Just ask someone not on an Agile team what a Scrum Master does and you'll get answers like "runs the stand up" or "updates the board." Anyone on an Agile team who's worked with a good Scrum Master knows the job is way more than that. People who earn their CSM (Certified ScrumMaster) quickly learn the job is about helping a team to work together better to make Scrum work when the deadline gets tight. Simpliaxis is one place to learn that; register now, CSM Certification Course. On the job learning is where it's at.
So, what do Scrum activities look like in the gaps between the meetings? It's not rigid. It varies with the team, the stage of the Sprint, the wider organization. A new team often needs lots of coaching and an experienced team often needs coaching to address blockers.
Facilitating the Daily Scrum
The Scrum Guide explains the role of the Scrum Master during the Daily Scrum as ensuring it happens and staying within time. The Developers own the conversation and the Scrum Master doesn't talk during it, unless of course the Developers want him/her to.
A common problem is the Daily Scrum turns into a status meeting, and each person on the team tells the Scrum Master what they did yesterday. In this case, the Scrum Master is not doing his/her job well and the Developers are wasting time. A better thing to discuss is how to get back on track to hit the Sprint Goal, and what are the barriers preventing that? It may be helpful to learn that two Developers are blocked by the same person or environment. This info can be deferred for later.
Supporting Sprint Planning
Preparing Before the Event
Before the meeting, the Scrum Master will review with the Product Owner if the top Product Backlog items are prepared to discuss and determine what will likely create the most value this sprint.
Planning Realistically
The Scrum Team discusses the things that must be done during this sprint. The Scrum Master makes sure there is discussion around how the work will be done. If a team member is on leave, that will pull capacity, and the last Sprint's work load must be left undone. Developers make the commitment to how much work they can complete. Committing to complete a given amount of work builds trust more than committing to an amount of work the team knows it will not be able to accomplish.
Removing Impediments and Resolving Challenges
One of the Scrum Master’s responsibilities is removing impediments. There are several ways to address blockers. They may come out in the Daily Scrum. Others may come to light when an item is stuck in “In Progress” for several days.
A Workplace Example
There is a team that is working on a payments feature and to complete their work, they need a vendor’s test environment. The vendor has been slow in granting access and this has been an impediment to the work. The Scrum Master has a conversation with the vendor’s security contact and explains the impact this is having on the team and how important this is to completing the work and meeting the Sprint Goal. This makes the security contact aware of the impact on the team and explains the importance of the Sprint Goal to the business. The Sprint Goal and the work are aligned. This situation helps the team solve the problem and clarify the process for the next time this request is needed.
Facilitating Sprint Reviews
The Sprint Review is an opportunity for the team to talk through and show what they accomplished and the next steps with stakeholders. As a Scrum Master, I work to get the right attendees and ensure the conversations are 2-way.
The Sprint Review focuses on showing what the Development Team accomplished. If the Development Team is not able to accomplish the User Story and it is only partially completed, it is important for the Development Team to express that rather than showing a fake completed story.
Conducting Sprint Retrospectives
Making It Safe to Speak Up
Sometimes there are people in the Retrospective that aren’t comfortable raising concerns, and others that do it too frequently. It is important for the Scrum Master to maintain a balance of helping those less vocal while not letting one person dominate the retrospective.
Turning Discussion into Action
The aim is to come up with a small number of action items, rather than an extensive list. Sometimes, concerns raised during Retrospectives relate to requirement changes that happen late, for example if this occurs in 3 consecutive Retrospectives, the Scrum Master might help the Development Team track down the cause by supporting the Product Owner in planning when to do story point estimations.
Coaching and Supporting the Scrum Team
Everything the Scrum Master does can be considered coaching. In response to a question a developer might have about what work to pick up next, rather than assigning a task himself, the Scrum Master often redirects the question to the Development Team.
Similarly, coaching also benefits the Product Owner and the rest of the organization with the implementation of Scrum. It’s also important when several teams work on the same product. Scrum Masters operating in an SAFe environment may benefit from the SSM certification course to gain an understanding of the role and how it works at that level of scale.
Monitoring Sprint Progress and Supporting Continuous Improvement
Using Boards and Burndown Charts Properly
Scrum boards and burndown charts are team tools, not individual tools. If a burndown chart is flat for a few days, the Scrum Master raises the issue with the team to ask what’s impeding the work.
Spotting Process Improvements
It’s possible that an increasing backlog of unreviewed code might be improved by trying pair programming or limiting work in progress. It’s the Scrum Master’s responsibility to ensure that the team is thinking about process improvements.
Conclusion
Scrum Masters are facilitators. One day they're facilitating an event, the next they're chasing a blocker, coaching someone, or facilitating a Retrospective. Being a Scrum Master means you aren't managing the team, which is a big difference from other roles in Agile project management. The goal is to create an environment for the team to manage itself and produce a predictable result.
For anyone wanting to pursue a career as a Scrum Master, it is just as important to know the ins and outs of the Scrum Framework as it is to gain practical experience working with teams. Taking a course teaches the framework and working with teams provides the opportunity to put that knowledge into practice. Continuously educate yourself and make each Sprint an opportunity to improve your skills as a Scrum Master.
