What is a Scrum Master?
Let's try and explain
What is a Scrum Master? Good question.
A scrum master is a facilitator for an agile development team. Note the keyword is — facilitator.
Are they a project manager? No. Are they a lead? Yes and No.
A Scrum Master is a Servant — Leader.
Scrum is a framework. It allows a team to self-organize and make changes quickly, in accordance with agile principles.
The scrum master manages the framework and leads the team by facilitation. However, scrum master as the team lead? Nope.
Well, it can and does happen in organisations as you’d expect, but should it? Not really. The ‘structure’ is flat.
The scrum master is the person responsible for ensuring the team lives agile values and principles and follows the processes and practices that the team agreed they would use.
The scrum master protects the team from outside interruptions and distractions.
Hang on, the scrum master is in the team? Yes and no. The scrum master is the servant leader of the team, but doesn’t sit within the team directly i.e. doesn’t do the work on the increments.
The scrum master takes on the administrative, coaching and leadership roles that make Scrum development possible. That means they will usually spend their days; Facilitating (not participating in) the daily stand-ups, backlog refinements, sprint reviews and retrospectives. Encouraging collaboration between the scrum team and product owner.
Scrum Guide Definition
The Scrum Master is responsible for promoting and supporting Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide. Scrum Masters do this by helping everyone understand Scrum theory, practices, rules, and values.
The Scrum Master is a servant-leader for the Scrum Team. The Scrum Master helps those outside the Scrum Team understand which of their interactions with the Scrum Team are helpful and which aren’t. The Scrum Master helps everyone change these interactions to maximize the value created by the Scrum Team.
What does this mean? what do they do?
A Scrum Master:
· Facilitates the Scrum Events (daily scrum, sprint planning, sprint demo and retrospective) [not an event, but a Backlog refinement is also very key]
· Shielding the team from outside ‘interference’.
· Conflict resolutions
· Coaching Agile practices
· Tight grip on Agile Estimating and planning
· Forecasting (empirical evidence-based)
· Removing impediments
· Creating communication channel (team, Product owner, stakeholder)
· Servant leader
· Enforcing Rules
A Scrum Master is in place to facilitate delivery. Scrum is a framework, not a methodology. Delivery is the ultimate goal. A scrum master does many things, to enable the team to deliver.
What does a Scrum Master do all day?
For this, check out this amazing article written by Joshua Partogi
v1.0
I consider this v1.0 of this post, and would really like readers to contribute, please let me know what you want to add or change in the comments.
Thanks
