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Scrum Leadership

tech·nic·al·ly agile

Unlocking Greatness: How the Right Scrum Master Transforms Teams and Organisations

Discover what sets a great Scrum Master apart! Explore the vital role of team fit, relationship-building, and navigating organisational challenges for success.

Published on 13 March 2023

Written by Martin Hinshelwood

3 minute read

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When it comes to defining what makes a truly great Scrum Master, I find myself grappling with a rather complex question. The answer is not straightforward; it’s deeply circumstantial. The effectiveness of a Scrum Master can vary significantly depending on the organisation and the team dynamics. You might have an individual who excels in one environment but struggles in another simply because the fit isn’t right.

The Importance of Team Fit

One of the key attributes of a great Scrum Master is their alignment with the team. This is why I firmly believe that the team should have a say in selecting their Scrum Master. It’s not just about appointing someone to the role; it’s about choosing a person who embodies the trust and understanding that the team needs to thrive.

Team Selection: When a team selects their Scrum Master, it fosters a sense of ownership and accountability. This individual is seen as a peer rather than an authority figure, which can significantly enhance collaboration and communication.

Beyond the Team: Navigating Organisational Impediments

While a Scrum Master must focus on the team, they also need to look beyond it. Often, the most significant challenges a team faces are not of their own making. Most teams are acutely aware of their strengths and weaknesses, even if they don’t always acknowledge them.

Identifying Impediments: A great Scrum Master helps the team surface these issues, guiding them to understand their impact on productivity and effectiveness. However, as teams evolve—usually within the first year of working together—they inevitably encounter organisational impediments that hinder their ability to deliver value.

The Role of Politics in Effecting Change

This is where the role of politics comes into play. I use the term ‘politics’ not in a negative sense, but rather as a means of building relationships within the organisation. A Scrum Master must cultivate connections with various stakeholders, from the head of HR to the CEO, depending on the size and structure of the organisation.

Building Relationships: By establishing these relationships, a Scrum Master can demonstrate their competence and understanding of the work at hand. This rapport is crucial; it allows them to offer suggestions that can lead to organisational improvements.
Influencing Change: The true mark of a great Scrum Master lies in their ability to effect change not by doing the work themselves, but by empowering others to recognise and address the necessary adjustments.

Conclusion: The Difference Between Good and Great

In summary, the distinction between a good Scrum Master and a great one is their willingness to engage with the broader organisational landscape. It’s about building relationships that enable them to advocate for the team and facilitate meaningful change.

As I reflect on my experiences, I’ve seen how these dynamics play out in various settings. A great Scrum Master is not just a facilitator; they are a catalyst for growth, both within the team and across the organisation. They understand that their role extends beyond the immediate tasks at hand, and they embrace the challenge of navigating the complexities of organisational life to ensure that their team can deliver maximum value.

In the end, it’s this blend of team focus and organisational savvy that truly defines greatness in the role of a Scrum Master.

So the question is what makes a truly great scrum master?

I think that’s a very, very difficult question to answer because it’s very circumstantial, right? It depends on the organization, the team. You could have somebody who’s a great scrum master for this team at this organization and they’re not so great at the next gig they go to, right? Because the team is different, the organizational culture is different, the things they were, the fits not right.

So I think one thing that makes a great scrum master is having a good fit with the team, which is why it’s important that, to be honest, that the team selects the scrum master rather than the scrum master being selected for them. Which is why you normally see great scrum masters being promoted, as the wrong word, but promoted within the team, i.e. the team selects this person as somebody who can deal with our stuff, that we as a team trust to deal with our stuff.

And they need to really focus beyond the team because, in general, the biggest problems that a team focuses on are not problems of the team’s own making, right? Most teams of people doing work know very well what they do well and what they don’t do well. Even if they don’t admit it to themselves, they still know, right? And so the scrum master can focus for a while on bringing that to the surface, on bringing that out and helping them understand what it is they’re doing, what the impact is.

But at some point, usually very quickly, right within the first year of a team working together, you start hitting those organizational impediments, those things in the organization that just make it hard to do what it is we’re all trying to do, which is provide value for the organization, provide value for the business, provide value for the customers.

And those are all things that are impediments to our effectiveness. Some of those things the team can deal with themselves, but other things take significant application of politics, I guess. I think I’m using the right word, but effectively politics, right? But the act of politics, which I think is politic, where you’re building relationships with people in the organization.

As a scrum master, you might build relationships with the head of HR, you might build relationships with the CEO, depending on how big your organization is and what it looks like. You’re going to build relationships with people so that they know your level of competence, your understanding of the work that’s underway, your understanding of the way the business operates, and that you’re making suggestions to help the organization be more effective.

And then they respect your opinion, they value your counsel, and that you’re able to then affect change inside of the organization, not by doing it yourself, but by helping everybody else understand some of the things that might need to change.

And that, I think, is the difference between just a scrum master doing a job and a great scrum master, is that willingness to build those relationships to further the organization.

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