A Common Scrum Master Struggle…

I frequently talk to Scrum Masters from a wide variety of organizations. Some of them consciously applied for the role, and others were assigned when the organization decided to try Scrum.

I notice a clear pattern: Many Scrum Masters are expected to use Scrum for work that doesn’t require this framework. For example, the team must offer support, do maintenance work, or keep legacy products alive.

“Many Scrum Masters are expected to use Scrum for work that doesn’t require this framework at all.”

With all the best intentions, Scrum Masters try to set Product- and Sprint Goals 🎯, support the team to deliver a done increment, make all the Scrum events meaningful, uphold team morale, and work with the Product Owner to get satisfied stakeholders.

Everything to make Scrum work. That’s your role, right? 🤷‍♀️

In many cases, the frame Scrum offers doesn’t fit. It works okay-ish but doesn’t result in any high-performing teams. Sometimes because of team- and broader organizational dysfunctions, but frequently because Scrum isn’t the answer.

So, what do you do as a Scrum Master? My advice: don’t get too attached to Scrum. Don’t use this as an excuse to ignore dysfunctions — because you’ll stumble upon these with other approaches — but have an open mindset.

“Don’t get too attached to Scrum.”

Work with your team(s) to determine what process works best for them. In general, these five approaches are always a good idea:

✅ “Let’s take a step back and learn what we can improve.”
✅ “Let’s take a moment to plan our work”
✅ “Let’s visualize our work”
✅ “Let’s decide what to focus on this week.”
✅ “Let’s get some feedback from our users”

This is addressed with Scrum, but a more agnostic, tweaked, or flexible approach could also work. For example, simply start improving on the factors determining Agile team effectiveness. With our model on Agile team effectiveness and teamwork quality, we offer organizations a process and a set of factors for continuous inspection and adaptation, regardless of your specific framework or methodology.

It doesn’t tell you anything about the type of framework or methodology. However, it does help you improve the factors that matter most regarding team effectiveness, increase stakeholder satisfaction, and improve team morale.

Improve with the model's factors and allow teams to use any framework that suits them best. Invite teams to score themselves on these factors and help them identify improvements and actions. Repeat this periodically to track improvements over a longer period. Make adjustments, identify new actions, and slowly create a climate with continuous improvement at its core.

It’s not rocket science. 🚀 It is the foundation of roles like Agile Coach or Scrum Master.

What’s your take on all of this❓

PS: I’ve taken inspiration from Christiaan Verwijs’s article ‘Five Creative Ways To Start With Scrum Without The Framework’ https://bit.ly/3PR7l58