What Does a Scrum Master Do? — AGILECOCKPIT

THE SCRUM MASTER ROLE

The Scrum Master role is one of the most diverse roles in Scrum. Most people know about the role of facilitator and team coach to optimize their performance. However, the Scrum Master role can be divided into several more. Each role contains different responsibilities to which the Scrum Master needs to adapt his approach, which means taking on a different role. This blog briefly describes which roles apply to the Scrum Master and links to other blogs that describe each role and its required skills.

THE ROLE OF THE SCRUM MASTER AS A:

FACILITATOR

Probably the most well is the Facilitating role. In this role, the Scrum Master is responsible for facilitating everything for the team such as the Retrospective and Sprint Reviews. The most common misconception, however, is that the Scrum Master as Facilitator is only responsible for the Scrum Meetings. Facilitating, however, extends far beyond this.

More information available regarding the topic of facilitating The Scrum Master as a Facilitator.

More information about facilitating Retrospectives is available at How to conduct a large Retrospective and Tips to improve the Retrospective.

COACH

Probably the second most known role of the Scrum Master is that of a Coach. However, this role also entails more than the majority of newbies in Agile know. Instead of restricting coaching to the team, coaching the individual and coaching the organization is also part of the responsibilities within this role. And coaching an organization is different from coaching a team or an individual.

More information available regarding the topic of coaching in The Scrum Master as a Coach.

MENTOR

While the coaching role is different from the mentoring role, they are intertwined. You can read more about how the roles are intertwined. We also explain the widely applied Shu-Ha-Ri approach to mentoring, originated from the Japanese martial arts. It describes the process from the student learning the basic rules to becoming the master himself.

More information available regarding the topic of mentoring in The Scrum Master as a Mentor.

MANAGER

While this may surprise some people, the Scrum Master is also a manager. Although this is surprising to some people, it really shouldn’t be: The traditional responsibilities of the project manager in a Waterfall project are divided between the Product Owner and Scrum Master.

More information available regarding The Scrum Master as a Manager.

SERVANT LEADER

Another very important one is the role of the Scrum Master as a Servant Leader. Servant Leadership requires a very different approach from the way leadership is perceived in the traditional way. The servant-leaders objective is to enhance and increase teamwork and personal involvement. They create a participative environment, empowering ’employees’ by sharing power and decision-making.

More information available regarding servant leadership in The Scrum Master as Servant Leader.

TEACHER

The Scrum Master is also a teacher. Not only to the team and it’s individuals, but to the entire organization as well. But what are the most important things a Scrum Master should teach? Although what you teach can differ depending on the group or individual you’re teaching, there are some basics you should always teach.

More information available regarding teaching in The Scrum Master as a Teacher.

REQUIREMENTS TO APPLY FOR THE SCRUM MASTER ROLES

A great Scrum Master should be able to apply all of these roles in the required situations. But what else makes a great Scrum Master? Read it in our blog Characteristics of a great Scrum Master! Maybe you would like to assess the performance of yourself or other Scrum Masters in your organization? If so you should read How to assess the performance of your Scrum Master!