3. Contents
About the author������������������������������������������������������������������������������������11
Preface���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������15
Acknowledgments������������������������������������������������������������������������������������33
About the Reviewer���������������������������������������������������������������������������������35
How This Book Is Organized?�����������������������������������������������������������������37
Chapter 0. Scrum Master Context������������������������������������������������ 45
1. Context Drives Everything and
That is a Varying Target������������������������������������������47
2. Let us Develop Awesome Scrum Masters�����������������49
3. Why I Want All the Scrum Masters to
Run Out of the Cave!����������������������������������������������52
4. What I have learned from my few masters
Scrum Masters��������������������������������������������������������54
5. The Death of the product and
the Love story from the Agile Team!������������������������55
6. Digital skills for today’s Scrum Master���������������������58
7. Why Yesterday’s performance rewards
do not include enough benefits for tomorrow?��������61
8. Strengthening your Coaching Journey���������������������63
9. Dysfunctional Scrum Master?���������������������������������65
10. Why Scrum Master has to be a Lean Master������������66
11. Flow-based Product Development���������������������������68
4. 4 | Contents
12. What do I wish from my Scrum of Scrum
Master to achieve?���������������������������������������������������68
13. Tools which can benefit to
Implement Scaled Agile ������������������������������������������70
14. Learning from a Tree�����������������������������������������������72
Chapter 1. Scrum Master as a Great Communicator��������������������� 75
Introduction��������������������������������������������������������������������75
1. Rapport Building....Excellent Communication
skill for a Scrum Master������������������������������������������77
2. Communication Model for Scrum Masters?
How can we Improve?���������������������������������������������80
3. How to Influence tough People?������������������������������85
4. As a Coach How can we increase our
Circle of Influence?�������������������������������������������������88
5. Influence and Win the people?��������������������������������91
6. Influence!! How to master this skill?������������������������95
7. Managing Conflicts in Scrum Team������������������������98
8. What do we do to improve Negotiation?���������������102
9. Team Conflict? What to be more aware of?�����������106
10. Collaboration? How to Improve?���������������������������109
11. Collaboration, Are We Doing Effectively?�������������111
12. Building Questioning Skills: How good is
YOURS?���������������������������������������������������������������113
13. Persuasion: How to improve?��������������������������������116
14. Conversation as a Tool: How can we strengthen?���118
15. Check your listening skills?������������������������������������121
16. The Perfect Speech������������������������������������������������122
17. Win-Win negotiation that has worked with me�����123
18. Fostering Positive Relationship at work�����������������124
Case Study���������������������������������������������������������������������130
Few Key Points��������������������������������������������������������������130
5. Contents | 5
Chapter 2. Scrum Master as a Creative Person���������������������������� 131
Introduction������������������������������������������������������������������131
1. How Structure Brings Innovation?������������������������134
2. How to Boost Creativity in a Team? ���������������������137
3. Enhanced Creativity: A Tips from Edison�������������140
4. Getting Ideas from Our Work?������������������������������142
5. Constraints Bring Innovation in Transformation���147
6. Using Meditation for Improving Creativity�����������150
7. Coaching is Mostly About Asking Better
Questions....and Generate Thoughts in
Others Mind���������������������������������������������������������154
8. Observation skill and Creativity:
How observant are you?����������������������������������������157
9. The Persona of an Uncreative person!��������������������160
10. Let’s Walk to Obtain Higher Creativity�����������������163
11. Group Thinking tools for Agile Team��������������������167
Case Study ��������������������������������������������������������������������172
Few Key Points��������������������������������������������������������������173
Chapter 3. Scrum Master as a Companionable Person���������������� 175
Introduction������������������������������������������������������������������175
1. Understanding Basic Psychology knowledge����������177
2. How to Coach a Big Ego Person?��������������������������184
