The scrum master is the leader of the agile movement within a team, but what techniques could the scrum master use to be more effective?
And what exactly are scrum masters trying to be more effective at?
First of all to know what techniques to use, we must understand what the scrum master does in their role.
What is a scrum master?
The scrum master is the leader of the scrum team and the agile process. A great definition can be found in the Scrum Guide. Scrum masters assist every member of the team through the agile process.
They connect the dots between the team and stakeholders, to ensure sprint tasks get achieved on time.
A scrum masters day-to-day role involves:
Co-ordinating the scrum based meetings
The scrum master ensures all agile based meetings happen every sprint.
While it is not always up to the Scrum Master to lead on these meetings, it is their responsibility to ensure they occur.
The typical meetings in a sprint are:
- Stand-ups – Daily meetings used for the team to update on sprint progress and advise of any blockers.
- Sprint planning – A plan of work for the next sprint. This is an opportunity to size up tickets, and to ensure the team understands the purpose of the upcoming sprint.
- Sprint retrospective – A review of the previous sprint. A typical retrospective will review:
- What went well?
- What did not go well?
- Is there anything the team could begin doing to improve future sprints?
Managing the teams velocity
Velocity is a data-driven way to manage workload.
Measured using ‘story points’ each ticket within a sprint has a specific number of points, which measures the complexity of each task. At the end of the sprint, the scrum master measures how many story points were completed.
The number of story points completed per sprint, is the teams velocity. This represents how much work the team can achieve in two weeks.
By understanding the teams velocity, the scrum master can correctly assign work to the team, and ensure the team is not overworking or underperforming.
Communicate sprint progress with the team and business
Communication ensures everyone is on the same page.
As the scrum master, it is vital for stakeholders to be up to date with the teams progress and for the team to be on the same page.
The scrum master must be a great communicator to aid the team to success.
Identifying problems and coaching the team to overcome them
The route of a problem is often hidden and deeply ingrained.
A good scrum master is able to identify the root of a problem and solve it through action plans and coaching of individual members within the team.
Being a leader and a motivator
Bad leaders make terrible scrum masters.
Good scrum masters, lead by example. They follow their own rules and encourage their team to strive for continuous improvement within their day job.
Great leaders guide their team to victory and help uplift them.
The scrum master is the leader of the agile movement within a team, but what techniques could the scrum master use to be more effective?
And what exactly are scrum masters trying to be more effective at?
First of all, to know what techniques to use, we must understand what the scrum master does in their role.
What is a scrum master?
The scrum master is the leader of the scrum team and the agile process. A great definition can be found in the Scrum Guide. Scrum masters assist every member of the team through the agile process.
They connect the dots between the team and stakeholders, to ensure sprint tasks get achieved on time.
A scrum master’s day-to-day role involves:
Co-ordinating the scrum-based meetings
The scrum master ensures all agile-based meetings happen every sprint.
While it is not always up to the Scrum Master to lead these meetings, it is their responsibility to ensure the meetings occur.
The typical meetings in a sprint are:
- Stand-ups – Daily meetings used for the team to update on sprint progress and advise of any blockers.
- Sprint planning – A plan of work for the next sprint. This is an opportunity to size up tickets, and to ensure the team understands the purpose of the upcoming sprint.
- Sprint retrospective – A review of the previous sprint. A typical retrospective will review:
- What went well?
- What did not go well?
- Is there anything the team could begin doing to improve future sprints?
Managing the team’s velocity
Velocity is a data-driven way to manage workload.
Measured using ‘story points’ each ticket within a sprint has a specific number of points, which measures the complexity of each task. At the end of the sprint, the scrum master measures how many story points were completed.
The number of story points completed per sprint is the team’s velocity. This represents how much work the team can achieve in two weeks.
By understanding the team’s velocity, the scrum master can correctly assign work to the team, and ensure the team is not overworking or underperforming.
Communicate sprint progress with the team and business
Communication ensures everyone is on the same page.
As the scrum master, it is vital for stakeholders to be up to date with the team’s progress and for the team to be on the same page.
The scrum master must be a great communicator to aid the team to success.
Identifying problems and coaching the team to overcome them
The root of a problem is often hidden and deeply ingrained.
A good scrum master can identify the root of a problem and solve it through action plans and coaching of individual members within the team.
Being a leader and a motivator
Bad leaders make terrible scrum masters.
