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June 11, 2019 by Beth McDonough 1 Comment

What Are a Scrum Master’s Roles and Responsibilities?

Three primary roles exist within the Agile realm of Scrum: Product Owner, Scrum Master, and the Team. According to Agile’s core foundations, the Scrum Master is meant to facilitate rather than dictate, focusing on empowering teams to be autonomous and to self-organize. Scrum Masters should encourage team members to endorse an Agile mindset, prioritizing individuals and interactions over processes and tools to create a powerful, iterative environment.

Let’s drive some clarity on what this means and break down the roles and responsibilities for this team-based servant leader.

A Scrum Master should:

Maintain the pulse of Team dynamics.

When a group of people works on a project, a storm of different styles and personalities interacting together can lead to varying or unhealthy Team dynamics. The job of the Scrum Master is to keep tabs on the health of these dynamics and jump in to facilitate conflict resolution and opportunities for growth where necessary. Scrum Masters don’t force change, they empower individuals to do their best work to help build a high-performing Team.

Remove obscuring obstacles from the path.

In order to make it to the finish line of a sprint goal, distractions need to be blocked and impediments alleviated to avoid stumbles along the way. It’s the Scrum Master’s responsibility to remove these roadblocks and maintain a focused path for Team members to reach their goals. Setting up the Team for success is a pivotal responsibility of the Scrum Master, and sometimes that can mean simply clearing the way for individuals to do what they do best.

Facilitate the flow of work within the team.

The Scrum Master’s primary role is to be a facilitator. Part of this general facilitation includes leading Team meetings, establishing clear goals, and assisting the efforts of both the Product Owner and the individual members of the Team. In assisting the Product Owner, the Scrum Master can help prioritize workload backlogs and manage project scopes to better align with the desired results and definition of the value of the current project. By challenging outdated processes, utilizing feedback from the team, and keeping best practices relevant, the Scrum Master enhances performance and flow for the team.

Scrum Master's Roles

Protect each team and their work from external distractions.

Scrum Masters should act as representatives of their Team in Scrum of Scrums (SoS) meetings and other executive discussions. The Scrum Master collects and communicates information between Teams, and between upper-management and the Team. This coordination with outside parties creates a protective barrier which allows members of the Team to focus on their work and the project at hand without the concern of impending distractions that may cause delays or task expansion.

Coach team members on self-management.

A Scrum Master doesn’t exist to be “the boss”. Their goal should be to foster individual ownership and personal responsibility within each of their Team members. Accomplishing this might involve teaching specific techniques to the Team for problem-solving while equipping them with the capabilities and confidence to tackle and resolve issues themselves. Self-discipline is a pillar of Agile, and the Scrum Master exists to implement these values and practices.

To learn more about this role and how to empower your organization’s growth within Agile, sign up for a Scrum Master course or contact the team at beLithe for information.

 

Filed Under: Blog, Scrum Tagged With: agile, Agile Culture, certified scrum master, scrum

August 21, 2017 by Chris Daily Leave a Comment

Get Certified! Here’s your Scrum Certification Study Guide

In almost every training course, I get asked how do I become a certified Scrum Master.  In response, we put together a study guide to help you prepare for the inevitable test.  enable your journey.  We created a Trello board, and add links to free videos, articles, and practice testing tools that will provide the foundational information covering the fundamentals of Scrum.  Click here to sign up and get access to the beLithe Scrum Certification Study Guide.

Be sure to let us know how you are progressing.

Thanks for coming in today.

Chris

Filed Under: agile, scrum Tagged With: certification., certified scrum master, professional scrum master, scrum, scrum.org

May 22, 2017 by Chris Daily Leave a Comment

Improve Your Knowledge and Get Your Scrum Certification

Over the last few years, Tana and I have been offering our Scrum training to students at ElevenFifty, CEWIT @ IU, and Purdue.  Last year, we also conducted a training session with TechPoint Bootcampers and Xterns and Tech Fellowes.  We constantly get asked about how one gets certified.  To help reinforce what we share in training and help folks get their certification, we have developed Pocket Prof for the iPhone and Android smart phones.  Designed as a quiz app, Pocket Prof provides a series of questions and answers to test your knowledge of Scrum.  The app compliments our training, and can be used to increase your knowledge of Scrum, enabling you to get your Scrum certification.  As with our course content, Scrum.org’s Scrum Guide was a key reference for Pocket Prof.

