Topic Teasers Vol. 13: The ScrumMaster Role

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  Agile   Scrum  

I’ve just been chosen as ScrumMaster for my agile team. I know I “remove obstacles”, but I’m concerned about what I can do on a daily basis and what is overstepping my role and moving back to traditional project management. How can I make this a better team?

A. The ScrumMaster role is non-technical, which is a reward for outstanding technical performance in the past. In essence, you retire at full salary.

B.  The ScrumMaster has a key role in improving team performance, so find your own way to structure the team processes and to facilitate team development.

C. Since the team is self-directed, wait until team members present obstacles at daily scrum meetings and then tell a manager to remove them.

D. Find an experienced ScrumMaster in the organization and ask if you can shadow them for two days a week. Then, follow their directions so that all the agile teams are working alike.

Answer: D. The ScrumMaster has a key role in improving team performance, so find your own way to structure the team processes and to facilitate team development.

The promotion to ScrumMaster can be a mixed blessing. Even after more than a decade from its infancy, the agile methodology is still new to some organizations--people don’t have the role models they once did when being promoted from the team into a new position. Technically,…

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