :)