Scrum Master Empowerment Program

After a long break, we as Agile Coaches of Delivery Hero Global Tech Hub, gave start to “the Scrum Master Empowerment Program” which includes all Scrum Masters and every colleague that is interested in this role. There were no difficult pre-requisites; however as we are giving Agile & Scrum Training to everyone as a part of their onboarding process, we expect the participants to have been completed that basic training.

Scrum Master Empowerment Program (SEM) is designed with the aim of nourishing the participants with different discussion topics, various real life examples, some case studies and most importantly with deep experience sharing from distinct perspectives. Therefore the one-way explanation parts did not take big part of the program.

Rather than a long continuous workshop; SEM includes 4 different sessions which are 1,5 to 2 hours. That method has its pro’s; such as being able to keep the interest and the motivation of the active participants constantly in every session. On the other hand, the con’s are also existent. The number of the participants got lower as we moved forward from the first one to the last and some of them couldn’t join the consecutive workshops and they missed some mid-content. However, as it was something expected the sessions were prepared as independent parts; which -in my opinion- is the most powerful property of the program.

The workshops were practiced online and we have chosen Mural as our online tool. It was possible to create one big Mural board, which includes all interactive activities for 4 days. It was fun to play around the board and also it gave an idea about the roadmap of the program.

The captions were;

• Being a Team
• Working with Scrum
• Who is Scrum Master?
• How to improve your Scrum Master Skills?

The first session was generally an introduction and a re-visit to Agile basics. Several interactive games related to Agile Manifesto and Principles were part of this 1,5 hours. It was important to remind them the theory but more crucially participants were involved into the discussions where they try match their real life experiences with Manifesto and Principals.

For the last part of this session, “being a team” was a hot topic. Everyone had chance to share what their team is going through, what stage they think they are and the value of self management in the team’s journey. There are several fun games about self management but we have created our own one in this workshop. Please reach out if you wanna find out more.

On the second day, we have shared numbers of controversial case studies where it was possible to create a good discussion environment. We have prepared those case studies depending on the questions & requests that have been directed to us till now by Scrum Masters, team members and stakeholders. This part was the most interactive one among 4 sessions. Most of the time, it is a better idea to make people talk about real life problems which they can immediately have takeaways.

Session followed with an MVP Game and a workshop on writing good user stories and acceptance criteria. Participants received their homework to bring to the next session where they will be bringing a request ( new or already existing one) with user story and acceptance criteria.

The focus of our 3rd date was on the role of Scrum Master. What should be expected from a Scrum Master and at the same time what should not be. First we asked them to evaluate how they implement their own Scrum Master role and then make them compare it with the general perception of this position.

Furthermore, we asked them to think about their own practices by considering different people development types, for instance; mentoring, coaching, teaching and training. Where they stand among those 4?

As the last thing of this session, We have played two interactive games related to how to ask powerful questions and how to give & receive feedbacks and it was a smooth and enjoyable end for the day.

On the last day, we mainly talked about different facilitation techniques that they can use depending on the needs of their team. We have shared the suggested patterns that they might take in pre-workshop, during workshop and post-workshop periods. Also we have talked about how to run efficient retro meetings and write solid action items.

Like the previous session, we have ended the day with an interactive part about active listening.

Participation Certificates

After 4 sessions, we have prepared “SEM Participation Certificates” for our active participants. Here active means; the ones that have participated at least 3 sessions and did their homework. It was not a professional one, however we have received really good feedbacks about our very first self-designed certificate :)