Scrum is a Project management framework which is completely based on the Agile software development model. Scrum encourages collaboration and communication which will lead us to Agility. When collaboration and communication are the key players in the organization, it should have proper roles management. So, Scrum enforces three roles to ensure complete collaboration and communication which are the Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Developer. Among these three roles, he/she plays a vital role. So, in this article, we will see how to become a scrum master and get certified to showcase yourself as one.
Table of Contents
How To Become A Scrum Master
Scrum Guide defines the scrum master as Servant Leader which means, he/she is not the project leader or the team leader, but scrum master will ensure the collaboration and communication between the product owners and developers. Also, he/she will act as an Agile Coach and teach or facilitate the team with Agile software development model. If you are joining as a Scrum Master in an organization, you should be knowing some important facts about you and the organization and refer to this article ‘5 Questions a Scrum Master Should Ask Before Joining a Startup‘ for more information you should know before joining as Scrum Master.
The Qualities of scrum masters
As a Scrum Master, one can be understanding the importance of the factors of scrum master and keep the practice live in the project.
Collaboration:
The Agile Process is enforcing Collaboration. So, Scrum master should create the opportunity to make the product owner and development team interact with each other. When the product owner and scrum development team collaborate with each other, the product which is been delivered to client will meet their expectation. So, he/she should understand the need for collaboration and make use of the tools and technology like Atlassian suite/CA suite is available to facilitate the collaboration media.
Facilitator:
Scrum Master is not a Team leader or manager but one of the team members who facilitate the Agile process. To facilitate the good process, he/she should listen and observe the activities and events that are happening in the team and participate in the all level meetings to address and create the understanding bridge between team members.
Leadership:
As a primary moto of the Scrum master, targeting milestones in the project need the quality of a good leader. The Scrum master should be a good leader so that he/she can motivate, guide the teams on the right path and make them understand their roles and responsibilities. With the Leadership quality, he/she should help team members to understand the gaps and efforts to achieve the milestones.
Responsibility of Scrum Master.
As we said, the primary responsibility of scrum master is towards process and people. Let’s see one by one about the responsibilities
Responsibilities towards Process
Scrum master’s responsibilities towards the process are basically designing the process and implementing the process in the right tools and technology. Let’s see both responsibilities.
Scrum Planning
Scrum Master is responsible for Creating Sprint Planning, Daily stand up Meeting, Retrospectives Event planning, and Sprint Review. As we all know Scrum is a framework that implements project management, especially, Agile Process. Let’s see all the activities that are involving in scrum planning.
Sprint Planning:
This is an important event in Scrum Planning which will involve all the team members. The Product owner will define the product backlogs items and it’s attributes like a priority, Timeline and more. Team Member will gather the facts and produce the estimates that who can take which activity and the timeline for the same. The Scrum master will consolidate and define the sprint in terms of sprint period, Sprint backlogs and goals.
Daily Scrum Meeting
As part of the Scrum Planning, Daily Scrum meeting or Daily standup meeting should be planned. His/Her responsibility is not ending by Conducting meeting, he/she should document the facts in the standard format which includes the following facts.
- What has the team member accomplished yesterday?
- Today’s Target and how to accomplish that?
- What are the challenges that a team member is facing in completing tasks?
Also, Scrum master should keep track of the metrics and take the process towards the goal.
Retrospective Event Planning
As part of Scrum Planning, One should plan for the Retrospective event planning. Retrospective events are the activity that collects and inspect all the Scrum events and activities and plans for improving inefficient activities. In The Retrospective event, The following points will be captured
- What went good/bad in the Sprint?
- How could be improved?
- What is the Counter Action for the next plan?
So, addressing the facts of Retrospective Event is another important responsibility.
Scrum Review
Sprint Review is just like Retrospective Event planning, but it is simple like acceptance testing where scrum master will inspect the progress on product development. Where in this event, he/she will gather the overall report after doing the light inspection about the sprint product.
Technology and Tools engagement
There are many tools and platforms that are available in the market to implement Agile project management and Scrum project management. Scrum Master’s responsibility is to select the right tool which can implement each process of agile. Let’s see the scrum process in a glance.
So, The process needs to be understood both in terms of the Scrum process and domain level. Following are the popular tools that implement Scrum.
It is the responsibility of scrum master to have knowledge and experience to implement and agile process with the tools and make use of the tool for orchestrating the scrum process.
Responsibility towards People.
Scrum Master is a Servant Leader. Which means, like a leader who will guide team members towards the goal but not as a boss but as a servant or a team player. So one should have the following responsibility towards people.
- Communicate between the product owner and team members.
- Have a discussion with the Product owner and review the Product Backlogs
- Manage the Product backlogs with the team members
- Coach the Agile process and be the mentor of the scrum process.
- Have a discussion with Team members periodically about the scrum review and retrospective events
- Have one on one discussion with the team members and rectify the hurdles.
Conclusion
A good Scrum Master should possess all the qualities that we have described in this article. To be recognized, one should get the proper certification. If a person mastered these qualities and has good knowledge of roles and responsibilities, then the person can easily crack any certification exam for Scrum master which is available in the market.
We will see more about Agile and other frameworks in our upcoming articles. Stay tuned and Subscribe DigitalVarys to get a notification on new articles on Agile, DevOps, DevSecOps and App Development.
Resource #1: 5 Questions a Scrum Master Should Ask Before Joining a Startup
Experienced DevSecOps Practitioner, Tech Blogger, Expertise in Designing Solutions in Public and Private Cloud. Opensource Community Contributor.
I think the role of Scrum Master is especially relevant for IT companies, as this is an employee who is responsible for compliance with the Scrum process and helps the team deliver the product more efficiently and come to a common understanding, as well as optimize processes, increasing their efficiency.
In IT companies, most of all transformations take place, so it is important to keep track of everything