Scrum Master training at GAC, Dubai

1. SCRUM MASTER
GULF AGENCY COMPANY
Rasmus Runberg

2. Introduction
Rasmus Runberg
• +10 years of project experience - past 8 working agile
• Background as Scrum Facilitator and Project Manager
• Member of Agile Alliance and host of Agile ME
RASMUS@TELETRONICS.AE

3. Introduction
Practicalities
• Please interrupt!
• Let me know if it is time for a break
• Presentation will be available for download

4. Introduction
Gulf Agency Company
Why would you like to
be a Scrum Master?

5. Introduction
Gulf Agency Company
What are the Scrum
Master tasks?

6. SCRUM

7. THE SM
Scrum Master
“The Scrum Master is responsible for promoting and supporting Scrum as defined
in the Scrum Guide. Scrum Masters do this by helping everyone understand Scrum
theory, practices, rules, and values”
AND
“The Scrum Master is a servant-leader for the Scrum Team. The Scrum Master
helps those outside the Scrum Team understand which of their interactions with
the Scrum Team are helpful and which aren’t. The Scrum Master helps everyone
change these interactions to maximize the value created by the Scrum Team”

8. WHAT IS AGILE?
“Agile processes are iterative and employ specific project management and
engineering practices to sustain the delivery of new functionality every one to four
weeks”
AND
“A philosophy that great products are created by collaborative, empowered
teams that work with their customers, utilizing value- driven delivery, adaptive
planning and continuous improvement techniques”

9. SCRUM VALUES
Focus Courage Openness Commitment Respect
Because we focus
on only a few things
at a time, we work
well together and
produce excellent
work. We deliver
valuable items
sooner.
Because we work
as a team, we feel
supported and have
more resources at
our disposal. This
gives us the courage
to undertake
greater challenges.
As we work
together, we
express how we're
doing, what's in our
way, and our
concerns so they
can be addressed.
Because we have
great control over
our own destiny,
we are more
committed to
success.
As we work
together, sharing
successes and
failures, we come to
respect each other
and to help each
other become
worthy of respect.

10. GROUP WORK
SCRUM MASTER
In groups
• How can you as a Scrum Master
support the Scrum Values?
Give examples please.
Focus Courage Openness
Commitment Respect

11. THE SCRUM PROCESS

12. THE 3 ROLES

13. THE ORGANIZATION
How do you support the Organization?
• Leading and coaching the organization in its Scrum adoption
• Planning Scrum implementations within the organization
• Help employees and stakeholders understand Scrum and empirical development
• Causing change that increases the productivity of the Scrum Team
• Working with other Scrum Masters to increase the effectiveness of the application of
Scrum in the organization.

14. THE PO
Product Owner
“The Scrum product owner is typically a
project's key stakeholder. Part of the product
owner responsibilities is to have a vision of
what he or she wishes to build, and convey that
vision to the scrum team. This is key to
successfully starting any agile software
development project. The product owner does
this in part through the product backlog, which
is a prioritized features list for the product”
Mike Cohn

15. THE PO
Product Owner
How do you support the Product Owner?
• Ensuring that goals, scope, and product domain are understood by everyone
• Finding techniques for effective Product Backlog management
• Helping the Team understand the need for clear and concise Product Backlog items
• Understanding product planning in an empirical environment
• Ensuring the PO knows how to arrange the Product Backlog to maximize value
• Understanding and practicing agility
• Facilitating Scrum events as requested or needed

16. THE TEAM
Development Team
“The Development Team consists of professionals who do the work of delivering a
potentially releasable Increment of “Done” product at the end of each Sprint.
Only members of the Development Team create the Increment”
AND
“Development Teams are structured and empowered by the organization to
organize and manage their own work. The resulting synergy optimizes the
Development Team’s overall efficiency and effectiveness”

17. THE TEAM
Development Team
How do you support the Team?
• Coaching the Team in self-organization and cross-functionality
• Helping the Team to create high-value products
• Removing impediments to the Team’s progress
• Facilitating Scrum events as requested or needed
• Coaching the Development Team in organizational environments in which Scrum is
not yet fully adopted and understood.

18. SCRUM
MASTER

19. GROUP WORK
SCRUM MASTER
In groups
• What makes a good Scrum
Master?

21. SERVANT LEADER
• Empathy
• Awareness
• Building Community
• Persuasion
• Conceptualization
• Growth
HTTPS://WWW.ENTREPRENEUR.COM

22. SERVANT LEADER
• Empathy
• Awareness
• Building Community
• Persuasion
• Conceptualization
• Growth
The servant leader strives to understand and
share the feelings of each team member.
Giving trusted coworkers the benefit of the
doubt by assuming the good in them goes a
long way toward instilling loyalty and trust
in you from your team.

