In my post SCRUM-tastic Tuesday - Time to pay the piper, I talked a bit about the consequences of people missing meetings. In this article we will take a look at a situation where attendance; at least as part of the daily stand-up meeting; can keep the team from communicating effectively. I'm talking about the Scrum Master. In order to understand where the problem lies, lets first revisit what a Scrum Master is and is not.
What the Scrum Master is; or should be:
- Someone who ensures all process stakeholders adhere to the Scrum process tenets
- Someone who helps prevent the Team from losing momentum during a Sprint
- Removes Impediments
- Facilitates communications between the Team and resources outside the Team
- Shielding the Team from external interference/distractions
- Someone who schedules all meetings for major process milestones (e.g. Planning, Daily Scrum, Review, and Retrospective)
- Communicates Agenda's
- Ensures attendance of appropriate stakeholders
- Facilitates meeting progress
What a Scrum Master is not; or should not be:
- The team manager (operational, technical, or administrative)
- Someone who makes delivery commitments with the Team
Ideally speaking, the stand-up would look something like the following image. Everyone standing in a circle with the Team communicating with one another and the Scrum Master taking note when someone has an impediment.
But we don't all live in an ideal world and what often happens is the Scrum Master becomes a management figure. When this happens, the daily Scrum Meeting starts to look like the following image. Team members can stop talking to each other and start reporting status directly to the Scrum Master.
Once this pattern develops, communication within the Team become less effective. You have to remember that the Team has made a commitment to deliver at the end of the Sprint not the Scrum Master. To be successful, the Team needs to be able to communicate clearly to one another and self-manage.
The development of this pattern is understandable though. In part, the problem lies in the name Scrum Master. The word "Master" can create an implicit promotion for the person in that role, and this can disrupt the balance between the Teams role and the Scrum Masters role. Many organizations can make this problem worse by putting Team Managers in this position. While Scrum Masters should be empowered to make some decisions, this should not be confused with running the Team.
A better name might be something like Scrum Concierge, Expediter, or anything that re-enforces the role of someone focused on the continued momentum of the Team. Team Managers "can" fill this role, but in my experience it very rarely works. The Scrum Master has to be willing; eager even; to let the Team delegate work to him/her and the normal Manager/Managee roles just don't work that way.
If you find that your Scrum Master has received such a promotion, try having the Scrum Master stand outside the circle during the daily Scrum Meeting. They can still facilitate the meeting and interject when needed, but this will force the Team to start talking to each other again. This is a simple practice which you can implement on and off as needed.
Tags: processes