A Quick Guide for the Agile Scrum Master
Whether you are diving into the Agile process for the first time, or just looking to hone your Scrum Master skills, this article will tell you everything you need to know to master this role!
What is a Scrum Master, and what do they do?
In the Agile methodology, a Scrum Master is a key member of the Scrum process. Just like a team leader, the Scrum Master oversees the team and makes sure everything in the process goes smoothly.
However, a team leader or manager is usually someone who delegates specific orders and mostly controls what is going on. The role of a Scrum Master is a bit different — while they do delegate tasks to their team, they should (for the most part) take a back seat and allow their team to self-organize. Think of them more as a guide; someone who keeps everything on track without getting overly involved.
“The Scrum Master doesn’t do it, they help the team do it themselves.” (source)
Now that we know what a Scrum Master is, let’s take a look at what their key roles are.
Scrum Master Key Roles & Responsibilities
Provides overall support for the Development Team.
Keeps the Scrum framework in mind, but allows the team to work as freely as they need to.
Helps to conduct and oversee meetings during the Sprint, including the Sprint Planning, Daily Stand-Ups, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective.
Knowledgeable and passionate about Agile — incorporates the Agile method into their own work.
Facilitates communication within the development team and makes sure that issues are solved soon after they arise.
Makes sure that a visual tool is being used to help organize the process — either a physical or digital tool (like Stormboard!) — where the team members actively share ideas and move the project forward.
Creating and reviewing reports (analytics, progress reports, etc.).
Who gets chosen to be the Scrum Master?
The Scrum Master can be any person that the team chooses or someone who volunteers. It may be someone already in a position of authority, or who already has experience in a leadership-type role.
In addition, the Scrum Master doesn’t always have to be one person the entire time; different people within the Scrum can take turns as the Scrum Master (source). Teams should decide ahead of time what they think will ultimately work best for them — one Scrum Master, or multiple that rotate.
Stormboard & Scrum
To make the Scrum Master’s job easier, Stormboard provides Storm templates that are specifically designed for the Scrum process (see image below). These templates include Scrum (our basic template), Agile Scrum Kanban, Daily Standup, KALM Retrospective, and Scrum to Lean Kanban.
Each of these templates will allow the Scrum Master to help their team organize and share ideas whether they are in the same room or working from another location, consistently, every time they meet.
When you are ready to get started, sign up for an account, create a new Storm, and browse through our templates by typing in ‘Scrum’ in the search bar. If any of the four Scrum-based templates aren’t working for your team, try sticking with the basic Scrum template that automatically sets when you create a new Storm.
Templates can also be customized for our Business and Enterprise teams. Contact us for more information.
Stormboard can simplify the needs of your Scrum team by providing a virtual board that will record all of your ideas in one customizable place, that can be accessed from almost anywhere.
Scrum meetings will become easy, fun, and interactive for the whole team!
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