The fastest way to cripple a Scrum Team? Hire the wrong Scrum Master

The fastest way to cripple a Scrum Team? Hire the wrong Scrum Master.

Too many companies mistake the Scrum Master for a process admin. Someone to book meetings, write Jira tickets, and make sure the team follows “the rules.”

That’s not a Scrum Master. That’s an event planner.

The real Scrum Master is a lean-agile practitioner—someone who understands product strategy, DevOps, modern engineering, and team dynamics. They’re a change agent, not a note-taker.

A strong Scrum Master:

• Coaches the team to be self-managing, so they don’t depend on them.
• Challenges the status quo and removes obstacles, instead of just escalating them.
• Understands what good looks like in both product and engineering.
• Connects the team with the business, ensuring alignment on value delivery.

A weak Scrum Master? They turn into a Scrum Secretary, maintaining the illusion of agility while the team stagnates.

If you want Scrum to actually work, hire someone who sees Scrum as an enabler of high-performance teams—not just a set of meetings.

Seen this mistake before?