Tag: scrum teams

As trust grows, the Scrum Master steps back

A Scrum Master’s role should not remain static.

A new team may need active guidance to understand Scrum, establish useful habits and create a safe environment for honest conversations. As the team matures and trust grows, however, the Scrum Master should begin to work differently.

From guidance to ownership

Less mature teams may depend heavily on the Scrum Master to:

  • facilitate every event
  • resolve every obstacle
  • encourage difficult conversations
  • maintain the board that visualises the work
  • remind people about agreed ways of working
  • protect the team from outside disruption

This support may be necessary at first. But if it continues indefinitely, the Scrum Master can become another dependency.

A mature team increasingly takes responsibility for these things itself. I often joke with teams that a Scrum Master’s ultimate goal is to eventually put themselves out of a job.

Team members facilitate conversations, raise problems early and challenge unhelpful behaviour. They adapt their working practices without waiting for permission.

Continue reading As trust grows, the Scrum Master steps back

Scrum Masters and Cynefin – when the team needs stability first

This is the fourth and final post in a short series exploring the Scrum Master role through the four main Cynefin domains:

  • clear
  • complicated
  • complex
  • chaotic

The first post looked at the clear domain, where simple rules and repeatable practice can help.

The second post looked at the complicated domain, where teams need expertise, analysis and informed judgement.

The third post looked at the complex domain, where teams need feedback, experiments and learning.

This post looks at the chaotic domain.

What is the chaotic domain?

In the chaotic domain, the situation is unstable.

Cause and effect are unclear.

There may be pressure, urgency, confusion or even panic.

The team does not have enough stability to analyse the problem properly. It may not even be clear what the problem is yet.

Continue reading Scrum Masters and Cynefin – when the team needs stability first

Scrum Masters and Cynefin – when the team needs expertise

This is the second post in a short series exploring the Scrum Master role through the four main Cynefin domains:

  • clear
  • complicated
  • complex
  • chaotic.

The first post looked at the clear domain, where simple rules, checklists and repeatable practice can help.

This post looks at the complicated domain.

What is the complicated domain?

Hand-drawn Cynefin framework diagram showing four domains around a central area of confusion: complex, complicated, chaotic and clear, with each domain labelled with its constraint type, response pattern and practice type.
A line drawing of the four regions of the Cynefin framework: Clear, Complicated, Complex, and Chaotic, plus the central unknown area Confusion. (Source: Wikipedia)

In the complicated domain, the work is not obvious, but it is still knowable.

There may be more than one right answer. The team may need analysis, diagnosis or specialist input before deciding what to do.

This is the world of expertise.

Continue reading Scrum Masters and Cynefin – when the team needs expertise

A moment of deliberate non-intervention

Sometimes the most important thing a Scrum Master does is not visible.

They do not interrupt.
They do not rescue.
They do not explain.
They do not tidy up the conversation too quickly.

They wait.

Not because they are passive.
Not because they are unsure.
But because the team may need the space to work something out for themselves.

Continue reading A moment of deliberate non-intervention