Jack of all trades, master.....of one

What makes a good scrum master?

I currently serve 3...maybe 4 roles and i enjoy them all but I know that deep down, scrum master is my true talent and it is what i enjoy the most.

Recently i have asked myself why? why do I enjoy the scrum master role so much. It has rattled around my head over and over as I am multi skilled in product delivery. I can be mobilised as a test manager, business analyst and over the last year I have devised a release process and acted in the role of release manager. I enjoy them all to varying degrees but there is only one role that I find truly enjoyable......that is the role of scrum master.

Through the last 5 years, i have scrummed multiple squads, i have mentored team members to scrum master level and delivered numerous products to happy customers. I have done so while sometimes working other roles (test, BA release), but if i'm honest with myself, I excel in the delivery aspect, and in coaching and implementing scrum.

I believe that this is because it comes most naturally to me. I enjoy coaching and motivating people and i enjoy success. Scrum, done right, brings results and when a team really comes together and starts delivering value regularly, it is a great feeling, not just for me, but for the whole team.

Even as a line manager in operational roles in my early career, I always saw the job as being very front loaded. Coach the team, trust the team, respect the team and share my vision with the team. Eventually, if you are a good leader then the team will end up running itself and you can begin to optimise.

If your plan is to rule with an iron fist then agile working is not for you......please leave the room!!!!

So, i believe that a large part of what makes a good scrum master is enjoying what you do. Enjoying the sense of achievement that you AND the team gets when meeting a sprint goal.

Kanban is always an option, but the iterative style and setting achievable goals, really helps to keep the scrum team focused and enjoy the work that we do.

The feeling of working in a team that all shares the attitude of "We succeed together, we fail together" is so empowering and promotes security and courage if done right.

In a conversation I had with one of my team members recently, who is fairly new to agile/scrum, the team member said to me "when you strip it all out, its just common sense". Now, obviously, you need to understand the agile principles and scrum framework but when you are already delivery focused and set your own personal goals often, agile frameworks and specifically scrum does seem like common sense.

We are human and we are doing the work, so the people element of scrum is common sense. To me, scrum removes the BS and brings to light the reason that we are all in jobs. ...to deliver value. This is THE goal.

Through my years of working scrum and in particular when i first helped to implement agile working 6 years ago into a delivery function that was used to working waterfall, there was so many times that the phrase "we cant do that, it isn't agile" but common sense dictated to do the opposite. Now i understand a lot more, I look back at some of these scenarios and realise that what was proposed was perfectly agile and in fact, why agile is so popular. We have to have the courage to make the right decisions in order to deliver......Agile is a model, it is not a prison, so don't lock yourself inside it, otherwise, you are inherently not agile.

Failing.....there is much to the lightweight framework of scrum that is not prescribed. It is in failing that we learn to fill in the blanks. I have been part of implementing scrum and again and again, learning all of the time. If scrum was easy, there would be no need for a scrum master, filling in the blanks takes time and experience. Truly using sprint retrospectives to improve is extremely important. Trying new ways is important and i'm sure that every good scrum master has failed before they got it right.

There are many, many scrum masters working in an environment that does not really support scrum or needs to be improved and evolve. Its ok if you are not running it to the book, you need to cultivate the commitment to improve until you get there....and believe that you will.

So what have we come up with so far? what makes a good scrum master?........

I could talk about the 5 scrum values, but i believe that they are all in here.

You need to be a good coach

You need to be a good motivator

You need to do what makes sense

You need to enjoy success, and watching others enjoy the same

You need to remember that agile/scrum is ultimately a guide, don't lock yourself in

You need to have experience in what works.....and what doesn't

You need to remember that the ultimate goal is delivering value

but most of all........

You need to enjoy what you do