3. Learning from Psychologist?����������������������������������187
4. How can we build Psychological safety at the work
place?��������������������������������������������������������������������190
5. Scrum Master must be the role model for self-
disciplined Individuals, how can we do it?�������������193
6. How to develop Emotionally Intelligent people?���195
7. Knowing self and others, how is it helpful?������������199
8. Applying flow in team to get maximum output?����202
9. Building social skills: How to make it better?���������205
6. 6 | Contents
10. How I became extrovert from
introvert in the last two decades����������������������������206
11. Empathy is the paramount skill in Product
Development in the Digital Economy:
are you honing this Intelligence??��������������������������209
12. Why we all require to learn Behavioral Science?����213
13. Team Agreement, how it can Benefit?��������������������216
14. Applying some tips from Sir Alex Ferguson
coaching Style�������������������������������������������������������219
15. Why Knowing Other Cultures Makes You a
Better Individual While Working in Teams�����������222
Case Study ��������������������������������������������������������������������225
Few Key Points��������������������������������������������������������������227
Chapter 4. Scrum Master as a Creator of a Competent Team������ 229
Introduction �����������������������������������������������������������������229
1. Applying Ladder of Inference in Scrum Events������232
2. Steps to Strengthen Team Resiliency����������������������236
3. When You Have to Deal with Narcissistic
Personality�������������������������������������������������������������238
4. How Growth Mindset Thoughts Helped
Me to Come Out of the Depression?���������������������241
5. 3C of Thinking Skills for Backlog Refinement������243
6. Try, Fail, Learn and Repeat! Message for
My Scrum Team����������������������������������������������������246
7. How High Can You Coach? Are You Ready?���������250
8. Few Powerful Questions to Be
Asked By the Team Members?�������������������������������252
9. How Can We Maximize Learning? Are You
Maximizing?����������������������������������������������������������255
10. How to Run Scrum Events Effectively?�����������������260
11. SCRUM Values: Story from Panchatantra�������������263
12. AGILE Transformation Needs a
Self-disciplined Culture�����������������������������������������265
7. Contents | 7
13. Self-disclosure An Excellent Tool for
Increased Engagement at the Workshop����������������268
14. Solution Focused Approach to Coaching?�������������271
15. Do You Have HAPPY Friends/colleagues?
How YOU Will Recognize Them?�������������������������274
16. Facilitating Workshop?
Must to Know for a Coach������������������������������������277
17. Understanding Where Power
Comes from in the Workplace?�����������������������������281
18. Who Would Want to Work for a
Weak Manager? ����������������������������������������������������283
19. MAXIMIZING Stakeholder Satisfaction?�������������287
20. Mr Responsive or Mr Reactive?�����������������������������289
21. Barriers to Successful Partnerships�������������������������291
22. Controlling Attrition? What Can Be Done...���������293
23. Focusing ON STRENGTH
Based Management�����������������������������������������������296
24. How Socrates Would Have Read the
Technical Book?����������������������������������������������������300
25. Stakeholder Analysis Checklist: One of the
KEYS for Scaled Agile Implementation�����������������302
26. Great Team Players: What Can
We Pick Up from Them?���������������������������������������306
27. Learning from Sunflowers:
Agile Sunflower Team!�������������������������������������������308
Few Key Points��������������������������������������������������������������317
Chapter 5. Scrum Master as a Change Agents����������������������������� 319
Introduction �����������������������������������������������������������������319
1. How Does An Individual Develop
Change Leadership Expertise?�������������������������������321
2. How Can An Individual Manage Change
Management for An Organizational
Transformation?����������������������������������������������������324
8. 8 | Contents
3. Why Do Change Agents Need to Know
About the Human Archetype?�������������������������������329
4. What Are the Change Management
Steps for Effective Coaching?���������������������������������334
5. How Do We Sustain a Change
So That Change “STICKS”?���������������������������������337
6. Case Study������������������������������������������������������������341
7. Change Management Result on
Individual People? Tool for Coaches����������������������342
8. On Change Management What Great
Folks Said …food for Thought for All
Change AGENTS�������������������������������������������������344
9. Applying NLP for Coaching and Change
