What is a ScrumMaster?
In a recent Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) course, a student new to Scrum was a bit confused by the repeated reference to the ScrumMaster as a “coach”. “What do you mean coaching or when does this coaching happen?” was the question raised.
In a recent Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) course, a student new to Scrum was a bit confused by the repeated reference to the ScrumMaster as a “coach”. “What do you mean coaching or when does this coaching happen?” was the question raised. Caught a bit off guard, or more importantly caught up in my own internal dialog of, “Well, doesn’t everyone who comes to a CSM already know this?” For a moment I was a bit dumbfounded. Then I realized that this is the very question that we need to spend more time answering.
Let’s just start with coaching. What do you think of when you think of coaching? Do you think of a sports team that has a coach? Do you think of losing weight and maybe hiring a personal trainer as a fitness coach? Do you think of accomplishing personal goals through engaging a life coach to help you stay focused? In any of these instances, the person that is in the coaching position does not do the work for the person being coached. The coach’s role is to:
· Ask all kinds of questions – the obvious question, the dumb question, the hard question, etc
· Make observations and play back what they are seeing, what they are hearing, what they are observing
· Make recommendations, suggestions, provide alternative view points
· Listen
· Remind the coachee of the very goals that were set out to be accomplished and take stock of reality – is the goal being met or not with the actions the coachee is taking
Scrum is a different way to do work. It may sound simple to change to a new way of doing work, but many find the practice of Scrum difficult to accomplish. The official Scrum Guide is free to all and is available here.
The Scrum Guide is clear that a ScrumMaster does not only coach the team of people doing work or developing the product that will be used by customers, but they also have the responsibility of coaching the Product Owner and the Organization. The Product Owner gives direction about the product, and the greater Organization is comprised of other experts, users, customers and stakeholders about interacting with the Scrum Team.
That may sound like a big job, and it is! This is why a ScrumMaster is a full-time job and not one that can be done effectively as part time. It’s not administrative at all. It’s about people. It’s about individuals and interactions. It’s about setting goals, accomplishing goals and more importantly, what needs to change if goals are not accomplished.
Think back to sports teams you may be a part of that had a coach. Or any sports teams that you watch. How many are successful without an effective coach? How many Olympic athletes achieve a medal without a coach? This idea is critical to a successful Scrum adoption. The ScrumMaster is the coach to the Development Team, the Product Owner and the Organization regarding making this change and when things get tough, not back-sliding into old habits or unsuccessful approaches that detract from the goal.
If you would like to learn more about Scrum or the ScrumMaster, refer to the free Scrum Guide. You can also join me for a Certified ScrumMaster course hosted by Hollstadt Consulting on Oct 2.
Author: Christian Antonie
Collaborative Leadership Team Members Earn Prestigious Path to CSP Educator℠ Credentials
MINNEAPOLIS (September 10, 2018) – Collaborative Leadership Team (CoLead Team), an industry leader in providing Scrum and Agile coaching and training, is proud to announce that two of its team members have earned the rigorous Path to CSP Educator℠ credentials enabling them to deliver the Advanced Certified Scrum Master (A-CSM℠) certification. CoLead Team Founder and CEO, Angela Johnson and Certified Scrum Trainer, Christian Antoine are two of the first group of ten individuals to achieve this certification in the United States.
Johnson and Antoine part of first group certified in the United States
MINNEAPOLIS (September 10, 2018) – Collaborative Leadership Team (CoLead Team), an industry leader in providing Scrum and Agile coaching and training, is proud to announce that two of its team members have earned the rigorous Path to CSP Educator℠ credentials enabling them to deliver the Advanced Certified Scrum Master (A-CSM℠) certification. CoLead Team Founder and CEO, Angela Johnson and Certified Scrum Trainer, Christian Antoine are two of the first group of ten individuals to achieve this certification in the United States.
“For Christian and I to be among the first group that achieved the Path to CSP Educator is profoundly important to us,” said Johnson. “It demonstrates how committed we are to our own continuous improvement and continual advancement of Scrum. We are passionate about providing a path forward for solving problems and accomplishing business objectives!”