23. SERVANT LEADER
• Empathy
• Awareness
• Building Community
• Persuasion
• Conceptualization
• Growth
Servant leaders have a strong awareness of
what's going on around them.
They care deeply about the welfare of the
team members and are passionate about
their well-being.
Servant leaders are self-aware and have a
deep understanding of the effects their
decisions and behavior have on others
around them.

24. SERVANT LEADER
• Empathy
• Awareness
• Building Community
• Persuasion
• Conceptualization
• Growth
Servant leaders believe passionately in
building a community where both employees
and customers can thrive.

25. SERVANT LEADER
• Empathy
• Awareness
• Building Community
• Persuasion
• Conceptualization
• Growth
?
Rather than simply directing employees to
follow orders based on a rigid hierarchy, the
servant leader relies on persuasion rather
than coercion.

26. SERVANT LEADER
• Empathy
• Awareness
• Building Community
• Persuasion
• Conceptualization
• Growth
?
Servant-leading entrepreneurs focus on the
big picture and don't get overly distracted by
daily operations and short-term goals.

27. SERVANT LEADER
• Empathy
• Awareness
• Building Community
• Persuasion
• Conceptualization
• Growth
Servant leaders care passionately about the
personal and professional growth of each
member of their team.
They believe that if you create the right
values and culture, normal people will do
extraordinary things.

28. PURSUE IMPROVEMENTS

29. INTERACT WELL WITH THE TEAM

30. INVOKE SOCRATES
• I noticed that <situation>; what shall we do?
• I observed <situation>; is that important?
• I feel <feeling>; do you share that?
• Shall we try to find out why <situation>?
• What do you think we should do?
Ask, Don’t Tell
• Who has any idea about <x>?
• Is this useful?
• What have you decided?
• What should I do?
• What do you prefer?

31. THE DIFFICULT CONVERSATION
Stay on your own half

32. GROUP WORK
CONVERSATIONS
In groups - Have the
difficult conversation
about:
• Being late
• Browsing the Internet
• Private phone calls
• Low quality code
• Etc.

33. THE DIFFICULT CONVERSATION

34. SCRUM MASTER
FACILITATION

36. THE CEREMONIES
Before the
Sprint
During the
Sprint
After the
Sprint
• Daily Scrum • Sprint Review
• Sprint Planning
• Backlog Refinement /
Grooming
• Sprint Retrospective

37. THE CEREMONIES
• Daily Scrum
• Sprint Planning
• Backlog Refinement /
Grooming
• Sprint Retrospective
• Sprint Review
• Story Writing / Story Telling
• Planning Poker
• SPIDR
TOOLS
• Prepare the backlog for Sprint Planning
PURPOSE
• Shared understanding of backlog items
• Estimates
OUTCOME

38. THE CEREMONIES
STORY POINTS
• Daily Scrum
• Sprint Planning
• Backlog Refinement /
Grooming
• Sprint Retrospective
• Sprint Review
A consensus-based estimating technique
PLANNING POKER
A unit of measure for expressing an estimate of the overall effort that will
be required to fully implement a product backlog item or any other piece of
work.

39. THE CEREMONIES
SPIDR
• Daily Scrum
• Sprint Planning
• Backlog Refinement /
Grooming
• Sprint Retrospective
• Sprint Review

40. THE CEREMONIES
• Daily Scrum
• Sprint Planning
• Backlog Refinement /
Grooming
• Sprint Retrospective
• Sprint Review
SM ROLE?
Facilitate the meeting if needed, this include:
• The entire team is part of the meeting
• Identify if missing consensus on proposed solutions
• Support the estimation process - support the conversation
• Identify risk (stories too big)

41. THE CEREMONIES
• Daily Scrum
• Sprint Planning
• Backlog Refinement /
Grooming
• Sprint Retrospective
• Sprint Review
• Velocity
TOOLS
• Identify the backlog items for the following sprint
PURPOSE
• Sprint Backlog
• Team Commitment
OUTCOME

42. THE CEREMONIES
• Daily Scrum
• Sprint Planning
• Backlog Refinement /
Grooming
• Sprint Retrospective
• Sprint Review
• An average of the amount of work done in the past
sprints
VELOCITY
Sprints
WorkDone
Velocity

43. THE CEREMONIES
JIRA
• Daily Scrum
• Sprint Planning
• Backlog Refinement /
Grooming
• Sprint Retrospective
• Sprint Review

