Why do we need a scrum master, anyway?
Published: 2020-05-29 19:23:54

Sometimes, maybe more often than not, you might wonder, what the heck does your scrum master do aside from scheduling useless meetings?

Agile and, particularly scrum, are being wildly adopted nowadays by every IT company. I believe you won’t be able to find a tech company founded after 2005 that won’t be using Agile methodology (or at least try). Although, based on my observations, it is rare when an entire company or even an entire team has a good understanding of what Agile methodology is. More than once I’ve heard from my peers: “Agile? Yeah, we have stand-ups every day and use JIRA”, “Sometimes, I don’t understand what for do we need our scrum master”.
I will try to explain why your team needs a scrum master.

##Answering questions
One of the scrum master responsibilities is to ensure that everyone on the team understands Scrum and Agile. If certain practices or processes make little sense to any of the team members, it is up to the scrum master to answer the questions.

If you genuinely don’t understand why in the world you need daily stand up, retrospective, or any other meeting, raise questions to your scrum master.
Each team or company may have variations of Scrum, so I believe it is paramount for every Scrum master to have a session with the team where they discuss their understanding of Scrum, getting on the same page with the team and adjusting the process to the reality of a particular team and project.

There are also questions that the scrum master shouldn’t be answering. It is not up to scrum master to tell you how to solve a technical issue or write your code. Even if the scrum master knows the answer to the question, most of the time it is better to nudge team members in the right direction instead of giving a solution.

##Asking questions
Questions are the best tools available to the scrum master. Asking the right questions at the right time enables scrum master to facilitate better communication within the team and help with problem-solving or decision making. This way with almost no intrusion scrum master can make the team more effective.
Good scrum master understands that the development teams are the experts at how to get their job done and seeks to understand what might hold the team back.

##Removing impediments
One of the primary active tasks that scrum master performs is removing the obstacles in the way of the development team. Anything that is a potential or an actual roadblock brought up by the team is the responsibility of a scrum master.

Most of the time the impediments come from without the development team like 3rd party vendor, organization, or the client. In such cases, the scrum master has to analyze if the impediment is indeed blocking the team and what is the root cause for it. Sometimes there is a possibility that the development team can resolve or work around the blocker on its own. However, other times when the means of removing a problem is out of the team’s hands, the scrum master needs to track the impediment and drive the communication to achieve a resolution. The scrum master cannot let the impediment just hang in there.

##Actively doing nothing
To help the team become more efficient the scrum master shall observe the team working, the processes spinning, and note any problems, but do not engage. By choosing to not engage, the scrum master allows the team to own the situation, otherwise, by acting and solving issues for the team, scrum master will be taking away the responsibility from the team as well as a chance to reflect on the process and identify problems themselves.

##Protecting the Team
Scrum Master is also responsible for ensuring that the team is not being disturbed by any outside parties without need. There are certain situations when the client would reach directly to the member of a development team with some issues or asking for a favor. Scrum master shall keep track of such communications and handle client requests appropriately. There are different situations and circumstances when the team has to pivot during the sprint, but a scrum master should be a proxy for any non-sprint work or ask that may come up.

##Things scrum master doesn’t do
Scrum master is not a traditional manager. Scrum Master doesn’t decide for a team.

Scrum teams are self-organizing meaning that scrum master doesn’t have the authority to make decisions on behalf of the team. The team is responsible for planning, estimating, and executing the work in the way they seem fit and in the priority defined by a product owner. Although, Scrum master can facilitate transparency and effective communication to help the team with decision-making.

With this said, Scrum master is not being held accountable for product delivery. The development team and product owner must hold ownership of their work and product delivery.

Scrum Master doesn’t talk to the team on behalf of the product owner or vice versa. If the team has anything to discuss with the product owner, a scrum master has to facilitate the communication rather than being a mediator.

##Conclusion

The term scrum comes from rugby. It is the moment between rounds when a team comes together in a circle to quickly discuss tactics for the next round. Scrum master performs the same job as any sports coach:

* Provides team with training and tactics
* Helps to improve team performance through observation and advice
* Inspires team to perform at the peak of their ability
* Ensures team success by removing distractions and obstacles

An important thing to notice is that Scrum became so popular so fast, that you can meet a lot of inexperienced scrum masters and feel like they are not bringing any value to you and the team. Here is a little secret:
If the team is mature enough, it doesn’t need a scrum master.
Start with yourself and get educated about Scrum. Try to understand what stands behind Agile values and principles. Educate your team and, if needed, your scrum master.

*Hit me up on Twitter to tell me what a bunch of nonsense I’ve just written @ramen_modules*