My last article was about the role of a Scrum Master. I’d like to continue on that theme, exploring a pattern I’ve seen at many companies. The pattern I’m talking about can be observed in discussions and the kind of words used for describing the role of or talking about Scrum Masters. In short, many companies adopting Scrum are struggling to get over the particular misconception of the Scrum Master being a management role.
Scrum Masters are not supposed to be managers. Scrum Masters are not some kind of coordinating bodies between teams and Product Owners. Scrum Masters don’t manage anyone but themselves. That’s one of the reasons why it’s often easier for a non-manager to take on this role – lacking the baggage of old habits of managing others.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that we may have established such mental models, however. After all, even some Scrum tool vendors get it somewhat wrong and Wikipedia’s agile software development-related articles are notoriously flawed. Even the Scrum Alliance, who’s supposed to be the official center of Scrum-related knowledge and information (along with the competing Scrum.org), has such utter bull on its website (I’m referring to the sidebar of that page and the Scrum Master having “three primary responsibilities in addition to leading the daily scrums“…) that we’re left without an authoritative source of information beyond individuals we trust.
Personally, for such authoritative source of information, I recommend reading writings by people such as Ken Schwaber, Craig Larman, and Bas Vodde. These are predominantly books. One notable exception is the Scrum Primer (PDF), which I find to be perhaps the best description of Scrum available online.
The Scrum Alliance’s role description is not total bull, however. Namely, their list of Scrum Master’s responsibilities isn’t far from what Certified Scrum Trainers have taught for almost a decade now:
What the Scrum Alliance says about the Scrum Master’s responsibilities
The Scrum Master is a facilitative team leader who ensures that the team adheres to its chosen process and removes blocking issues.
- Ensures that the team is fully functional and productive
- Enables close cooperation across all roles and functions
- Removes barriers
- Shields the team from external interferences
- Ensures that the process is followed, including issuing invitations to daily scrums, sprint reviews, and sprint planning
- Facilitates the daily scrums
Notice how the Scrum Alliance’s definition doesn’t put the Scrum Master in between anyone else except between the team and “external interferences”. The Scrum Master is not supposed to act as a single point of contact towards other teams or towards the Product Owners. The Scrum Master, according to the Scrum Alliance, does have administrative responsibilities such as issuing meeting invitations to the Scrum ceremonies (standup, review, planning) and the facilitation of the daily standups.
I would personally go even further and say that the first two bullets in the above list imply that the Scrum Master should seek to detach himself from much of that administrative work over time, as the team begins to take responsibility over their own productivity, cooperation across roles and functions, removing more and more of their barriers as they empower themselves, learn to stand strong in the face of external interference, and facilitate their own collaboration.
Note that this doesn’t necessarily mean that the Scrum Master’s role wouldn’t be a full-time job.
For a description of the Scrum Master’s responsibilities that is more in line with the original spirit of Scrum and the role, this is how Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, original creators of the method, describe the role in the Scrum Guide:
The Scrum Master
The Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring that the Scrum Team adheres to Scrum values, practices, and rules. The Scrum Master helps the Scrum Team and the organization adopt Scrum. The Scrum Master teaches the Scrum Team by coaching and by leading it to be more productive and produce higher quality products. The Scrum Master helps the Scrum Team understand and use self-organization and cross-functionality. The Scrum Master also helps the Scrum Team do its best in an organizational environment that may not yet be optimized for complex product development. When the Scrum Master helps make these changes, this is called “removing impediments.” The Scrum Master’s role is one of a servant-leader for the Scrum Team.
This is much closer to the mindset that I’d like to see adopted as far as the role or responsibilities of the Scrum Master are concerned. Scrum was developed within a software company over several years as the group devised and refined their engineering and product management practices. It’s a designed system that creates a dynamic equilibrium. If we move one lever the others will inevitably move as well. If we compromise on one front or one aspect of our system we shouldn’t expect too much on the other fronts either.
Assuming we want to make the most of Scrum we need to pay attention to Scrum, its roles, and what they entail. We need patience and drive to study, learn, and understand Scrum. Skimming a book or sitting through a presentation is clearly not enough.
The next time you catch yourself or someone else blurt that the Scrum Master “removes impediments” or “facilitates a standup”, stop for a moment to make sure that the parties involved in that conversation understand what these soundbites really mean and, perhaps even more importantly, what they don’t mean.