As our interactive aid to our training, we hope to add other quizzes as well in the near future.  The app is free in both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.  Check it out and let us know what you think.

Thanks for coming in today.

Chris

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Pocket Prof, scrum, Scrum Training, scrum.org

March 3, 2016 by Chris Daily Leave a Comment

New Approach: ShuHaRi

Yes, it’s an old approach, but it’s new to me.  Over the last five years, I have helped a number of different teams transform their delivery capability by introducing Agile methodologies and techniques.

From the time I graduated from good old Ball U., I have applied a variety of techniques, processes, and practices (collectively defined as “tools”) as required by the objective I was trying to reach.  Discarding what didn’t work and keeping what did, I have accumulated an arsenal of tools that work for me in a manner that I comfortable and confident.  With a career covering a number of years, technologies, and cultural swings, I am constantly researching new areas, looking for different and better ideas that will help those around me.

As I 240px-ShuHaRido my own research for beLithe, I try to be objective and keep my personal biases out of the review.  I don’t want my own fears and personal flaws (I don’t think I have any!)  getting in the way of a new idea or approach.  Once, I decide to try an approach, I start by reminding myself about the concept of ShuHaRi.

Aikido master Endō Seishirō shihan stated:

“It is known that, when we learn or train in something, we pass through the stages of shu, ha, and ri. These stages are explained as follows. In shu, we repeat the forms and discipline ourselves so that our bodies absorb the forms that our forebears created. We remain faithful to these forms with no deviation. Next, in the stage of ha, once we have disciplined ourselves to acquire the forms and movements, we make innovations. In this process the forms may be broken and discarded. Finally, in ri, we completely depart from the forms, open the door to creative technique, and arrive in a place where we act in accordance with what our heart/mind desires, unhindered while not overstepping laws.”

By following the approach or idea (the Shu phase), I want to have the experience or the feeling of embracing the idea or approach.

agile-pdcaOnce I have mastered the approach, then I can start looking objectively at whether the idea or approach is doing what I expected (the Ha phase).  Innovation can occur at this point.  I will start an iterative cycle of:

  1. Planning what I am going to do
  2. Doing what I had planned
  3. Checking the results of what I did
  4. Adjusting what I am going to do the next time

Granted, the first few iterations are focused on execution.  The good stuff happens when I get to the Checking phase.  Being honest with myself and asking questions like:

  • How I am doing?
  • Is there a gap in my knowledge?
  • Am I avoiding doing things that make me uncomfortable?
  • Did I position this wrong?
  • Am I seeing the results I expected?

tends to bring out the best and worst of me.  I struggle past the ego-maniac (the worst) in me to get to what is working, what’s not working, and what can I do to improve (the best).  By sticking to the “By the Book” approach, I am forcing myself to not rationalize the failures, but to acknowledge my own flaws (huh?) and inexperience and learn from them.

After a while, I tend to get a pretty good grasp on what works and what doesn’t.  At this point, I tend to feel confident about what I the idea or approach, and can often share with others.  It almost becomes second nature.  Most of the time, I feel like I am in the Ri phase when it comes to leading software development groups and teaching/coaching/implementing Agile.  If you ask some of my teammates, they may disagree with me.

As I continue to use the various tools I have assembled, I am adopting a Lean approach at a personal level.  I constantly in the process of a PDCA cycle, doing more of what has worked while kicking what doesn’t work to the curb.

While ShuHaRi works for me, it might not work for everybody.  Give ShuHaRi a shot by being ShuHaRi.

Thanks for coming in today.

Chris

Filed Under: agile, Agile, IMO, Scrum, Uncategorized Tagged With: agile, coaching, scrum, shuhari

March 1, 2016 by Chris Daily 1 Comment

Inspiration: Scrum Cheat Sheet

Scrum Cheat SheatThrough our travels in coaching and training, we have developed a number of aids that help us reinforce the point we are pontificating about.  Our first contribution is our Scrum Cheat Sheet. We are embracing the Creative Commons License  approach on anything we make available.  With this approach, you can share anything we provide along with the appropriate credit.

All we ask is that you let us know what you like or don’t like about our Scrum Cheat Sheet.  Enjoy.

Thanks for coming in today.

Chris

Creative Commons License
beLithe Scrum Cheat Sheet by beLithe, LLC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Filed Under: Agile, agile, Scrum Tagged With: agile, cheat sheet, scrum, tips

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