Job ads for Scrum Master positions reveal great insight into an organization’s progress on becoming agile. I analyzed more than 50 job ads for Scrum Master positions to gain these. Learn more about what makes job ads such a treasure trove with the following 22 Scrum Master anti-patterns derived from job ads.
Mike Cohn’s Most Popular Blog Posts from 2020
10. Use a Pre-Mortem to Identify Project Risks Before They Occur
9. Overcoming Four Common Problems with Retrospectives
8. Are We Really Bad at Estimating?
7. Can There Be Too Much Transparency?
6. How to Estimate Story Points with Multiple Teams
5. Time Pressure Improves Productivity & Quality…Up to a Point
4. Can a Team Vote Someone off the Team?
3. 25 Questions that Will Help You Know Your Teammates Better
5 Values of Scrum and how can Scrum Masters work with them!!
1. Courage – What can you do as a Scrum Master
- Help the team out– If you see one of the members picking up new work, guide them if they need help then ask for it. Encourage the team to become a safe space so that there are no hitches in asking for help.
- Have the courage yourself– Lead by example. Stand up if you feel the team is being pressured or you feel the team spirit is not good.
2. Focus – What can you do as a Scrum Master
- Facilitate– Coach the team to limit the number of tasks and priorities per person per Sprint to ensure everyone remains focused.
- Reiterate the focus in the Daily Scrum– Discuss with the team how aligned are we towards the goal?
3. Commitment – What can you do as a Scrum Master
- Facilitate the Sprint Planning– Make sure that the team is comfortable with the planning and there is scope for issue fixes along the way.
- Protect the team against scope creeps/changes– As a Scrum Master protect your team from unwanted changes in the Sprint, change to the Sprint Goals, and also undue pressure from the Product Owners.
4. Respect – What can you do as a Scrum Master
- Celebrate Accomplishments– As a team, celebrate the achievements of each other.
- Respect to individuals– Give the team members their space and respect their contributions to the team.
5. Openness – What can you do as a Scrum Master
- Be Honest– This one has to start with you, have honest conversations with the team.
- Be the Safety Net– As a Scrum Master, observe things that are not going right. For example- If you see issues not being highlighted in the stand-ups ask the team members if they are on track once in a while.
Read the full article here: https://medium.com/serious-scrum/5-values-of-scrum-and-how-can-scrum-masters-work-with-them-f3b2ff01ec2e
Why most scaling frameworks are a fad that will blow over
Great post from Maarten Dalmijn why he things there isn’t a single successful scaling framework. The post also mentions other articles related to this subject.
https://www.jeremiahlee.com/posts/failed-squad-goals/
https://dzone.com/articles/survey-results-the-net-promoter-scorereg-of-safere
https://medium.com/serious-scrum/scrum-is-about-inventing-your-own-rules-5a4090a33ebf
Adaptive Strategy Development
Nice alternative(s) for the Purpose to Practice Liberating Structure can be found here: https://fullcirc.com/2018/09/13/adaptive-strategy-development/
Market of Skills
Find how to help team members understand each other’s skills, abilities and ambitions.: https://medium.com/practicalscrum/market-of-skills-634a6ebf3363
The Scrum Guide 2020
Jim Quantrell and Duncan Maddox discuss the new Scrum Guide.
A Home for Product Goal, Definition of Done, and Sprint Goal
Simon Reindl wrote an interesting article about the Product Goal, Definition of Done, and Sprint Goal. Find it here: https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/home-product-goal-definition-done-and-sprint-goal
The 9 stances of an Agile Coach
Inspired by Barry Overeem’s whitepaper The 8 Stances of a Scrum Master, Ralitsa Parusheva decided to frame the Agile Coach role through the lens of the stance he or she is applying in a particular context.
Read the full article here: https://medium.com/@ruparusheva/the-9-stances-of-an-agile-coach-799072302092