To achieve the Path to CSP Educator certification, Johnson and Antoine had to demonstrate advanced learning techniques that will be used in the program to the Scrum Alliance and undergo Scrum Alliance® approval of their materials and approach.
As a Path to CSP Educator, Johnson and Antoine will serve as mentors to individuals pursuing their A-CSM certification and validate all of the A-CSM learning objectives Those who pursue A-CSM certification must demonstrate their experience working as a Scrum Master and work with a CSP Educator prove their ability to facilitate dialogue and work with teams as an effective Scrum Master.
In addition to being among the first to achieve the CSP Educator status, Johnson is a Certified Scrum Trainer and Certified Less Practitioner and Scrum@Scale Trainer. In 2010, she founded CoLead Teem to provide education and coaching to clients adopting Scrum and Agile. Prior to founding the company, Johnson was an independent Scrum Master consultant to a variety of companies including Jostens, Wells Fargo, Thomson Reuters and Best Buy. A graduate of Hamline University (B.A.) and the University of St. Thomas (M.B.C.), Johnson resides in Wayzata, Minn.
Working with Agile since 2008, Antoine’s diversified experience includes its application within the medical device, finance, healthcare, securities, international law and agricultural industries. He’s a Certified Scrum Trainer and Agile Transformation Coach and consults, trains and coaches teams and companies on Agile at all levels of the organization. He enjoys helping others see there is a different way to approach work, at a sustainable pace, and achieve outcomes that delight customers. Prior to CoLead Team, Antoine worked for Medtronic, Hollstadt & Associates and Computer Science Corporation. He is a graduate of St. John’s University and resides in Golden Valley, Minn.
About Collaborative Leadership Team
Founded in 2010, Collaborative Leadership Team is an industry leader in providing Scrum and Agile coaching and training to companies in a variety of industries including: software, hardware, services, marketing and more. Practicing what they teach, the employees of the Twin Cities-based company use Scrum to manage their services organization. The breadth and depth of Collaborative Leadership Team's experience extends beyond Scrum and includes Kanban, eXtreme Programming, Facilitation and Organizational Change for business agility.
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Are you Current with the Latest Scrum Guide?
Are you Current with the Latest Scrum Guide?
In November 2017 Scrum’s creators, Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber, announced updates to the official Scrum Guide. CoLeadTeam has updated our free Scrum Reference Guide to reflect the minor changes available here.
In November 2017 Scrum’s creators, Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber, announced updates to the official Scrum Guide. CoLeadTeam has updated our free Scrum Reference Guide to reflect the minor changes available here.
What was changed? Scrum tends to be easier done than said so a number of wording changes were made in an attempt to make things easier to understand. And others to bust myths. Such as the myth that Scrum is only for software. Yes, Scrum’s early popularity was with software products. Collaborative Leadership Team has all kinds of clients using Scrum to manage their work in information technology, hardware products, integrated products and event services companies. In fact, CoLeadTeam uses Scrum to manager our work making us a living laboratory for our students and clients.
A stronger emphasis was also placed on Product in the new Scrum Guide (http://scrumguides.org/). Customers can’t use your Projects. They want your Products. Scrum focuses on having a working Increment of product with each Sprint streamlining value to Customers more quickly than traditional project management approaches.
If you missed the free webinar outlining all of the changes from Ken and Jeff, please visit: https://www.scruminc.com/scrum-guide-revision-webinar/
Check out our course schedule to take advantage of our upcoming opportunities!
Scrum: Even a 5-Year Old Can Do It - What is Your Excuse?
In Certified ScrumMaster courses a common misunderstanding that new Scrum Masters have, is that they have to be the “secretary” or the administrative assistant for a team: telling people which tasks to perform, recording status of performing them, etc.
In Certified ScrumMaster courses a common misunderstanding that new Scrum Masters have, is that they have to be the “secretary” or the administrative assistant for a team: telling people which tasks to perform, recording status of performing them, etc.