Good scrum masters, lead by example. They follow their own rules and encourage their team to strive for continuous improvement within their day job.
Great leaders guide their teams to victory and help uplift them.
What techniques could the scrum master use?
Soft skills define great scrum masters.
Effective scrum masters understand the finer details of communication and can use soft skills to identify problems that arise throughout the team.
But what techniques can they use to become more effective?
Arrange regular one-to-one with everyone in your team to identify areas of coaching
A good scrum master knows their team on an individual level.
When working in a team, the root cause of a problem does not always present itself. The team could be missing all their sprint deliverables. And on the surface level, this looks like a lack of motivation within the team.
But by partaking in one-to-one conversations with the team, you can find the real issue. What appears as a motivational issue could turn out to be a communication issue, as developers reveal a lack of communication when a ticket is blocked.
Getting to know the team, can reveal where the true issues lie.
Use active listening to understand the deeper meaning
Organizing one-to-ones with your team is not enough. You must use active listening as well.
Active listening involves paying full attention to the speaker. Not just their words, but their body language. In a work environment, people do not always say what they think. Especially when what they are thinking may have consequences.
With active listening, a colleague may say they are fine, but their body language can say otherwise. Maybe they look nervous which could indicate a confidence issue with their work.
Active listening in conversations can help identify what your colleagues mean.
Define the problem and keep digging by asking ‘why?’
You cannot fix problems if you do not know what the problems are.
Scrum masters should define the problem before going on a mission to solve it. But the problem is not always as clear as it seems. So to find the route of the problem, a good scrum master will dig by asking ‘why?’ questions.
“Why are we not closing all our tickets every sprint?”
Because tickets are getting blocked for too long.
“Why are they getting blocked for too long?“
Because there is only one developer with admin access to the database system.
“Why does only this developer have admin access to this software? “
Because she is the only developer who is trained in SQL databases.
The solution becomes clear by asking why
Digging at the problem by continuously asking why, helps identify the specific reason why the problem occurs.
Now defining the solution is easy.
In this case, the solution is to get the whole development team trained in SQL databases, so they are sufficient enough to use the database with admin access.
Define the solution to keep your team goal-oriented
What helps your team achieve a goal?
A clearly outlined goal, with a definition of what the solution should look like. The solution must be clear to your whole team.
If the problem is the same as defined in the problem example – that only one developer has access to the database. A solution is set defining what should be done through acceptance criteria:
- Every developer on the team will receive training in SQL database queries.
- The developer should understand how to select, update and delete data.
- They must have an understanding of rollback statements.
- Assign SQL admin access to every developer once the above points are completed.
To help ensure your whole team is on the same page:
- State the solution to your whole team.
- Communicate what a solution will look like with clear and concise acceptance criteria.
Drop your ego by setting goals for each meeting
You cannot identify and solve problems in your team by talking about yourself.
With each meeting identify a goal. A defined goal not only stops the meeting from overrunning, but it will help you to focus on the conversation if the subject matter changes.
Avoid using words that signify an individual, like ‘I’ and ‘me’. Instead, use more team-based words such as ‘we’ and ‘us’.
This helps portray a sense of team to your colleagues rather than an individualistic approach.
Become an approachable person by showing interest in conversations and staying calm
Not every conversation is an easy one to have.
But blowing up after hearing something you do not like, discourages your team from bringing difficult problems to you. They will find ways to find the solution without involving you, due to the fear of how you will react.
By being approachable, your team will want to bring problems to you. Your colleagues will understand that you care about solving the problem.
And while tough conversations are stressful. You can use the 10-second rule to help maintain your composure if you ever feel like you are losing your cool. But this is easier said than done and requires regular practice.
One way to get better at staying calm is to practice gratitude.
Understand your colleague’s roles
Tech changes quickly and new roles come around often.
Understand the roles of all the members of your team. This will help you understand the problems and what success often looks like in their role. For developers it is essential to know what a successful junior developer looks like, to help steer them in the right direction.
Knowing the common problems for each role in your team can help you prepare for them.
Master soft skills to make your team unstoppable
Soft skills help identify what your team needs to do their job effectively.
They are the difference between your team staying silent in retrospectives and confidently reflecting on the problems of a previous sprint. Master soft skills and your team will want to bring issues for you to solve.
Ignore soft skills and watch your team become more dysfunctional.