Management!��������������������������������������������������������347
10. Case Study������������������������������������������������������������347
11. Sustaining a CHANGE Management
Initiative in An Organization��������������������������������351
12. Transformation Journey for Self and Team������������357
13. Change Management: How to Change
People’s Way of Working?��������������������������������������361
14. Change Management Approach for Coaches���������362
Case Study���������������������������������������������������������������������369
Few Key Points��������������������������������������������������������������369
Chapter 6. Scrum Master as a Charismatic Leader���������������������� 371
Introduction������������������������������������������������������������������371
1. How can we become Heroic leaders? ��������������������374
2. When I find my Agile Leader,
how do I recognize him/her?���������������������������������377
3. Why do we follow Leaders? ����������������������������������381
4. Practicing Servant Leadership��������������������������������383
5. Shri Krishna as an Excellent Crisis
Leader and Life Coach������������������������������������������386
9. Contents | 9
6. As a Manager/Leader can YOU create a
SECURE BASE SAFE HEAVEN for Others?��� 392
7. On the Path to Become a Charismatic Leader…����396
8. Transforming Command and Control type
Leader to Servant Leader? How this will
Help YOU?�����������������������������������������������������������399
9. Attitude Defines our Altitude��������������������������������402
10. Buddha on Self-Driven, Self-Organized,
Self-Actualization and Servant Leadership�������������406
11. Scrum Master, you are the leader without
authority: Can you please assure Success?��������������408
12. How I am practicing to say “No”���������������������������412
13. Leaders use the tips from Alan Mulally to
Build an awesome team!����������������������������������������415
14. Why the scrum master should think like an
Intrapreneur?���������������������������������������������������������418
15. Why Enhancing Credibility is one of the
keys for Servant Leaders����������������������������������������421
16. Miscellaneous: How to Build Trust in the Team?���424
Case Study ��������������������������������������������������������������������438
Few Key Points��������������������������������������������������������������439
Chapter 7. Scrum Master as a Great Catalyst������������������������������ 441
Introduction������������������������������������������������������������������441
1. Triggering Motivation�������������������������������������������442
2. How do we Motivate the Team Members?�������������442
3. How to Increase Motivation at the Workplace?�����446
4. Experience Improved motivation
through Intrinsic Motivation techniques?
How can it be done?����������������������������������������������450
5. Self-Actualization Behaviors?���������������������������������454
6. Applying Arousal Theory to Motivate Self�������������457
7. Finding your Purpose through a Game?����������������460
10. 10 | Contents
8. Effective coaching techniques��������������������������������462
9. Relaxing through Mental imagery�������������������������463
10. Junk food for Motivation, please identify
and avoid��������������������������������������������������������������464
11. Coach, what type of coaching style will you
adopt?�������������������������������������������������������������������467
12. Why Self-efficacy is the blueprint
which you demand to test and spread?������������������470
13. MOOD lifting Exercise at Office, Try it! ��������������473
14. Who moved my GRIT?�����������������������������������������477
15. How do I know, if I have High
Adaptability skill?��������������������������������������������������480
16. How Expertise is Developed?���������������������������������483
17. Positivity, one of the core skills which
has aided me a lot��������������������������������������������������486
Case study ���������������������������������������������������������������������489
Few Key Points��������������������������������������������������������������489
One Nice Story for the Last chapter��������������������������������������������������������491
Notes���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������507
11. chapter 0
Scrum Master Context
Mahender is a new scrum master who is residing in an apartment with his
roommate Roopam. Roopam is an Agile coach. Both are working for the
same company and from the same city. Residing together for the last several
years. Most of the time Roopam play mentorship role for Mahender, who
is several years junior to Roopam.
On different occasion, Mahender asked numerous queries pertained to
Scrum Mastery. Mahender gained ample aid and guidance from Roopam
and which Mahender consciously practices.
