The Scrum Master

When I introduce myself as a Scrum Master, I have often people ask me what it is a Scrum Master actually does. I am a big believer in taking the “nonsense” around things away and simplifying things the NoNonsense way, so let’s start with an overly simplistic definition for what the Scrum Master does:

It is a common misunderstanding that a Scrum Master and the Project Manager play the same role. This is definitely not the case. Actually the two roles are very, fundamentally different and they each are part of approaches to projects that are widely different (waterfall vs Agile). The title of scrum master is very powerful but the scrum master is not the project leader and the Scrum Master is not to be held accountable for outcomes of the project. Actually in a Scrum development process it is the team as a whole, which is responsible and accountable for the delivered outcomes.

So generally speaking we can say that a scrum master is NOT:

  • the Project Manager

  • a team or line manager

  • someone with authority over the team members

  • a team lead

  • an easy role

  • necessarily a team member

  • necessarily the most experienced team member

  • Accountable for the end result.

A scrum master is the facilitator for a product development team that uses scrum, as earlier explained a term borrowed from rugby, to describe a development methodology that allows a team to self-organize and make changes quickly. The scrum master in this manages the process for how information is exchanged, facilitates communication, moderates discussion and facilitate consensus.

A skilled facilitator will design and lead a meeting with the responsibility to help the team reach its goals and objectives. A skilled coach will help the team reach its potential and continuously improve its Agile processes.

When we look in the theory, we can find the following roles associated with being a Scrum Master. The Scrum Master;

  • Helps the team to reach consensus for what can be achieved during a specific period of time.

  • Assists the team to reach consensus during the daily scrum and makes sure the consensus is registered.

  • Owns the success of the team’s process. This might mean helping the Product Owner maximize productivity. It is not the role for the Scrum Master to own the team or the team’s outcomes.

  • Serves the team and product owner to turn the requirements into a working product. His role is a critical role in agile and one should be very cool, intelligent and knowledgeable while playing this role.

  • Team gives the commitment, the scrum master has to track the progress and help the team to achieve the given commitment. Ultimate goal is to make the sprint successful.

  • Is responsible for the scrum processes agreed in the project. First of all, SM creates the scrum rules for the project. Then he has to make sure that each and every process is implemented in the project.

  • Shields the team, so ultimately the Scrum master has to make sure that team can focus on delivery. For all the external interference, the Scrum Master should stand in front of the team.

  • Coaches the team on how to estimate. Furthermore the Scrum Master will also participate in the estimation during the planning meeting.

Let’s now dive a little bit deeper in the most important aspects of the Scrum Masters’ role,

1.      “A Scrum Master removes impediments for the team”

It seems many people believe this to be the only thing a Scrum Master does. Maybe this is caused by the Scrum Course they have undertaken or maybe they misinterpreted the information given. Although it is an important role it is definitely not all a Scrum Master does. 

If this would be all the Scrum Master did, it would be possible for a Scrum Master to work with many Scrum teams at once.  While some Scrum Masters do in fact work with multiple teams, it is definitely not the preferred way of doing things.  I do agree with whomever stated “A good Scrum Master can work with multiple teams at once, a GREAT Scrum Master will only work with one.”  In other words you can be successful working with more than one team as a Scrum Master, but it won’t be possible for you or the team to reach greatness!”

A great Scrum Master can and should do so much more for the team!  Let’s elaborate a bit further:

2.      A Scrum Master is a servant leader helping the team be accountable to themselves for the commitments they make

Hmm, a servant leader?  Accountability?  Commitments?  Uh oh, Houston, we have a problem!  Let’s take this one piece at a time:

The Scrum Master is a servant leader.  According to Wikipedia, in order to be a servant leader, you need to have to following qualities: listening, commitment to growth, foresight, and the ability to build community.  In addition there are several common characteristics of servant leaders including collaboration, trust, empathy, and the ethical use of power.  What is very interesting to notice here that there is not a single mention of management. Let’s be very clear about one this: leadership is NOT the same as management!  Shortly, a manager manages THINGS, as Leader leads people.

So If the Scrum Master doesn’t manage the team who does manage the team?  This is one of the beauties and difficulties of Scrum. The team is self-managing.  This leads us right into the next thing

The Scrum Master is helping the team “be accountable to themselves”. A team that is accountable to themselves implies they are managing themselves.  This is very important for agile teams in general.  Not having the ability to hold each other accountable causes friction.  Accountability does not mean micro-management.  It is actually the opposite.  It is the ability to expect someone to do their work and if they don’t deliver, to hold them accountable and work together if necessary to improve the situation.  In most situations someone is given a task and then a task master of some sort continues to check progress.  Accountability means giving someone a task and expecting it to be completed unless an issue is raised.  Not doing this implies a person is not a team player which leads to lots of other problems.  Since we are talking about the Scrum Master here let’s bring the focus back to the role of the Scrum Master. Let us now focus on the word at the front of this title, HELPING.  The Scrum Master doesn’t do any of the activities him selves, the Scrum Master helps the team to do it themselves.  This is a huge difference

“for the commitments they make”.  It is worth to notice at this point that the Scrum Master is not responsible for helping the team meet external commitments.  Scrum masters are responsible for helping the team meet the commitments the team themselves made.  This has many implications and may for example involve the team working as one cross-functional unit (so breaking down the classical functional silos).  It might involve significant collaboration among different groups.  It might (and most likely will) involve removing impediments (this is where that statement and misunderstanding comes from, as it is not all a Scrum Master does).  It also certainly involves holding the team accountable to their commitment to the Scrum framework.  This will often involve coaching the team in how Scrum works, about Scrums best practices and how to implement the Scrum methodology successfully in the day to day operation.  Finally, this will involve holding the team accountable to create the highest value product possible (high value combined with high quality combined with high productivity) and therefore add the most possible value for the customer, being internal or external.

Having said all of this, what makes a good Scrum Master? The Scrum Master demands a distinct personality type to be successful. The best Scrum Masters are real team players, they receive as much satisfaction from facilitating others’ success as their own. They must be comfortable surrendering control to the Product Owner and team. For those two reasons, traditional project managers don’t usually make great Scrum Masters, although the exception can always be found.