The change in mindset necessary to become a servant leader is incredibly hard for a scrum master who comes from command and control background. As a newly minted Professional Scrum Master (PSM I), I returned to my team excited and ready to get underway with a scrum adoption. Unfortunately, I had not fully grasped the concept of servant leadership. Instead of being a change agent, I was an impediment. My own cautionary tale is unfortunately a common one. Well meaning people with 2 day certifications can do a lot of damage to a new scrum team. Attendees will learn about the difficulties of becoming a scrum master, how scrum team members need to embrace the scrum values to promote healthy team practices, and that even certified scrum masters can lose their way.

1. HELP!!!
THE SCRUM MASTER IS
THE IMPEDIMENT!

2. @ryanripley

3. #AgileIndy2015

4. What is a scrum master?

6. “The Scrum Master is responsible for
ensuring Scrum is understood and
enacted.”
--The Scrum Guide

7. What is an impediment?

8. “Anything that prevents the scrum team
from being productive.”

9. Every scrum master can avoid becoming
an impediment to their team by
frequently inspecting and adapting their
behaviors.

10. “A dead scrum master
is a useless scrum master.”
--Ken Schwaber

11. “Regardless of what we discover, we understand
and truly believe that everyone did the best job
they could, given what they knew at the time, their
skills and abilities, the resources available, and
the situation at hand.”
--Norm Kerth, Project Retrospectives: A Handbook for Team Reviews

13. AGILE DICTATOR

14. “I don’t care if you want to use software
to track user stories, we’re going to start
with 3x5 cards and masking tape!”

15. O’RLY ???

16. INSPECT:
•Arguments – “What has to be true…?”
•Emotional outbursts
•Am I talking to the team or at the team?
•Your feelings – “Am I enjoying my role?”

17. ADAPT:
•Take time to reflect on difficult exchanges
•What is motivating you?
•Anxiety, fear, or frustration
•Address the “friction” in the retrospective
•Ask the team for feedback and support

18. PROJECT MANAGER

19. “A project manager could maybe
become a tester...maybe.”
--Ken Schwaber

20. “Alright, this story is pretty simple… Bob
can knock it out in a few days... This next
one…”

21. “500 YARDS OF FOUL-SMELLING MUCK”
--Red “The Shawshank Redemption”
The PMP® to CSM® pipeline…

22. INSPECT:
•How the team manages their work
•Focus of Daily Scrum meeting
•Unsolicited advice
•Interrupting progress to pontificate

23. ADAPT:
•Questions over statements (2:1 ratio)
•Make failure an option – and then fail
•The team owns tasks and solutions
•Ask for permission to help

24. “DAD! Stop helping me!”
--My son, tired of me inflicting help

25. TECHNICAL LEAD

27. “I don’t think that design will work. You
should code the story like this…”

28. INSPECT:
•Is design/architecture emergent?
•Are the developers disengaged?
•How does the team decide the best way to
do their work?
•Is pair programming, #mobprogramming, or
swarming happening?

29. ADAPT:
•Leave the developers alone
•Step down as scrum master and resume a
coding role
•Focus on guiding rather than directing
•Ask for permission to help

30. SUPER HERO

31. “That’s not how it’s done! Here, let me
show you the “right way” to be agile…at
2am.”

33. INSPECT:
•Team seeks your approval before acting
•Team asks about the “right way” to do Agile
•Are you insisting on “correct” solutions?

34. ADAPT:
•Resist the urge to solve the teams problems
•Get comfortable with awkward silence
•Focus on relationships

35. Learn to be introspective

36. The Scrum Values:
•Commitment
•Respect
•Focus
•Openness
•Courage
LINK: http://agileanswerman.com/scrum-values-can-
make-or-break-your-agile-project/

37. Take time to reflect on your day

39. Own your mistakes, apologize, learn, and grow.

40. http://agileanswerman.com
ryan@agileanswerman.com
@ryanripley