There are moments in Scrum Mastery where it looks like they’re doing very little.
They’re quiet in a meeting.
They don’t jump in to fix a problem.
They let a conversation run longer than feels comfortable.
From the outside, it can look like inaction.
From the inside, it’s some of the most deliberate work they do.
One of the most persistent misunderstandings about the Scrum Master role is that it exists to enforce process.
Seen this way, the Scrum Master becomes a kind of process police officer – checking attendance, correcting behaviour and reminding people what Scrum says should happen.
But that framing misses the point of the role entirely.
Scrum does not exist to be obeyed.
It exists to help teams work effectively in complexity.
And complexity does not respond well to enforcement.
“You don’t think your way into a new kind of living. You live your way in to a new kind of thinking.” — Henri Nouwen
On the subject of self-organising teams, the Scrum guide says simply,
“Scrum Teams are self-organizing and cross-functional. Self-organizing teams choose how best to accomplish their work, rather than being directed by others outside the team.”
But what does that actually mean in practice?
The background to this is that final clause, “rather than being directed by others outside the team.”
Continue reading Self-organising teams
