What to look for in a scrum master
A firm that has a Scrum Master screening test recently contacted me. Their offering, I suppose, is to help companies hire. I am skeptical. Anyone can memorize the Scrum Guide and the Agile Manifesto. Read those and a couple of good books and I’m sure you will pass the test[1].
It's a challenge for companies adopting Scrum, as this role is new and usually unrelated to any existing role. Agile/Scrum is a new paradigm. The first thing you and I do when encountering something new and different like this is to map it into what we already know (i.e.,"This is like that."). Well... it's not!
Scrum Masters are NOT the new Project Managers. Far from it! The job requires a completely different skill set. Sometimes when I’m asked, “Do Project Managers make good Scrum Masters?” I may reply (with tongue in cheek), “Do Project Managers make good bowlers?” The answer to both questions is the same. Some do, and some don’t.
I’ve had executives tell me they want to fill this role with people who can “drive the teams.” In reality, that’s the last thing you want. The role is actually to support the teams in finding their own powers.
Moreover, and this is key, Scrum is NOT a methodology that one can learn and then enforce. It is a “behavioral framework,” to quote Nigel Thurlow at Toyota Connected. One way to think of it is this: If you are doing the same thing you were doing three months ago, you are not doing Scrum. The idea is to create a Deming Cycle (PDCA), Kaizen, and DISCOVER what works for you, not to adopt someone else’s solution.
So, when it comes to finding Scrum Masters, I'm going to take a different tack than many agile/Scrum "experts." Consider. Perhaps there are people already in your company that would be great at this. Perhaps it’s not so important that they have prior experience or certifications or even any experience with agile or Scrum. These can all be trained if the enthusiasm is there. What’s hard to train, are the essential elements of a good Scrum Master: The right personality and attitude for the job along with some key abilities.
This is straightforward. Ask the candidate why they want to be a Scrum Master. If the answer is in the realm of having others be great, others having great lives, others being successful, others flourishing in their jobs, or otherwise making the world safe for programmers (i.e., about others), you have a prospective Scrum Master. If the answer is about how much THEY like agile or Scrum or managing or otherwise being a leader and advancing their career, then you may likely not have a Scrum Master.
If they already are an experienced Scrum Master, then a good follow up question might be to ask them to tell you about a “crowning achievement” in their career. If they tell a story about having a team step up to solve it’s own problems or achieve great results and recognition, that is the right flavor. I once had someone tell me his best achievement as a Scrum Master was to convince a company to adopt Jira. That is a great skill to have if you are an Atlassian salesperson. It’s not so much relevant for a Scrum Master.
The following are some suggested skills, abilities and dispositions for someone to be successful in this role. Perhaps you, dear reader, may suggest some more:
Excellent People and Coaching Skills – Hi EQ. Ability to listen, coach, reflect the team to itself, and see interaction patterns and anti-patterns. Influence rather than own.
Self-aware, self-reflective, with a commitment to personal growth
Listening ability – Listens actively; can resist the temptation to begin forming a mental reply before a team member has finished speaking, able to see another’s view and have them experience being appreciated and understood
Loyal – Interested in having the team succeed and everyone on it succeed together. Doesn’t give up easily on people. Will champion the team and the team members.
Unwavering commitment – able to be effectively rigorous about Scrum, agile, and their values and practice
Creative, Inventive – finding new ways to inspire
Courage – willing to take a stand to have the team be great
Heart – Authentically cares about the team and everyone on it
Collaborator – with customer and team, serving both
Facilitation Skills – They can create the space for collaboration and clear communication where ideas emerge (are discovered). They can create the conditions where everyone is heard and valued.
Adroit at company politics – They know how to work the system to remove impediments. They can muster needed resources.
Technical Savvy –They understand the impact of technical debt and code quality, and are savvy enough to understand the costs, benefits and tradeoffs. Understanding TDD, DevOps, and CI/CD is a plus, as well a desire to inspire continuous learning and craftsmanship
Proficiency with developing the appropriate metrics that provide information for decision-making
Experience interacting with both business and IT individuals at all levels including the executive level
What do you think?
[1] Strongly recommended reading for Scrum Masters: Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins and Essential Scrum by Ken Rubin. These books have inspired me and certainly informed this post.