7CChakraswhichMahenderpracticeandnotedbasedonthechallenges
he encounters as a Scrum Master and intelligence he has received from
Roopam as a coach are recorded here.
As illustrated in the Scrum Guide, the Scrum Master is responsible for
promoting and supporting Scrum. Scrum Masters do this by supporting
everyone understand Scrum theory, practices, rules, and values.
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.
“Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t
be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s
thinking. Don’t let the noise of other opinions drown your own inner
voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart
12. 46 | The Scrum Master Guidebook
and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to
become. Everything else is secondary.”
– Steve Jobs
What a standard scrum Master should perform
ŠŠ Scrum Master enables the team to Eliminate Impediments
ŠŠ Scrum Master coach the team in scrum Practices
ŠŠ Scrum Master protects teams from external intervention
ŠŠ Scrum Master is having a continuous improvement mindset
ŠŠ Scrum Master is an outstanding Facilitator
ŠŠ Scrum Master is a Servant Leader
ŠŠ Scrum Master has good Influencing skill
ŠŠ Scrum Master knows the domain and technology
ŠŠ Scrum Master is having a substantial organizational skill
ŠŠ Scrum Master is an outstanding communicator
ŠŠ Scrum Master is excellent at conflict management
ŠŠ Scrum Master enables to build a self-organized team
ŠŠ Scrum Master has collaboration skill
ŠŠ Scrum Master build transparency into the system
ŠŠ Scrum Master acts as a “Sheepdog” for the team
What are some of the queries, appear to scrum master which provoke
scrum masters to achieve mastery in scrum master skill?
1. What do we do when Agile Practices are not followed?
2. What do we do when the team does not have self-discipline?
3. What do we do when the team has communication silos?
4. What do we do when Business and IT are not effectively connected?
5. What do we do to enhance trust?
6. How to increase autonomy in the team?
7. How to improve the feedback system across the organization?
8. How to improve value-driven delivery?
9. How to minimize friction in teams due to changes?
10. How to improve change implementation rollout?
13. Scrum Master Context | 47
11. How to improve the experiment mindset among team members?
12. How to improve quality issues?
13. How to improve coaching capability and training?
14. How to improve challenges among distributed team members?
15. How can we improve the relationship with the stakeholders?
16. How can we engage our team members?
17. How can I improve my confidence and influence others?
18. Know how to drive team members?
19. How can we develop products which people buy?
20. How can we build products which people use?
21. How to resolve conflict?
22. How do we Identify potential people-side risks and anticipated
points of resistance and develop specific plans to mitigate and
address concerns?
23. How do we build client knowledge and credibility quickly?
24. How do we improve collaboration among the numerous
dependent team?
25. How can we effectively negotiate and ensure our priority is met?
Few of the important points Mahender want to highlight are listed here.
Context Drives Everything and That is a Varying Target
“Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does
with what happens to him”
– Aldous Huxley
Can we achieve complete Mastery in all the aspects needed to become
a Scrum Master?
My friend is a Scrum Master for a product company and company is
building up a solution for healthcare product. She was working for three
years and doing pretty well in this assignment. She is the go-to Scrum
Master for this product. She has been working out all the skills to become
a great Scrum Master and she is moderately confident about all the skills
14. 48 | The Scrum Master Guidebook
require to become a great Scrum Master. Most of the skills we are discussing
this Book (7C Model).
She has worked out on her Scrum Mastery in Healthcare product
context. She was sharing all the attributes to become a great scrum
masters e.g. Facilitation, Coaching, Mentoring, Teaching, Lean-agile
implementation, Business Mastery, Technical craftsmanship and
enterprise transformation and she was applying all these skills when she
was professing scrum Mastery.
All of these skills (7C chakra model) have to be practiced over several
years to achieve mastery. We may have to apply the 10,000 hours rule or
deliberate practice to reach Mastery.
