The idea that Scrum Masters should lead only through influence sounds noble, but in many organisations, it’s also naive.
Influence works when teams and leadership are already aligned. But what happens when they’re not? When teams reject Agile principles, leadership prioritises control over agility, or dysfunction is deeply embedded?
At some point, persuasion isn’t enough. A Scrum Master must be able to remove blockers, challenge bad practices, and uphold Scrum, not just suggest improvements and hope for the best.
If your Scrum Master has no authority to enforce the framework, to say “No, we don’t work like that,” or to hold teams accountable, what’s the point?
Scrum isn’t about soft influence. It’s about creating real, sustainable agility. That requires leadership backed by action, not just good intentions.
Where does your organisation stand on this?
Smart Classifications
Each classification [Concepts, Categories, & Tags] was assigned using AI-powered semantic analysis and scored across relevance, depth, and alignment. Final decisions? Still human. Always traceable. Hover to see how it applies.
Our Happy Clients
We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.
MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd.
Capita Secure Information Solutions Ltd
Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company)
Higher Education Statistics Agency
Nottingham County Council
Department of Work and Pensions (UK)
Washington Department of Enterprise Services
New Hampshire Supreme Court
