How Can A Scrum Master Successfully Carry Out The Servant Leader Role While Implementing Scrum Framework?

What does the term servant leader actually mean?

Many scrum reference books and articles explicitly state and describe the role of the scrum master as a servant leader. While most of the definitions try to state the same meaning, they can often lead to confusion as to which definition is perfect and should be followed. The importance of a definition comes into the picture once its meaning is properly understood. So, rather than concentrating upon the definition, it would make more sense to understand what the concept really means. In a nutshell, the role of being a servant leader would actually refer to maintaining a positive and humane attitude towards the team members, being sensitive towards their difficulties and problems, and putting in efforts to act as a facilitator so that goals can be achieved in a collaborative manner, with each team member contributing towards the fulfillment of the project in a proactive way. It is important for a scrum master to possess certain characteristics to be a successful “servant leader”.

1. Listening

An individual who is a good listener can also make informed decisions and successfully solve problems. It is important for the scrum master to listen attentively, with an open mind. The person should try to pick up pointers during the daily scrum meetings as to what the team members are really trying to say, and what kinds of problems they are really facing. Some individuals are extroverts and find it easy to speak about their problems in a crowd, and demand solutions from others.  Introvert individuals may find this very difficult to do, and so it would be up to the scrum master to encourage such individuals to open up and be vocal about their problems. Moreover, the person should also try to encourage self-organization and self-learning amongst team members. If the team is facing impediments, it becomes necessary to engage with the issue in a proactive manner and start finding solutions, rather than wait for the team to approach the scrum master with the particular issue. To be a good servant leader, the scrum master should also be a good listener.

2. Awareness

While leading teams, it becomes imperative to develop a holistic view and look at things from a general point of view, rather than be concerned about the micro level issues when a particular issue or problem arises. It is important to look at problems from a higher level and get an overall picture of where the issue is actually heading to before arriving at a consensus with the team members. It is also required to look beyond the role and scope as a programmer or a developer and grasp the problem at its root level before striving to provide solutions. Scrum methodology advocates that the scrum master should not get directly involved with the development work and start directing the team members. At the same time, the servant leader role indicates that the scrum master should act more as a facilitator and help the team members to resolve their problems by providing guidance and advice, even on an individual basis if required. Therefore, it becomes necessary to strike a correct balance between the two aspects of the role.

3. Persuasion

Traditional project managers can be autocratic while delegating their authority. Scrum is in antithesis of autocracy – it supports teamwork and collaboration. The team works as a whole and delivers results. Moreover, the scrum guide indicates a specific role for the scrum master. He or she should primarily supervise, and ensure that scrum is properly implemented, and followed by the team members. Rather than issuing commands and orders, the servant leader role encourages persuasion – discuss and talk with the team members, and encourage them to do things rather than demand action and activities from them. 

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Useful Tips For Scrum Masters – What Can Make A Successful Scrum Master

Generally, when a particular organization starts using and implementing Scrum, the person selected to function as a scrum master comes from a managerial background. The organization feels that such a person would have enough experience to handle teams in an efficient manner and execute projects successfully. However, in real life, whatever background a scrum master is chosen from, he or she has to put in special efforts to implement scrum. Perhaps the main reason why this happens is because scrum is an entirely different ball game, with a different set of rules. As far as scrum methodology is concerned, it is not what background the scrum master comes from, but rather what he or she is capable of delivering in terms of collaboration, implementing scrum techniques and rules, and getting the desired results from the development team. In the initial stages, every scrum master struggles. A couple of pointers can make the work much easier for him or her.

Working on a single project

If you work on more than one project at a time, you cannot give hundred percent to any of your projects. Scrum masters tend to be wary about unsuccessful projects. The worst thing that can happen to a scrum master is to end up with a partially completed or a failed project. Failures can result in a loss of future projects, so scrum masters are inclined to handle multiple projects at times. The general feeling is to salvage some reputation from other successfully completed projects in the event one of the projects fails. This attitude is in antithesis of what scrum preaches. According to scrum methodology, a person, or a team member should put in one hundred percent into the project, and ensure it works out successfully. Therefore, the person starting out as a scrum master should preferably handle only one project, and contribute all efforts in completing the project in a successful manner.

