How Can A Scrum Master Be A Good Servant Leader?

What is understood by the servant leader role?

There are several interpretations of the servant leader role, and many experts have contributed their versions as to what the exact definition should include. However, to summarize all those definitions, the role can be best defined as a virtue, or a trait, which can put the priorities of others first, and maintain a humane attitude towards them. While a debate can extend indefinitely as to how the word “humane” should be understood, a person acting in the capacity of a scrum master might exhibit certain characteristics common to the role to be considered as an ideal servant leader.  

Listening

A good listener can grasp the finer points of a discussion and make informed decisions. It is very important to be sensitive to the team’s needs and the problems faced by them. The scrum master should listen carefully to what the team members have to say during the daily scrum meeting. He or she should make efforts to pick up clues and pointers pertaining to self-organization and try to encourage the team members to accept them. People have different types of natures, and while some are extroverts with an ability to express their views and opinions easily and loudly, many developers are of introvert types and may find it difficult to vocally express their ideas. The scrum master should be on the lookout as to what these types of individuals want to say, and help them to open up and express their views and opinions without any inhibitions. It is also equally important to detect any impediments faced by the team members, and advise them how to go about them.

Awareness

The awareness concerning a particular situation ought to be gained keeping in mind a holistic view to avail a better understanding regarding the ethics and moral values. It is very important for the scrum master to understand and look at situations from a much higher level than the rest of the team to gain a complete picture associated with a particular scenario. The person should ideally think above the role of a developer, and try to act more as a facilitator than anything else. It is important to remain detached with the team, yet remain close to it. 

The scrum master should maintain a proper balance between the two different parts of the same role. It becomes easy to implement scrum in a systematic manner if you remain detached, since it helps you to observe the workings as a third person. Scrum does not support active participation of the scrum master in leading the team directly by providing instructions to them. At the same time, the servant leader role supports compassion and closeness, which is only possible if you involve yourself on a personal basis with the team member. Therefore, it is important to be aware about both these antithetical requirements of the role, and carry it out by balancing both the aspects.   

Find out more, and download our free QuickScrum tool which can help you in implementing scrum in an effective and profitable way! 

What Is A Sprint Retrospective And How It Should Be Conducted

What is a sprint retrospective and why is it so important?

Evolution is a continuous process, and if a person studies the past, he or she can avail a much better idea about how things exist the way they do today. The rule is not so different for scrum. If one is able to study the performance of sprints which have been carried out in the past, one can possibly know about what issues and pitfalls have affected prior sprints, and in what manner. Sprint retrospectives offer an opportunity to learn from the sprints which have already been carried out, and what the management still needs to learn from them. It is one of the main reasons why retrospectives exist in scrum. At the end of each sprint, the product owner and the scrum master meet to discuss about, and analyze the sprint which has just been completed. The process enables the scrum team to better itself, and avoid the problems which have occurred in the past. The entire team as well as the project can move forward in a positive and a fruitful manner.    

The lessons learnt and the results obtained from a retrospective are very much useful for planning the next sprint. The results play an important part in the sprint planning meeting carried out just before a new sprint is initiated. Ideally, a meeting lasting for 30 to 60 minutes should be carried out immediately after the current sprint is over. The main purpose of the meeting should be to brief the team members as to how they should prepare for the retrospective to be held at a later date.

Who attends the retrospective?

It is mandatory for the product owner and the scrum master to attend the meeting. Ideally, the meeting should also be attended by the team members since the main purpose of the meeting is to learn about the mistakes occurred during the sprint, and concerns the team. If so desired, the investors and the stakeholders can also attend the meeting. However, their role should only include providing feedback and any information pertaining to the acceptance criterion if so required by the team members or the product owner. 

Conducting the retrospective

Before starting with the retrospective, ensure that each person attending the meeting is clear about what is to be discussed, and what goals are to be achieved from the meeting. It is important to convey that the purpose of the meeting is not to point fingers and accuse others for something that has gone wrong. The team should face the problem collectively and in a sporting manner.

