In this video we will be discussing "10 common mistakes of the scrum master and their remedies."
Knowing the mistakes beforehand which are generally made by the scrum master can provide
an added advantage of minimizing the risk of mistakes even before they occur.
The first mistake, Scrum Master acting as a Project Manager. In the Agile methodology,
companies follow the “Daily Scrums”. Before starting the day’s work, teams gather around
the board to discuss the current and the preceding days’ tasks. Usually, team members report
on ‘what they did yesterday’, and wait for the Scrum Master’s reply on ‘which
task to do today’, instead of self-organizing within the team.
This is where the Scrum Master makes a mistake. He is acting as a Manager, not as a Scrum
Master. A Scrum Master should ideally make team members ask ‘what should be finished
next?’
Second mistake, Scrum Master making decisions for the Team. In most of the organizations,
Scrum Masters are recruited by practical experience, and by personality in terms of communication
skills and the sound mind to carry out decisions to keep the project processes on track. Due
to this, team members rely on the Scrum Master for each and every decision, which is totally
wrong. Most of the times, teams consist of a variety
of different personalities and letting them express their opinions can help to deliver
the best. Avoid dictatorship, as it affects the team spirit.
Third mistake, Scrum Master holding sole responsibility for the delivery. This is the common Scrum
problem usually found in traditional companies, which have recently entered in the world of
Agile development. In traditional companies, people were so far following the leadership
style viz. ‘Command-and-control’, in which a single person used to be accountable for
all the project tasks, making management impediments-free, simple, and more comforting.
Normally, Scrum Master ensures that the developers are inclined to all the project requirements.
But when it comes to the responsibility of the Scrum Master to deliver the product, he/she
just concentrates on the product delivery, ignoring the quality. To avoid this, stop
planning projects individually. Planning is collectively done by the team members. It
needs each and every team member to adhere to the commitments, to understand the target
and the way to achieve that.
Fourth mistake, Not conducting Retrospectives after every Sprint.
One of the principles from the Agile Manifesto states that- “At regular intervals, the
team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly”.
Agile is all about the adjustments, fine-tuning and versatility. Not conducting retrospectives
decrease team's efficiency and derail the project as finding the gaps become difficult
without them.
Fifth Mistake, Not removing obstacles at an initial stage. One of the main roles of the
Scrum Master is to remove the impediments. The daily stand-ups are the best way to communicate
the obstacles to get the task done. But in case these barriers, (more correctly, the
issues or constraints), are not escalated by the team members, Scrum Master will fail
to remove them. Scrum Master should remind the team at the very beginning to present
the potential blockades which might delay their work.
Sixth Mistake, Less or No daily stand-ups. The daily scrum is pivotal in several aspects.
It allows face-to-face communication, collaboration, yields visibility and transparency into the
project. Every team member should be attending it. As per the tenets presented in the latest
Scrum guide, discussion-based stand-ups are very effective and provide insights into the
latest happenings in the Scrum team. It should never be neglected by the Scrum master.
Seventh mistake, Not adhering to the Agile Manifesto. The agile manifesto gives us the
core principles and key values required to become an agile team. Therefore not adhering
to the agile manifesto can ultimately lead to failure in the implementation of agile.
Eighth mistake, non-prioritised product backlog. The most common reason behind Sprint failure
is a product backlog with status “not ready”. It is also a cause for delivering low value.
Making a backlog ready before the ‘next sprint’ is good. Do not let the team run
out of the tasks and keep in mind that every task should be prioritized by the Product
Owner
Ninth mistake, Not handing over the ownership of daily scrums to the team. Sometimes, Scrum
team keeps some of the product backlog items undone. This results in spilling over of the
undone tasks and simply shifting to the next sprint. This happens when a team fails to
finish the high-priority tasks. However, Scrum Master and the team should not take it lightly.
When they do this, Sprint planning become meaningless. Therefore it is mandatory on
the part of a Scrum Master to support his/her team in planning of its next sprint so that
they can finish everything on time.
And finally, Overburdening the Scrum team. Scrum team works in Sprints. Only when one
sprint ends, the next one begins. Under no circumstances should two consecutive sprints
overlap. In simpler words, teams should avoid working in the upcoming sprint while the current
sprint is still on. To maintain consistency, the team should work at a sustainable pace.
A Scrum Master should safeguard the team from going beyond this sustainable pace and tackle
any situation that might overburden the members.
So these were 10 mistakes generally made by scrum masters. Knowing them will definitely
help you in avoiding them. Don't forget to subscribe our channel and keep watching the
Scrum master series by knowledgehut to become the best scrum master.