Improving upon the team effectiveness

It is important to remember that scrum encourages team efforts rather than individual efforts. It is what the development team contributes as a whole that counts, instead of how much development individual team members contribute towards the project. For the sprint to be completed successfully, each member should contribute towards the development activity and contribute something. For this to happen, it is important to have a healthy environment which supports proactive participation of the team members. The scrum master should make sure there are no impediments faced by the team, and each person works to the best of his or her ability. It is important to improve upon the team effectiveness to get the most out of scrum.  

Rather than managing, support facilitation

Traditional project managers tend to “manage” while successful project managers “facilitate”. Your attitude can make a huge difference is getting positive results out of the team. An autocratic attitude towards the subordinates may deliver results, but it would be more out of rote rather than active participation and creativity. Scrum supports creativity and open mindedness. If a team member is open to suggestions, he or she might contribute more and much better quality. Encouraging team members, having one-to-one discussion that focuses upon solving their individual problems, and standing up by them in difficult times can go a long way in getting their support and cooperation. Facilitation helps to foster healthy working environment and better results. 

Make sure each team understands the meaning of "done"

The acceptance criterion plays a very important part in getting the user stories accepted by the product owner. Even though the product owner is liable to explain the definition of “done” during the sprint meeting, subsequently team members can feel confused about how the definition should be ideally interpreted when they face difficulties at the time of developing the user story. The scrum master should be very clear about what “done” means, and if any of the team member faces problems in understanding the acceptance criteria during the sprint,  he or she should be properly explained and educated regarding the same to ensure the user story does not get rejected at the end of the sprint.

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How Does Scrum Methodology Benefit Through The “Servant Leader” Role?

What is understood by the term “servant leader”?

The term can be misleading if we are to literary interpret the words as per the definition stated in the dictionary. In scrum, the term has a specific meaning. It is used to describe a particular type of leadership role which has proved to be effective for many organizations and scrum masters. It has helped many team members to deliver good productivity. Generally, people are used to traditional business models in which a manger delegates his or her authority in varying levels, and subordinates are inclined to follow the orders issued by the senior person. The total responsibility of the outcome lies with the project manager. The team members and subordinates are not liable for the success or failure of the project. 

All this changes when the manager assumes the role of a “servant leader”.  The person does not delegate his or her authority in an autocratic manner. Instead, the person puts in efforts, and tries to understand the problems faced by juniors or subordinates. He or she tries to get involved with the business flow, and proactively seeks solutions which can help the team members to effectively deal with the issue on hand. The manager contributes his or her skills and abilities to ensure that the team members and the project benefit from a healthy leadership. When the role of servant-leader is properly implemented, it can lead to a fruitful and healthy working atmosphere which can lead to a successful completion of the project on hand.

What are the benefits of a “servant leader” role?

There are several benefits which are summarized as:

 1. It creates and fosters an atmosphere of healthy teamwork 
It all depends upon how you conduct yourself in front of others and the manner in which you try to delegate your authority. Traditional managers prefer to use words like “I” and “me”, while an individual following the servant-leader role uses words like "us" and "we". It makes a lot of difference to other people and the team members. By using words such as “we”, the subordinate automatically feels more involved, and responsible for the results associated with the project. The main issue is about feeling “involved”. In the servant leader role, the subordinates feels more involved, and therefore tries to contribute his or her efforts in a genuine manner. Moreover, the leader tries to lead by example. He or she also tries to reduce the intensity of the “senior-junior” professional relationship which is so prevalent in most organizations, even today. One of the main advantages is that the role fosters a healthy working environment which is conductive to all. 

2. It adds on to the value of the team members
It has been found that when people feel they are valuable and their efforts can lead to success or failure of the project, they tend to be more productive and responsible. It is important for them to feel that they “count” and they “belong”. These two virtues are important not only from the professional point of view, but also on a personal level. They help to lower “red-tapism” and create a one-to-one rapport between the senior level management and the subordinates. It can lead to open discussions in which people put in genuine efforts to find solutions rather than follow the daily rote of seeking answers to difficult problems. The servant leader role helps to add on to the value of the team members.

3. You reap what you have sown
It is actually very simple, you receive the same type of treatment that you render to others. If you are good to people, they will be good to you. By being good, you don’t necessarily have to compromise upon your professional obligations and accept unethical or unwarranted behavior, or make do with substandard work delivered by subordinates. You should be firm with what you have to convey to people and what kind of work you want them to deliver. It’s just that you could achieve a lot in terms of cooperation and help from people if you are genuine in your behavior towards them.   

