The Role of the Scrum Master
The Scrum Master role has much in common with the coach in a Centre of Excellence. Their role is to look after the interests of the team and remove any obstacles to their ability to deliver, as well as being the steward of the Scrum and Agile processes and principles. This is a facilitator’s role, not a director’s role, and has little in common with a Project Manager in a traditional project. The Scrum Master facilitates the required Scrum meetings (or “ceremonies”) and ensures that everyone adheres to the time limit for the meeting, as the meetings are also time-boxed. They also educates the team (and stakeholders) in the ways of Scrum. The Scrum Master plays a vital role throughout the Scrum Processes, starting with the “Initiate” Process.
How the Scrum Master adds Value to the Initiate process
One of the first activities in the Initiate process, after the Project Vision has been established, is the appointment of the Scrum Master. The Scrum Master has a major part to play in the Initiate process:-
Form Scrum Team
When Forming the Scrum Team, while the Product Owner has the chief responsibility for choosing the members of the Scrum Team, this is done in consultation with the Scrum master and HR. During this process, the Scrum Master needs to assess how familiar the selected team members are with Scrum and what the training needs are.
Depending on the complexity of the project, the team members’ skills and the number of teams, there may be a requirement for the Scrum Master to draw up a team building plan and a collaboration plan for inter-team co-ordination and communications. This could be done with the help of the Chief Scrum Master, Program Scrum Master and/or Portfolio Scrum Master, based on the project size and scope and the organizational setup.
During the project, the Scrum Master will need to select one or more approaches to build a cohesive and productive team, such as using the Tuckman 4-stage model of teams. It is recommended that he learns other philosophies, like Belbin’s model, so that he can apply what works best for the team he is currently managing.
Recommended Further Reading
The following materials may assist you in order to get the most out of this course:
Course Contents
Section 1: Agile Project Management
Section 2: Using the Agile Manifesto to Deliver Change
Section 3: The 12 Agile Principles
Section 4: The Agile Fundamentals
Section 5: The Declaration of Interdependence
Section 6: Agile Development Frameworks
Section 7: Introduction to Scrum
Section 8: Scrum Projects
Section 9: Scrum Project Roles
Section 10: Meet the Scrum Team
Section 11: Building the Scrum Team
Section 12: Scrum in Projects, Programs & Portfolios
Section 13: How to Manage an Agile Project
Section 14: Leadership Styles
Section 15: The Agile Project Life-cycle
Section 16: Business Justification with Agile
Section 17: Calculating the Benefits With Agile
Section 18: Quality in Agile
Section 19: Acceptance Criteria and the Prioritised Product Backlog
Section 20: Quality Management in Scrum
Section 21: Change in Scrum
Section 22: Integrating Change in Scrum
Section 23: Managing Change in Scrum
Section 24: Risk in Scrum
Section 25: Risk Assessment Techniques
Section 26: Initiating an Agile Project
Section 27: Forming the Scrum Team
Section 28: Epics and Personas
Section 29: Creating the Prioritised Product Backlog
Section 30: Conduct Release Planning
Section 31: The Project Business Case
Section 32: Planning in Scrum
Section 33: Scrum Boards
Section 34: Sprint Planning
Section 35: User Stories
Section 36: User Stories and Tasks
Section 37: The Sprint Backlog
Section 38: Implementation of Scrum
Section 39: The Daily Scrum
Section 40: The Product Backlog
Section 41: Scrum Charts
Section 42: Review and Retrospective
Section 43: Scrum of Scrums
Section 44: Validating a Sprint
Section 45: Retrospective Sprint
Section 46: Releasing the Product
Section 47: Project Retrospective
Section 48: The Communication Plan
Section 49: Formal Business Sign-off
Section 50: Scaling Scrum
Section 51: Stakeholders
Section 52: Programs and Portfolios