As a Scrum Master, she was acting as a “sheepdog” by protecting the
team from external interventions and reaching out with the external teams
to eliminate some of the impediments related to delivery.
Whenever someone had any ambiguities related to Scrum, they were
reaching out to her, and if she did not know, she turned to the senior Agile
coaches to resolve these issues.
She acts on a team-first approach before considering anything. Team
members like her as their leader.
She ensures the team takes the ownership, acting as a facilitator for the
dialogue and ensuring that there is a platform that is established where the
team members discuss and participate to sort out the conflicts.
In all the Scrum events, she ensures everyone is heard and everyone’s
statement is captured. She engages all the team members to contribute to
the shared goal.
Last year she switched the company and joined a new startup company
where they are developing a product under Finance domain. The
product solution will automatically collect Intercity taxes from a virtual
card belonging to the owner of the car when a vehicle traveling through
numerous states in a country. She is the Scrum Master for the team to
develop this solution.
She was formerly viewed as an expert and respected in the previous team
at the healthcare company, but for this new context, she might require
15. Scrum Master Context | 49
some time to earn that respect. It may take less time to achieve mastery for
the new domain, but she has to take some time to accomplish mastery, as
the context has altered.
Her business context has shifted, the market where the product has
developed has altered, the Product Owner has changed and, the business
dynamic has changed. All the skills learned have to necessarily be set in the
new context.
All these skills also have to be mastered and tested in the current context
(Under Finance Business). She has to discover the unknown elements of
that new context.
Every time you come across an unfamiliar situation, you will recognize
that you are not a master in the initial stages, and it will take some time to
accomplish the mastery and complete this journey.
To achieve Mastery in the Scrum Master role, it requires a journey which
leads to mastery. Once the trajectory of that path changes, the journey
begins once more and the process of achieving mastery in that different
context again requires to be addressed.
Let us Develop Awesome Scrum Masters
Most of my Scrum Master interviews which I have reviewed indicate
that our scrum master has obtained knowledge about Scrum through
certifications, participating numerous conferences and Meetups.
What I am observing, is that they are missing key skills to execute,
implement scrum and achieve scrum mastery.
These skills can be strengthened by undertaking real-time challenges. or
through Large scale complex product delivery.
One of my friends explained that in their organization they developed
all these soft skills through advance scrum mastery workshops where they
discussed mainly
a) People challenges around Scrum Master: – e.g.
FF How do I inspire my team members?
FF How do I motivate my team members?
16. 50 | The Scrum Master Guidebook
FF How do I engage my team members?
FF How can I educate business about Product Backlog management?
b) Inter and Intra team alignment: – e.g.
FF How to do I facilitate multiple team collaborations?
FF How to do I bring several team members on one page?
FF What tool I should apply to bring all of them on the same page?
FF How do I take some initiative so that team members love to
participate,and contribute to scrum events?
c) Conflicting decision making: – e.g.
FF How to do I resolve the conflict among team members?
FF How to do I manage conflict among multiple PO whom I am
working with?
FF How do I encourage people to experiment and shield the team during
failure?
FF How do I monitor, manages and escalates impediments, risks, and
dependencies?
d) Leadership management: – e.g.
FF How do I help my senior leaders to obtain buy-in for an Agile way
of working?
FF How do I help my project Managers to understand a value-based
delivery model?
FF How do I Create learning platforms that ensure by influencing self-
learning with team learning?
FF How do I eradicate command-and-control style for servant
leadership style?
e) High-performance team: e.g.
FF How do I understand the team dynamics?
FF How do I help my teams and team members to increase productivity?
FF How do I build a shared purpose?
17. Scrum Master Context | 51
FF How to build a safe environment for the team?
FF How do I bring a lot of energy to the work and spread the same?
FF How do I foster team responsibility, self-accountability, transparency,
and self-organization?
FF How can I act as a buffer between external distractions to minimize
disruptions?
f) Large-scale facilitation and collaboration: – e.g.
FF How do I minimize organizational impediments through the
common meeting?
