Hey Remote ScrumMaster…” Get your Hands Off Everyone’s Work”!

In Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) courses, Scrum myths are busted.  One such myth is the ScrumMaster is an administrative assistant to a Development Team, to a Product Owner or to an Organization.  Our #CSM is now being offered virtually and you’re working as a Remote Scrum Master so hasn’t that changed?  No! It becomes even more important for Scrum Masters to get their hands off of everyone’s work in a virtual world.

The Scrum Guide notes that the Scrum Master is the Servant Leader to a Development Team, to the Product Owner and to the Organization:  http://scrumguides.org/ 

The guide describes this service as coaching, guiding, enabling understanding, enabling outcomes and so on.  It does not describe or prescribe the ScrumMaster as typing or writing anything for anyone.

Getting Your Hands Off the Team’s Work

When ScrumMasters insist on “taking notes” or scribing at Scrum Events they are actually:  

• Taking away the Development Team’s Learning Opportunities

• Taking away the Development Team’s Accountability

• Taking away the Development Team’s Group Memory

Will the team ever learn accountability and collective ownership if there’s an admin who takes that away from them?  No. According to brain science the people who write the most learn the most.  Does your organization really want a team of producers knowing the least about what they are doing but one administrator who continues to learn?  Organization leaders say they want accountability, they say they want high performing teams who continue to learn and yet the first thing they do is put in layers of Adult Daycare Providers in place they call Scrum Masters and begin taking away learning opportunities and accountability.

Getting Your Hands Off the Product Owner’s Work Too

A great ScrumMaster also needs to serve the Product Owner.  Coaching the Product Owner on proactive refinement and stakeholder management doesn’t mean touching their backlog, creating burndown charts for them and being a go between with stakeholders. The Product Backlog is for the Product Owner.  It is the way they manage the work that is needed for the Product.  The Product Owner is the stakeholder manager. It is their responsibility to build a forecast, keep it up to date and keep the stakeholders informed about what is happening with the Product. The Scrum Master can assist in not only coaching the Product Owner on doing work differently, but also teaching and coaching stakeholders on things working differently in Scrum. Scrum Masters who pursue advanced credentials and improve their neutral facilitation skills can add a lot of value to facilitate those conversations because the Product Owner of all people is NOT neutral.  If they go down rabbit holes with stakeholders and nothing gets decided, how productive is that?  Effective Scrum Masters keep the producers producing and it’s not by doing the work for them.

This Doesn’t Change when You work Remotely

The need for effective Scrum Mastery doesn’t go away when working remotely…it is needed more than ever! It will take more preparation and focus from a Scrum Master given the tools involved and reading emotions over web cameras.  Which is pretty hard to do if you think your job has anything to do with typing or writing notes. Let’s get you started with 5 things you need to be doing right now as a Remote Scrum Master:

• Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools.  YES you may be using a tool to “dial in” or connect with each other but that isn’t a license to forget about the Individuals and the Interactions. Do people have the correct information?  Do people know how to turn on their web camera? Do people know how to find the mute button? Do people know how to use the chat? Are you assuming the answer is yes to all this without having checked in with the people in question? Effective Scrum Masters prepare and ensure everyone is prepared

• Those Interactions. If you had not facilitated the creation of a working agreement before being forced into a virtual world, you are behind the curve. There needs to be a working agreement for the Scrum Team (PO, SM and Development Team) that includes what behaviors are acceptable and which ones are not acceptable. Briefly remind everyone of these agreements at the start of your session. If there are visitors from outside the Scrum Team joining, ensure that they understand the “ground rules”.

• Set Office Hours. People may have kids being homeschooled, have pets to care for or extended family staying with them. As a Scrum Team, talk to each other and determine if there are any hours that need to be respected for people or pet duty and block those as not available. Conversely, show those Office Hours that are fair game for conversations via phone calls, chats or web cam.

• Simplicity…Avoid Cognitive Overload. This is a real thing. It’s a big change for someone to learn how to use a web camera and integrated audio on a tool unfamiliar to them. Especially if people try add virtual polling, white boards, chat windows, estimation tools, backlogs, games, email and more. Keep it simple! Start slowly and build up to being able to add in functionality if it’s useful. Why make someone search for a virtual hand to raise when they can raise their real one on camera? Same with a thumbs up or down.

• Avoid System Overload Too. Many of these tools eat up bandwidth and computer resources. How effective is your online conversation when people can’t hear you due to your computer’s fan humming loudly working overtime? They won’t see or hear you when your machine keeps crashing. The fewer devices plugged in and the fewer pieces of software running simultaneously the better. People can write things down for themselves and enter it into another tool later…don’t try to cram too much technology into each online session.

Conclusion

The Remote Scrum Master is still not an administrative assistant or a secretary.  They are the master of the Scrum framework.  A process enabler.  An advocate for the Development Team, the Product Owner and the Organization.  Great Scrum Masters who focus on servant leadership and outcomes enable delivery of business value with each Sprint.  Keep your hands off everyone’s work!

Hone in & elevate your skills as a Scrum Master by checking out The Scrum Master Files!