Tip of the week by Scrum Master Līva: Ask people what they think
The Scrum Master is the one responsible for the Scrum processes – coaching and guiding team members about Scrum practices, explaining the events and their purpose to the team and customer. We are proud of our professional Scrum Masters. Even more, because they are ready to share their invaluable knowledge with all of us. Here follow the tips and tricks from our Project Manager, Līva Broka.
Hi, I am Līva, and I am a Project Manager at Wunder! I gained my Scrum Master certificate on March 8, 2016, and have been practicing it for eight years already. I see Scrum Master as a person who enables everyone in the team to do their tasks and fill their roles at the best possible level by helping to identify and remove blockers so the team members can move forward.
I love to learn from my team members how they approach different obstacles and solve them. Still, finding and maintaining the balance is the most difficult for me – when to stay silent and endorse my team to figure everything out themselves and when I need to take action and involve them more actively.
In my mind, the Scrum Master's success equals the team's success. There is no "I" as the team is on the pedestal. It is a whole team's task to set a common goal and ensure everyone understands how they're contributing to it. Scrum Master is there to facilitate if needed, but not to do the things for the team.
Here are some tips from my experience:
- Agree on communication channels at the beginning of the project so all the information is in one place and easy to find.
- Provide the Agile training for the client so the whole team is on common ground about the roles, responsibilities, processes, and events. That also makes clear how much involvement being a good Product Owner (PO) takes.
- A present and knowledgeable PO with regular and valuable input keeps up the spirit of the team.
- If the team is big, it is a good idea to define a workflow together; otherwise, chaos might take over quite quickly.
- Psychological safety supports building a "self-organizing team", so combining practices from there helps to build team spirit and enhance the productivity of working together.
- Follow closely what team members are saying in dailies. If there are any blockers or issues, make sure there is a plan on how to remove them. No matter if it is a Scrum Master or another team member helping, the most important that the person isn't left alone with the problem.
"Ask people what they think, they have brilliant ideas! And at the end of each meeting ask what else is on their minds. It is important to have a space to share the thoughts that maybe are not completely aligned with the meeting goal, but it is valuable to have them heard and discussed"
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