Nothing could be further from the truth! The ScrumMaster is a Coach. It is their job to help people improve for themselves. When we do work for someone, they are not learning. We then become a crutch and create a condition called “Learned Helplessness”. Why should they bother learning? You’re taking that opportunity away from them.
The other thing we want in our Scrum Development Team members is Accountability. When you do not allow them to experience this accountability, how will they ever learn?
Imagine if instead of learning to put his boots on himself, Chase sat by the door when it was time to go and waited for Mom or Dad to perform this task for him. And note, Dad even let him experience putting the boots on the wrong foot! Now he knows what the wrong way feels like so he puts them on the right foot by himself going forward. He’s experienced learning and accountability.
And please take note that nobody moved the cards on the board for Chase. He’s perfectly capable of doing this to manage his own work.
So why do some Scrum Masters insist on taking this opportunity away from the Development Teams? The Scrum Guide notes the purpose of the Sprint Backlog is for the Development Team to manage their work – not for an administrative assistant to update it for them.
Chase moved on from the hat, coats, boots, etc. cards after 10 daily instances and now handles this work autonomously so the board can be repurposed for new learning.
About Collaborative Leadership Team: Collaborative Leadership Team (CLT) is the premier Agile Consultancy in the Midwest. We believe in the Values and Principles of the Agile Manifesto. Our mission is to train and coach Individuals, Teams and Leaders. This will improve their ability to deliver valuable, consistent, working product. Companies that adopt this way of working will reduce their cost of change and keep up with the evolving demands of their Customers. CLT helps you achieve your goals through Assessments, Training, Coaching and Mentoring.
Video Translation:
Dad: What do we work on next?
Chase: Boots.
Dad: Okay, so what do you do?
Chase: Boots.
Dad: Well, what do you do with the card?
Chase: Move it.
Dad: Yep, flip it over and over. Awesome. Okay, now you're working on boots. What are you going to do?
Chase: Do it. Yes?
Dad: Is that the right foot?
Chase: Yes.
Dad: Are you sure?
Chase: Yes.
Dad: Okay, put the other one on. Okay, come over here. We gotta check. All right, are your boots on the right feet? Are the boots on the right feet?
Chase: Yes they are.
Dad: Nope, they're not, so what do we do?
Chase: Fix them.
Dad: That's right, we fix them. Okay.
Chase: These are right feet.
Dad: Now they're on the right feet. Okay, let's check. Are they on the right feet? Great. What do we do with the card?
Chase: Move it.
Dad: All right, and what's the last one. Yep, want to work on that next. Wait, wait, what do we do with the card though?
Chase: Move it.
Dad: Come move it. All right, hat and coat time.
Speaker 3: If you're interested in learning more, please visit us at collaborativeleadershipteam.com.
Creativity is Required In Scrum: "Alike" Video
Why does the Collaborative Leadership Team love Scrum? Because the Team (Development Team, Delivery Team, Leadership Team, Finance Team, etc) is allowed (and required) to use their creativity to solve a problem or create a new solution. If Teams are only needed to solve a well defined problem by following a preset solution, that Team is likely going to be automated at some point. See car manufacturing...
Why does the Collaborative Leadership Team love Scrum? Because the Team (Development Team, Delivery Team, Leadership Team, Finance Team, etc) is allowed (and required) to use their creativity to solve a problem or create a new solution. If Teams are only needed to solve a well defined problem by following a preset solution, that Team is likely going to be automated at some point. See car manufacturing...
Today's world of work is dynamic. We rarely know the outcome of our idea on "day 1". In fact, that is when we know the least! So why do we tie ourselves to an initial idea before we have any empirical data to support or refute the idea?
Remember learning about the Scientific Method in school? Agile and Scrum embrace the same philosophy. Come up with an idea; determine the smallest way to test that idea; measure the results; learn from the results; adjust your idea; repeat.
We hope you enjoy this video as much as we do. It will help you find your "color"!
Please let us know if you have any ideas or questions by adding a comment or emailing us at info@coleadteam.com.