Chart out the entire sprint on the whiteboard and indicate the user stories which have met with difficulties, or which have not been accepted as “done”. Instruct the team members to take notes as the meeting progresses, or as and when they feel it is necessary to do so.  Discuss about the actual problem which has occurred. Explain about the exact nature of the problem to the team members, and how the particular problem has affected the results desired out of the sprint. In addition, the members could also be explained about the significance of the problem from the ROI point of view. In the end when the briefing activity is over, ask the team members to submit their notes and encourage them to participate in the discussion. Ask them to contribute their opinion as to how the problem could have been avoided, and what steps should be taken to correct it.

It should not matter if the team member lacks the knowledge or the experience to contribute anything concrete or of significance during the discussions. It should also be acceptable if the particular member offers a suggestion which is wrong or unacceptable. The basic purpose of the retrospective is to learn through collaboration. There is learning involved in the process, and the team should benefit from the discussions in a positive manner. Moreover, scrum advocates active participation and invites suggestions from everyone associated with the project. It is for the product owner and the scrum master to unanimously decide which suggestions are important and should be taken up for consideration.    

Find out more, and download our free QuickScrum tool which can help you in implementing scrum in an effective and profitable way! 

How Individuals Not Officially Trained In Scrum Can Still Implement Scrum Projects

Scrum methodology can be effective. It has been specially designed to incorporate the changes taking place in the project definition and product related requirements if and when they change due to the changes taking place in the consumer market, and the whims and fancies of the investors and stakeholders. Even though it eventually helps to reduce the overheads and increase the returns over investment, it can prove to be a trifle expensive when implemented for the first time in a company. Product owners and scrum masters do not come cheap, and so if the management desires to implement the methodology, it may have to make do with temporary substitutes who can act as scrum masters and scrum certified professionals, if the particular business organization lacks in financial resources. 

In a typical scenario, a business concern may plan to manufacture a product, but may be wary regarding its development and outcomes in terms of profitability when launched in the market. Scrum is ideally suited for such venture capital projects, where it may become necessary to curtail the development related expenses and halt the project midway if it is not found to be productive. In such a scenario, the organization may appoint a traditional manager to implement scrum. The person may not be officially trained in scrum, but may be forced to implement it owing to top management decisions. The person may feel at a loss how to go ahead with the project. A couple of pointers may help such a person, who is not officially trained in scrum, to carry out its implementation.

    

Using a good quality scrum management tool or software

A possible way to implement scrum without being officially trained and experienced in its implementation is to use a reputed scrum management software or tool. Of course, it is required to know the basics about scrum methodology and how scrum works, but a lot of time can be saved while catering to the practical details of the methodology and its implementation by using such a tool or software. The software includes a lot of functionality in it, and is often accompanied with a useful user manual or a reference guide which teaches how to use the software, define projects, create product backlogs, and plan sprints. The work of the person becomes a lot easier since he or she may be required to provide the required inputs and let the software do the rest. It may not make you a professional product owner or a scrum master, but it can help to streamline your project flow and get you started.

Get a crash course and implement scrum

Another way to carry out scrum implementation is to become clear about scrum, and how it can be implemented, by reading the official scrum guide and the reference material available. One can also find information pertaining to sample scrum projects and how they can be implemented by browsing the internet. It is the cheapest and the easiest way to get started with the implementation process. The person is not required to know about how Gantt charts and product stories look like. It is also not required to know how they should be correctly defined and presented on paper. 

The idea is to get an overall picture and become clear as to how a particular scrum technique functions, and what it does during the implementation process. Subsequently, the person can use the logic to create his or her particular process and try to implement scrum in a rudimentary fashion. It may not be perfect, but if scrum is properly understood, and it is tried to be implemented in a makeshift manner, it may still bring about some, if not all results desired out of the implementation process.

There is absolutely no substitute for a trained scrum professional. Scrum is a specialized process, and not so easy to learn in the first place. However, if a person is forced to deal with scrum and its implementation, there should be something to start with – an entry point which can pave the correct way for further activity and permanent solutions. The article tries to offer a temporary solution for such individuals.

Find out more, and download our free QuickScrum tool which can help you in implementing scrum in an effective and profitable way! 

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.

Find out more, and download our free QuickScrum tool which can help you in implementing scrum in an effective and profitable way!