4. It creates trust
The servant-leader role is great for building trust. The main reason is people around you know about your helpful and understanding nature, and respect you for putting in your efforts while dealing with the project. Since you care about people, they are most likely to respond in a positive manner and depend upon you for guiding them along the correct path. It fosters trust.

How do scrum projects benefit from the “servant leader” role?

• It is the scrum master’s responsibility to help the development team perform at the highest levels. Scrum supports collaboration and joint efforts. The servant-leader role helps to break down the senior-subordinate relationship. It encourages active participation owing to the personal relationship created between the scrum master and the team members.
• Another responsibility of the scrum master is to remove any problems or impediments faced by the team. The role helps to facilitate effective communication, and so the problems get identified early when they occur. It is much easier to tackle problems in their infancy, and before they assume gigantic proportions.    
• The scrum master is often looked upon as a protector of the team. One of the duties of a scrum master is to protect the team and the sprint by ensuring that the team members do not over commit while taking up tasks from the sprint backlog. Over commitment can lead to unsuccessful sprints. The servant-leader role facilitates healthy communication between the scrum master and the team members. It becomes much easier for the scrum master to provide suggestion which may be taken positively by the members.   

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Discover What Is Scrum Methodology And How It Works

At times, projects can be very big. You need a lot of patience while dealing with extremely big projects or highly complex ones. Even experienced project managers tend to get discouraged and start losing hope when the project keeps on extending beyond the deadline, or when things start going wrong with the project. Usually, the management and stakeholders tend to exert undue pressure to the project manager and the development team to perform, and deliver the project, well within the time frame. Projects have a certain financial liability associated with them,   so the sooner the project is completed, the quicker the returns are availed from it. 

During the times when things do not go as per plan, managers start losing hope, and at times wonder if there is a better way of doing things and completing the projects in time so they don’t cost anything extra to the management in terms of increased overheads or reduced returns over investment. This is where scrum comes in – it offers an opportunity to develop your project in a manner such that the stakeholders remain in touch with what is happening to their project, what is proceeding as per plans, and what needs to be removed or done away with so the project can get completed in time and they can start benefiting from the investment they have carried out in the project.

What does scrum methodology offer?

Scrum framework was originally envisioned and developed to be flexible in nature and possess the capability to adapt itself to the changing development requirements. If during the course of the development, if the stakeholders change their minds regarding the project, or desire to change their project related requirements, the situation can be handled in a more beneficial and cost effective way using scrum methodology. 

Scrum is synonymous with Agile. Scrum, or Agile framework offers an opportunity to make amendments in the project definition while the project is underway. This is a unique feature, since most development methodologies such as the waterfall, which supports a linear structure for development, have no answer or solutions which can effectively cater to changing project requirements. Moreover, a project can be modified to include additional or new functionality when it is underway. If the client decides that a project should offer some features which have not been thought of before, or thought about during the project planning stage, scrum can incorporate these requirements within the development plan. On the other hand, if the project owner feels that some of the features offered by the product may fail to score in the market when the product is launched, those specific features can be easily removed and replace by new ones. 

Scrum focuses upon development at a micro level. The development activity is implemented and controlled at a very low level, where it is possible to interact with the basic components which constitute to form the project as a whole. It is always much easier to deal with smaller things and change them when they are small in size, rather than wait for them to attain a big size when managing them becomes very complex, and impossible.        

How does scrum work?

It would take a very long time to discuss in depth exactly how scrum operates and what its technicalities are. However, its main features and the method of working can be summarized as:

• Unlike traditional waterfall methods, scrum does not start with the entire development activity at a go. Rather it breaks up the entire project into smaller functional parts known as user stories, and creates a product backlog which is a kind of master list which includes everything needed to develop the project in totality. Product backlogs contain user stories.
• Once the product backlog is created by the product owner, a person who represents the interests of the investors or stakeholders, a portion of the backlog is extracted and transferred to a temporary development list known as a sprint backlog. This list contains all the tasks which are to be developed by the team members.
• Once the sprint backlog is created, the team members distribute the list items or user stories amongst the developers based upon their levels of expertise. Thereafter the actual development starts. Development is carried out in short bursts known as “sprints”. Each sprint can last from two weeks up to a month, but in most cases, it generally extends up to two weeks. 
• At the end of the sprint, a meeting is held to evaluate the outcome of the sprint. Completed items are accepted as “Done” while unfinished ones may be transferred back to the product backlog.
• The entire process keeps on repeating until all the user stories in the backlog are “Done” and there are no further requirements to be developed.   

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