Scrum Mastering Reloaded

By Francesco Attanasio

This book is about Scrum Master accountability.
In companies that haven't fully transitioned to Agile, there isn't always a clear understanding of what a Scrum Master really is. In such organizations, the role of Scrum Master can be a little different from team to team; it can depend on the context.
The Scrum Master having coaching skills can help an organization for positive change.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 24, 2015
• ISBN: 9781326464837

Book preview

Author

Preface

Scrum has only three accountabilities: Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Developers. Together they cover the responsibilities needed to ensure a successful project.

This book is about Scrum Master accountability.      

In companies that haven't fully transitioned to Agile, there isn't always a clear understanding of what a Scrum Master really is. In such organizations, the accountability of Scrum Master can be a little different from team to team; it can depend on the context.

The Scrum Master having coaching skills can help an organization for positive change.

The Scrum Master accountability is unique, and some of its key expectations are:       

The Scrum Master is a facilitator.

The Scrum Master is a coach.

The Scrum Master helps the team remove impediments.

The Scrum Master should follow the servant-leader style.

The Scrum Master is the framework custodian.

If you think about the Product Owner as fuel, and the Developers as the engine, the Scrum Master can be thought of as lubricant.  In order to have your engine use the fuel most effectively, lubricant needs to be drenched all over the moving parts.  

If your engine doesn’t have lubricant, then its parts will grind each other and you will have a very poorly performing engine.  

Structure of this Book

This book is simple to use.

Chapter 1 describes what Scrum Master is not. It discusses main problems with the various Scrum Master accountability descriptions.

Chapter 2 gives an overview of what the key expectations of the Scrum Master accountability are.

Chapter 3 explains What Coaching is. As Scrum Masters, part of our job is to improve the productivity and engineering practices of our teams in any way possible. One way to help our teams improve is coaching.

Chapter 4 describes in more detail the Scrum Master as coach and some useful coaching models.

Finally, in Chapter 5, I explain when a Scrum Master is successful not only as coach but also acting as motivator and change agent.

Chapter 1: What Scrum Master is not

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. – Confucius

There are as many definitions of Scrum Master as there are authors to define it. While there is a lot to learn from all this literature, it is remarkable that there are so many inconsistent definitions of the accountability. The variations in the accountability description mainly arise from ScrumBut environments.

A ScrumBut (or Scrum-But) is any divergence to the way the Scrum framework was supposed to be implemented, either by extending the basic principles or by shortening them (and hence missing some important points). Usually these ScrumButs are seen as necessary or, worse, as acceptable variations of the whole framework.  But this is, in my experience, rarely the case. This chapter discusses main problems with the various Scrum Master accountability descriptions.

Scrum Masters could tend to be one of the following: 

Project Managers seeking a better way to manage projects

Team Leaders/Managers seeking better ways to manage people

Tech Leads thrown into an accountability they don’t understand

Rare individuals with coaching and counseling skills

I believe that the first three types are not useful, not even in the short term. The fourth type, the Scrum Master acting as coach (described in chapters 3 and 4), has merit.       

This type of Scrum Master can help an organization and take steps for positive change. People fitting this fourth type are, sadly, few and are the exception that proves the rule. I believe that, when the Scrum Master accountability is not correctly interpreted can risk doing damages to our companies than aiding them to change.

The Scrum Master accountability is often abused but I consider it one of the valuable options for organizations. The option that may challenge the status quo or also bringing their own organizations at a higher level.      

Even in Agile mature organizations I see the Scrum Master accountability as means that can create space for change agents and catalyze improvements.

Some misunderstandings

I keep hearing things like The goal of a Scrum Master/Coach is to make him unneeded or For a mature team, we can do with a part-time or without a Scrum Master/Coach.       

None of these make any sense to me.

People, including most newly assigned Scrum Masters, do not know what to expect from such a accountability. What value does it add?

Commonly this also leads to the Scrum Master accountability being implemented as some sort of mix between a meeting booking secretary and a command and control rule enforcer.

But that is completely not the point of having such person assisting a team and an organization.

A Scrum Master is not overhead

It’s always interesting to me when I hear Scrum Masters referred to as overhead.  

To pay for a person that does not add any tangible value to the product seems unnecessary. It is my ambition to share my experience of the real value a Scrum Master can add to a software product development.

The concept of servant leadership (described in chapter 2) is a wonderful one. Servant leadership requires humility and stillness, not the busy-ness we could see in some Scrum Masters or Agile Coaches, with their plethora of software tools, spreadsheets, charts, metrics, sticky notes, and schedules, attempting to master the Scrum framework.

Some people could ask What’s the Scrum Masters value? or Do we really need a Scrum Master? I understand these questions. They are effectively valid questions to ask about every accountability in an organization. They are especially valid questions to ask about Scrum Masters when you’re not, well, Agile.

I would challenge those who might be asking these questions to first ask Do we really want to be an Agile organization?  If the answer is yes, then asking what needs to be true in order for you to realize the full benefit of your Scrum Masters?  

Scrum Masters as coaches help people learn and grow in and beyond their accountability professionally and, sometimes, personally.   They see things that most cannot see anymore, and they can question it safely. 

The actual idea with Scrum Masters      

What a Scrum Master brings is another focus and another perspective, compared to other team members. For example, it is very hard to be focused on the details and on the big picture at the same time.

For instance, pair programming gurus recommend that the driver focuses on the details and the co-pilot focuses on the big picture. Similarly, the Scrum framework has different accountabilities, to give each person fewer things to primarily focus on.

For example, deep in the code, you will also probably not be thinking about how to effectively rework the organizational structures that are impeding improvements and thus slowly killing your organization.

That is one of the reasons that we have Scrum Masters. They must facilitate positive changes and improvements. They must do this since it is their primary focus.

Besides you need in each team someone who:

Takes care about team and its ability to deliver value

Is committed to continuous improvement

Is open to think and act in a different way

Takes care about the efficiency of your systems

Believes in what you’re trying to achieve through Agile (notice I did not say believe in Agile)

Takes care about team strategic competencies

Makes every effort to promote