Tuesday, March 25, 2014

The 17 rules for a Scrum Master

During the summer of 2012 I participated to a Scrum training done by Jeff McKenna and the Ukrainian company SM . It's where I discovered the 17 commandment of the Scrum Master and I want to share it with you.

So he it is.

As a Scrum Master you ...


  1. ... serve as the keeper of the scrum process, "holding space" for the team.
  2. ... provide facilitation for the team during the sprint - this can mean leading them yourself, recruiting an outside facilitator, or helping the team facilitate their own meetings.
  3. ... know when to step back and let the team learn through their own experience,  including mistakes
  4. ... are available to the team and the product owner to answer questions and give advice.
  5. ... protect the team from outside distractions, serving as a buffer between the team and external stakeholders.
  6. ... remove impediments for the team, so they can get on with the work.
  7. ... are not the boss. Your role is defined by a unique set of responsibilities, not by rank.
  8. ... act as an advocate for the team to the business.
  9. ... coach the product owner in scrum practices.
  10. ... help the team master the use of scrum artifacts, like the task board, the sprint backlog, and burn charts.
  11. ... coach the team, and individual team members, in scrum practices.
  12. ... act as your organization's chief scrum evangelist, helping the entire company embrace scrum.
  13. ... lead the daily scrum until the team members are comfortable running it by themselves.
  14. ... run the second half of the poker planning meeting or assist the team members in running it themselves.
  15. ... provide facilitation for, and participate in, the sprint retrospective.
  16. ... are not the scrum police ! You're not there to tell the team what they're doing wrong.
  17. ... ensure that you duties as a technical contributor - if you are one - do not detract from you role as scrum master.


It's a good way to remind or to understand what is the role of Scrum Master

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