44. THE CEREMONIES
• Daily Scrum
• Sprint Planning
• Backlog Refinement /
Grooming
• Sprint Retrospective
• Sprint Review
SM ROLE?
How much capacity does the team have in the sprint?
Facilitate the Product Owner and the team getting the work done
• Make sure things move along and monitor the pace
• Remove obstacles and conflicts
• Support the team in getting consensus for the
commitment

45. THE CEREMONIES
Before the
Sprint
During the
Sprint
After the
Sprint
• Daily Scrum • Sprint Review• Sprint Planning
• Backlog Refinement /
Grooming
• Sprint Retrospective

46. THE CEREMONIES
• Daily Scrum
• Sprint Planning
• Backlog Refinement /
Grooming
• Sprint Retrospective
• Sprint Review • What did I achieve yesterday towards meeting our goal?
• What will I achieve today towards meeting our goal?
• Do I see any impediment?
TOOLS
• Optimize collaboration and performance by inspecting the
work since yesterday and forecasting upcoming Sprint work.
PURPOSE
• Alignment and understanding
OUTCOME

47. THE CEREMONIES
• Daily Scrum
• Sprint Planning
• Backlog Refinement /
Grooming
• Sprint Retrospective
• Sprint Review
SM ROLE?
This ceremony is monitored and facilitated by the team but it might be a
good idea to support them
• Bring relevant insights (burndown charts / scrum board)
• Identify topics that needs to be addressed “offline”
• Ask questions clarifying questions
• Actively make yourself available

48. THE CEREMONIES
Before the
Sprint
During the
Sprint
After the
Sprint
• Daily Scrum • Sprint Review• Sprint Planning
• Backlog Refinement /
Grooming
• Sprint Retrospective

49. THE CEREMONIES
Feedback and collaboration by presenting the increment.
Alignment and transparency.
PURPOSE
Input to a revised Product Backlog that defines the
probable Product Backlog items for the next Sprint -
potentially also adjusted to meet new opportunities.
OUTCOME• Daily Scrum
• Sprint Planning
• Backlog Refinement /
Grooming
• Sprint Retrospective
• Sprint Review

50. THE CEREMONIES
INCREMENT
• Daily Scrum
• Sprint Planning
• Backlog Refinement /
Grooming
• Sprint Retrospective
• Sprint Review
• The sum of all the backlog items finished in the sprint
• Potentially shippable

51. THE CEREMONIES
• Daily Scrum
• Sprint Planning
• Backlog Refinement /
Grooming
• Sprint Retrospective
• Sprint Review
SM ROLE?
“Enforce” transparency and help ensuring the good communication

52. THE CEREMONIES
• Start - Stop - Continue
• Popcorn Flow
TOOLS
• For the team to inspect and adapt
PURPOSE
• Action items on experiments / improvements to implement
OUTCOME
• Daily Scrum
• Sprint Planning
• Backlog Refinement /
Grooming
• Sprint Retrospective
• Sprint Review

53. THE CEREMONIES
• Problem and observations
• Options
• Possible Experiments
• Commitment
• Ongoing
• Review
• Next
POPCORN FLOW
• Daily Scrum
• Sprint Planning
• Backlog Refinement /
Grooming
• Sprint Retrospective
• Sprint Review

54. THE CEREMONIES
• Daily Scrum
• Sprint Planning
• Backlog Refinement /
Grooming
• Sprint Retrospective
• Sprint Review
SM ROLE?
The most important part is to ensure that everyone feel safe to speak up
and that improvements are being identified
• Security First
• Collect Facts
• Ask: What went well?
• Ask: What needs improvement?
• Prioritize the actions

55. THE SCRUM PROCESS

56. DURING THE SPRINT
• The team self organizes to create the product increment
• They keep an eye on the big picture of the Sprint commit
• Swarming, pairing and other good practices are recommended
• The team works closely with each other and with the PO
• The team stays transparent
• The team monitors itself and inspects/adapts at the Daily Scrum
• The primary focus is producing the Product Increment

57. GOOD PRACTICES
• A technique in coordinating
among Scrum teams working
in the same area
SCRUM OF SCRUMS
• Allows clusters of teams to
discuss their work, focusing
especially on areas of overlap
and integration
(dependencies)

58. GOOD PRACTICES
• A group of people who share
a craft and/or a profession,
e.g. testers
COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE
• Aka a “Guild” (Spotify)

59. Stay Connected
Rasmus Runberg
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/runberg/
• MeetUps: https://www.meetup.com/AgileME-Dubai/
RASMUS@TELETRONICS.AE

60. READING MATERIAL
• https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/
MIKE COHEN
• https://www.scrumalliance.org/learn-about-scrum
SCRUM ALLIANCE
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbPkcfzi2HI&t=142s
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNe0UEsBalA
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=502ILHjX9EE&t=118s
YOUTUBE