How to be a Champion Scrum Master!

Do you like to be at the center stage when the management showers the praises and appreciates with thundering applause? Of course, those are the golden moments that everyone is dreaming about. But, is it easy to be a champion without adequate knowledge and skills? No, not at all. You should have all the required skills to excel.

And when we talk about a role like Scrum Master, which is widely misunderstood and misinterpreted in many organizations, how come, a person effectively play the role and it’s responsibilities and becomes a champion scrum master, isn’t it challenging?

Let’s discuss how you can become a champion scrum master by performing its roles and responsibilities efficiently. But before jumping to what you need to do as a super champ scrum master, let’s discuss what you should not do as a scrum master.

What you shouldn’t do as a Scrum Master?

• As a Scrum master, it is not your job to manage a team. The Scrum team is self-organizing, does not require micro-management.
• Scrum master neither chooses the user stories nor distributes tasks to the team member. It is also not his/her job to act like a ring-master to get the job done from each team member.
• The organization should not expect you to plan the release of the product as a scrum master; it is the job of the product owner.
• And the best part is, you as a scrum master are not accountable when your project met with any unexpected end result, the product owner held responsible for any such consequences

Are you feeling happy that as a scrum master you are free from the pressure of team management and at the same time you are also not accountable for any consequences, Isn’t it great? But, you may be wondering now that what is left for scrum master then? What is the role of a scrum master to do in a project?

What should you do as a Scrum Master

Let’s think about a traditional family, where the father takes all the important decisions to run the home. He decides who will do what, what are the things need to be done and when to complete all such day to day works at home. The other member of the family like the children, aunts, uncles and even the mothers also follows his orders and directions. Then what is the role of mothers at our home?

Where the father is for making the decisions, the mother is to ensure all the works should be executed without any hiccups. She is the person behind the smooth running of the house. She is the backbone of the house and with her support, everybody does their routine without any issues.

On that perspective, we can relate a scrum team with our traditional family. Yes, where the Father acts as a product owner, the children are the scrum team and our Mother plays the crucial role of Scrum Master. Isn’t it the most crucial job?

So, the scrum master has to do…

• The scrum master facilitates all the required support to the self-organizing scrum team to achieve the desired results
• They ensure that all the scrum ceremonies like Daily Scrum, Sprint Planning Meeting, Sprint Review Meeting, Sprint Retrospective Meeting are happening as per the rules and guidelines without any fail
• Helps the team to maintain their Story Board, burn-down chart and other artifacts.
• Protects the team from any outside interruptions, so that the team can focus on the work to fulfill their commitments.
• Removes the impediments, encourages collaboration between the team and the product owner
• Ensures transparency on team’s progress on a daily basis
• Scrum master safeguards the processes, ensures that the team adheres to the values and practices of scrum.
• They are the coach, guide and light bearer of Scrum practices; they spread the awareness of scrum within the project as well as throughout the organization.

So, in simple words we can say that the scrum master is just like the Superman or Spider-man of our comic world, who can do anything to save the scrum team, by removing the barriers, shielding and facilitating the team, so that the team can able to deliver the committed tasks withing the specified time frame. The Scrum team is only need to focus on their work and leave the rest of the things to the scrum master.

Role of Scrum Master in Scrum Ceremonies

It is mandatory for the scrum team to follow all the scrum ceremonies as per the specified guidelines to get the expected benefits of Scrum.

And it is the job of scrum master to ensure that the team is following all those ceremonies without any fail.

Scrum master ensures that the Sprint Planing Meeting must happen at the start of each sprint and all the required participants must be available in the meeting.

• The Scrum Master ensures that all these meetings have to be completed within the specified time limits, it shouldn’t be stretched longer. And the required participants must attend in those meetings.
• The Daily Scrum Meeting must be held everyday through out the Sprint without any fail. The scrum master ensures that the team member participates and keeps the meetings short and concise.
• Sprint Review Meeting and Sprint Retrospective Meetings has to be held at the end of the each sprint and all the participants like Scrum Master, Product Owner, Scrum Team, Customers etc.. must attend those ceremonies.

So, to become a champion scrum master you need to understand the do’s and don’ts. Ensure that the team is very much aware and lives by the values and practices of scrum. You are the coach, the process owner of the team. Help the team by all possible means to achieve the highest level of team performance. Watch your step while ensuring the team to follow all the scrum ceremonies strictly, as you don’t have any authority. Better to spread as much awareness on the benefits of scrum practices throughout the team and organisations.