FF How do I minimize team dependency?
FF How do I prepare what guidelines to follow to minimize dependency?
FF How do I bring changes through impactful retrospection?
FF How can I able to work influentially with a wide range of colleagues
and stakeholders across various businesses?
g) Managing tough customer and business: – e.g.
FF How do I deal with tough Product owners and Business?
FF How do I help them by bringing transparency?
FF How do I influence the organization in the removal of organizational
impediments and development of healthy Agile practices?
FF What metrics to measure and why?
FF How do I enable Communication, Collaboration, and co-operation
with Business?
h) I am a Passionate Scrum Coach: – e.g.
FF How do I become a better coach for my team?
FF How do I become Scrum Coach for the organization?
FF How do I know which techniques to use protect the team from
external power pressures?
FF How can I Assess the Scrum Maturity of the team; organizes
and coach the team to higher levels of maturity at a sustainable/
comfortable pace?
18. 52 | The Scrum Master Guidebook
i) Quality Engineering: – e.g.
FF How do I inspire the team to follow XP and software engineering
best practices?
FF How do I encourage and showcase team capabilities to other team
members to follow the same?
FF How do I demonstrate strength in logical, creative problem-solving
skills and excellent analytical skills?
FF How Can I Manage technical debt and prioritization of technical
debt resolution without conflicting with business priorities?
FF How Can I Perform postmortem and root cause analysis to promote
continuous improvement and maximize productivity? and many
softer aspects which call for strengthening the drive toward critical
product delivery.
If scrum masters are not effective, we have not been able to implement
agile effectively in the team. We also could not establish a high-
performance team.
Why I Want All the Scrum Masters to Run Out of
the Cave!
When I first read about THE ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE, I thought for
a moment and then started thinking how can I apply this concept in my
own life and work?
It is a short excerpt from the beginning of Plato’s book, The Republic.
Plato explains that a man who is a slave is born in a cave and spends his
entire life chained inside the cave.
He has never had any experience in the open and has never even
seen the sun except through a small opening in the cave for a few hours
every day.
During these brief encounters with the outside world, he and his fellow
slaves see shadows of birds flying on the cave wall, and the slave gets curious.
One day, he breaks his chains and runs to the opening of the cave to see
the outside world for the very first time.
19. Scrum Master Context | 53
He sees real birds with feathers flying through the air and is
amazed. So excited, he returns to his fellow slaves to explain what he
has seen.
Of course, to the slaves, a bird is not a feathered, flying animal. It is a
black spot that hovers on the rocks a few times a day.
To them, the shadow is their reality of what the bird is, and they think
that the returning slave has gone mad. He is so uprooting their reality of
what the truth is that they have to stop him, and the mob kills him.
Socrates says, “An unexamined life is not worth living.”
This metaphorically represents our arduous ascent to higher learning.
It calls for our undying drive for the truth.
The prisoner who escaped from the cave questioned all his beliefs as he
experienced a change in his view of the world rather than just being told
an alternative.
Being a passive observer, the prisoners who wish to remain in the cave,
would usually choose to maintain the status quo. According to Plato,
education is seeing things differently
Plato’s point is that the prisoners would be mistaken. For they would be
taking the terms in their language to refer to the shadows that pass before
their eyes, rather than (as is correct, in Plato’s view) to the real things that
cast the shadows.
If a prisoner says “That’s a book” he thinks that the word “book” refers
to the very thing he is looking at. But he would be wrong. He’s only looking
at a shadow. The real referent of the word “book” he cannot see. To see it,
he would have to turn his head around.
As a Scrum Master, I was passionate to go out of the prison and explore
the world. I have started noting down my experiences for myself.
I was getting better value when I shared the original story from my
experience with others. I started working out more and more on the same.
I believe we all need to explore our experience as a Scrum Master or
Agile coach or Product owner in real-time.
Let us go out of the prison by working out our level best and explore the
real Sun, not the shadow.