a·gen·tic a·gil·i·ty

What Does an Ineffective Scrum Master’s Day Look Like?

Describes common behaviours of an ineffective Scrum Master, including excessive reporting, poor team engagement, misusing daily Scrums, and blocking team communication.

Published on
2 minute read
Image
https://nkdagility.com/resources/KjSRjkK6OL0

Spotting an Ineffective Scrum Master’s Day

Have you ever stopped to ponder over the happenings in an ineffective Scrum Master ’s daily routine?

Let me share some insights and observations from the world of Agile.

Lost in Projects

An ineffective Scrum Master’s Day is likely flooded with report writing.  🚫

Which means they’re drowning in paperwork and not in progress.

Instead of actively engaging with their teams, they’re probably hunkered down, crafting graphs and disseminating them without much context.

Misdirected Daily Scrum

Their day might include popping into the daily Scrum, but not for the right reasons.  Instead of fostering an environment of collaboration, they might treat the Daily Scrum as a mere checkpoint.

It becomes a platform to receive a status update and, quite regrettably, even to berate the team for perceived lapses in speed.

Such a daily story is far from the principles of Agile!

It’s a miserable story if it’s a part of their daily narrative.

Building Walls, Not Bridges

An ineffective Scrum Master will become a barrier and not a bridge.

Rather than promoting open communication, this Scrum Master might be ensuring that nobody from the business interacts with the developers.  They aim to control and maintain that relationship, which can stagnate growth and synergy.

A controlling attempt to monopolize that relationship?  Certainly seems so.

The Gloomy Reality

Let’s not cloud over collaboration because it’s a bleak scenario for anyone collaborating with such an ineffective Scrum Master.  🌧️

But remember, identifying these behaviours is the first step in improving them. 

All these actions?  They cast a pretty dismal shadow for anyone working alongside such an ineffective Scrum Master.

Identifying these pitfalls is essential.

But here’s a twist – what if you could master the right Scrum approach?

Explore my Agile and Scrum courses, and let’s transform these ineffective habits together!

What did an effective Scrum Master’s day look like? Probably report writing, probably building some graphs and sending them out to people. Perhaps getting into the daily Scrum so they can get a status update from their team. And then berate them for not working fast enough; it’s probably part of their story. Perhaps they’re going to make sure that nobody from the business is talking to the developers so that they can control and maintain that relationship. It has a pretty dismal outlook there for anybody who works with this poor Scrum Master that I’ve come up with.

Subscribe

Connect with Martin Hinshelwood

If you've made it this far, it's worth connecting with our principal consultant and coach, Martin Hinshelwood, for a 30-minute 'ask me anything' call.

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.​

Lean SA Logo

Lean SA

Slicedbread Logo

Slicedbread

Microsoft Logo

Microsoft

NIT A/S

Graham & Brown Logo

Graham & Brown

Emerson Process Management Logo

Emerson Process Management

Cognizant Microsoft Business Group (MBG) Logo

Cognizant Microsoft Business Group (MBG)

Big Data for Humans Logo

Big Data for Humans

Brandes Investment Partners L.P. Logo

Brandes Investment Partners L.P.

Deliotte Logo

Deliotte

Trayport Logo

Trayport

Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company) Logo

Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company)

Hubtel Ghana Logo

Hubtel Ghana

DFDS Logo

DFDS

Boxit Document Solutions Logo

Boxit Document Solutions

ALS Life Sciences Logo

ALS Life Sciences

New Signature Logo

New Signature

Sage Logo

Sage

Washington Department of Transport Logo

Washington Department of Transport

Department of Work and Pensions (UK) Logo

Department of Work and Pensions (UK)

Nottingham County Council Logo

Nottingham County Council

Washington Department of Enterprise Services Logo

Washington Department of Enterprise Services

New Hampshire Supreme Court Logo

New Hampshire Supreme Court

Royal Air Force Logo

Royal Air Force

Genus Breeding Ltd Logo

Genus Breeding Ltd

YearUp.org Logo

YearUp.org

Slicedbread Logo

Slicedbread

Jack Links Logo

Jack Links

Illumina Logo

Illumina

Slaughter and May Logo

Slaughter and May