Scrum Master

Quick reference

• 00:04 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
• 00:05 I'd like to talk to with you about the role of the Scrum Master.
• 00:08 This person is charged with ensuring the Agile/Scrum process works smoothly.
• 00:13 The primary attribute of a Scrum Master is that of a facilitator.
• 00:18 They facilitate the sprint.
• 00:21 I want to contrast this with the role of a project leader in a traditional project.
• 00:25 The Scrum Master Has no decision making authority with
• 00:28 respect to the work of the Sprint.
• 00:30 On a small project,
• 00:31 the closest we have to a traditional project leader is the product owner.
• 00:36 And on large projects, there may be multiple Sprints and
• 00:39 multiple product owners.
• 00:40 In that case.
• 00:41 there's often a project leader or more properly called, a program manager.
• 00:46 Who plans and oversees the high level project.
• 00:49 This person is not also serving as a Scrum Master.
• 00:53 The Scrum Master skill set is heavily weighted towards interpersonal skills.
• 00:58 Such as, coach, facilitator, and trainer, they keep the team executing and on track.
• 01:04 They also need to have strong problem-solving skills.
• 01:06 Because they have the responsibility to resolve the roadblocks or
• 01:09 impediments that the Scrum teams uncover.
• 01:12 The Scrum Master does not provide direction to the Scrum team.
• 01:15 Recall, that the team is a self-organizing, collaborative team.
• 01:19 They decide how best to do the work.
• 01:21 The Scrum Master is there to help them with internal team problems.
• 01:25 And, to resolve roadblocks.
• 01:27 As I've always stated, the scrum master needs strong interpersonal skills.
• 01:31 That means, they may not always be the most senior person.
• 01:34 Or the subject matter expert on the work of the project.
• 01:37 If that were the case, they probably should have been on the scrum team.
• 01:40 And someone else serving as the scrum master.
• 01:44 The scrum master has major responsibilities during the sprint.
• 01:48 Their primary role is to facilitate the process.
• 01:51 Experienced Scrum teams may be nearly self-facilitating,
• 01:54 in addition to self-organizing.
• 01:56 But when Agile/Scrum is new to some of the team,
• 01:59 facilitation will likely be required.
• 02:02 This includes basic things like, running the Scrum team meeting.
• 02:05 And acting as a scribe and timekeeper for the meeting.
• 02:08 It also includes, updating the Scrum board and Burn-down Chart.
• 02:12 Following each Scrum team meeting.
• 02:14 He or she will also provide, on the job spot training and
• 02:17 Agile/Scrum processes when required.
• 02:20 And seeks to ensure the team has good team dynamics.
• 02:23 If the team is struggling, the Scrum Master must guard against the blame game.
• 02:27 The team will succeed or fail as a team.
• 02:29 The Scrum Master must encourage them to work through
• 02:32 the team problems they're having.
• 02:34 It may mean the team will need to reorganize.
• 02:37 Fortunately, since they are a self-organizing team,
• 02:40 there is no barrier doing this.
• 02:42 Those activities usually only require 30 to 40 minutes of time a day.
• 02:47 What is likely to take far more time,
• 02:49 is removing roadblocks, that the team identifies.
• 02:52 These usually require coordination with other parts of the business.
• 02:55 Or possibly even with outside vendors.
• 02:58 This workload is unpredictable, because you normally don't know ahead of time.
• 03:02 How many and how big the roadblocks will be.
• 03:06 If your organization is new to Agile scrum.
• 03:08 The scrum master will often have to run interference for the team.
• 03:12 To prevent senior managers from tampering with the process.
• 03:15 They may not be used to respecting the concept of 100% dedicated to the sprint.
• 03:20 And try to pull a scrum team member into another project.
• 03:23 Or, they may try to insert themselves into the middle of a project.
• 03:26 And participate in project activities and decisions.
• 03:29 The scrum master must firmly but politely tell them to leave the team alone.
• 03:35 Occasionally, there would be a product owner.
• 03:36 Who tries to insert themselves to deeply into the team activities and
• 03:40 influence team decisions.
• 03:42 The way they should be influencing decisions is through story cards,
• 03:45 not disrupting team meetings.
• 03:48 More often, I found the product owners busy on other activities.
• 03:51 And not providing timely response to questions from the Scrum team.
• 03:55 Either way,
• 03:56 the Scrum Master must work with the product owner to correct the situation.
• 04:00 One other point during the Sprint, the Scrum Master's role is not a fulltime.
• 04:04 But it is a significant portion of an individual's time.
• 04:08 My rule of thumb is,
• 04:09 that a scrum master can only be supporting two sprints at one time.
• 04:14 The scrum master also has some responsibilities before and
• 04:17 after the sprint is conducted.
• 04:19 Before the sprint,
• 04:20 the scrum master will facilitate the work that must be done to plan for a sprint.
• 04:24 Not to be confused with the sprint planning meeting.
• 04:26 That means that if an organization is new to Agile Scrum.
• 04:30 They'll probably need to educate some senior managers about the process.
• 04:34 They're often called upon to participate in the project level planning.
• 04:38 Which is determining the number of sprints and releases.
• 04:41 They will ensure that the scrum team members are assigned in a timely manner.
• 04:45 So they can free up the schedules for the sprint.
• 04:48 And provide any needed training for the new Scrum team members.
• 04:51 They normally take care of team logistics, such as scheduling team facilities or
• 04:55 meeting rooms.
• 04:57 This of course leads, to scheduling the scrum team meetings.
• 05:00 To include sprint planning, daily scrum meetings, sprint demos and
• 05:04 the project retrospective.
• 05:06 After the sprint has finished and the sprint demo is complete.
• 05:09 The Scrum master will schedule and facilitate the sprint retrospective.
• 05:16 A scrum master role is a crucial role to keep everything running smoothly.
• 05:20 You know, a good rule of thumb, is that a Scrum master is doing a great job.
• 05:24 If the Scrum team doesn't really need them

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