The Value of a Scrum Master

What do they even do all day?

How many times have you heard someone say something like the following:

So, you’re telling me the Product Owner is accountable for the Product Backlog, responsible for its prioritization, constant refinement, and gathers requirements from the stakeholders, and the Developers are accountable for the Sprint Backlog while producing potentially-shippable Increments each and every Sprint? What exactly does the Scrum Master do all day then?

Or maybe you’ve even heard something like this:

The Scrum Master has it easy. They just get to kick back and organize meetings while we do all the work. I bet I could do their job as well as my own. I don’t know why the company wastes their money.

This is one of the most common questions I get as a Scrum Master. It’s tricky business to assign a concrete value to your Scrum Master, because when a Scrum Master does their job well you barely notice them at all!

So let’s take a look at a few things:

1. Let’s identify where this question comes from.
2. Let’s define the role of Scrum Master.
3. Finally, let’s demonstrate ways in which the Scrum Master adds value.

Why does this question come up so often?

In my experience, questioning a Scrum Master’s value to the team can come from three main sources.

Firstly, it could come from a genuine curiosity expressed by one or more teammates due to a lack of knowledge of Scrum Roles. This could indicate additional education and training of the team may be required so everyone knows each other’s worth.

Second, the question could come from a distrust of the Scrum Master. Speaking from experience, many times Developers see the Scrum Master role as being, well, useless. In this scenario, the Scrum Master is seen as a “foreman”, overseeing his workers and reporting performance to the boss. Most often this occurs in newly-formed Scrum teams, where the team is not used to working in an Agile capacity. The Scrum Master should spend time forming relationships with their teammates, and ensure that everyone knows that the job of a Scrum Master is to help the team.

Third, teammates could ask this question because the Scrum Master is -not- providing them value. Perhaps the team is getting interrupted, stakeholders are forcing their way into standups, or some other preventable pain-point is occurring. In cases like this, the Scrum Master must ask for constructive feedback from the team and adapt to suit the team’s needs. If needed, further training and education may be needed for the Scrum Master to become effective.

So what does a Scrum Master do?

Now that we’ve identified the main reasons why the team may question the value of their Scrum Master, let’s define what a Scrum Master does at a high level.

According to Barry Overeem (follow him here on Medium, you won’t regret it!), a Scrum Master takes on 8 core stances:

1. A servant leader for the team and the organization
2. A facilitator of Scrum events and interactions
3. A manager of the Scrum process
4. A teacher to educate the Scrum team
5. A coach to transfer knowledge to the Scrum team
6. A mentor to the Scrum team and individuals
7. A change agent for Scrum across the organization
8. An impediment remover to keep the team moving

Everything a Scrum Master does is with one or more of these stances in mind. The Scrum Master doesn’t have to an expert in all of these things (we’re only human after all) but they -should- be comfortable wearing each of these hats.

Scrum Masters are true leaders who serve the Scrum Team and the larger organization. — Scrum Guide 2020

What value does that give the rest of us?

Think of all the ways Agile and Scrum can benefit, or have benefitted, your organization. Developers are ensured work comes at a sustainable pace, stakeholders are ensured consistently high-quality deliverables, the Product Owner confidently manages the backlog to maximize value, and everyone is empowered to be great at what they do.

This does not come easily, so think now of all the ways Agile and Scrum can go wrong. Perhaps a Developer is overrunning the timebox of Standup every day, PBIs are not consistent or are missing acceptance criteria, maybe there is no official Definition of Done, or managers are pulling the Developers off to work on side projects. So much can go wrong with the process if there is not a leader there to be accountable for the adherence to the process.

The true value of the Scrum Master is their ability to maximize the amount of pain -not- felt by the team.

When a Scrum Master does their job, nobody works overtime, everyone is able to focus on the Sprint Goal without interruption, and a known cadence is established that gives the team a rhythm. As a Developer, there was no greater comfort than knowing my Scrum Master had my back. What could be better than that?

Interested in learning more about my Scrum journey? Check out Water Agility to see my thoughts, tools, and materials that I use as a Scrum Master.