Scrum Master = Servant Leader

Scrum is a framework for helping teams manage software development projects.  Unlike the waterfall approach to managing projects, wherein a good deal of time is spent deliberating and defining objectives, outcomes, and requirements, Scrum is iterative and agile, meaning that it involves sequential improvement and rapid adjustments based on client and user feedback.  It has gained wide acceptance in the software development community, and even with other types of projects that benefit from its methodology.

A Scrum team is generally composed of 7 plus or minus 2 team members (so 5-9), including a product owner and a scrum master.  The product owner is responsible for the final outcome of the project, and must ensure that it meets the client’s needs.  He or she does this, in part, by working with the Scrum team to define user requirements, usually referred to as stories. These stories are added to a backlog that the team uses to work from, iteratively, during sprints — 30-day or shorter bursts of development. The product owner prioritizes the items in the product backlog.

The Scrum Master is an important and very interesting role, in terms of leadership study.  The Scrum Master is not a manager, and is not responsible for telling team members what to do.  On the contrary, Scrum team members are largely self-managed, identifying the backlog items that they will take ownership of and working on them according to their own processes. The Scrum Master, though, steps in regularly at daily Scrum stand-ups (so-called because of their brevity, lasting 15 minutes or less, and often without sitting), seeking to identify any blocks to progress. He or she specifically checks up on team members to see if there are problems that they are having achieving what they need to achieve.  While not a go-between or messenger, the Scrum Master will facilitate communications.  The Scrum Master’s goal is to ensure the team members are performing at their highest level, by listening, observing, and understanding anything that may be limiting them. The Scrum Master also ensures the Scrum process is being adhered to.

Usually a senior member of the team with solid experience, the Scrum Master also acts as a coach or a mentor, helping other team members when they encounter a problem.  Rather than directing them or insisting A,B, or C take place, though, he or she will remind the team members of what their goals are, and how they might achieve them. Scrum Masters also make sure no team member takes on more of the product backlog than they are capable of, and that the right team members are working on the right backlog items (those items that best fit their skill set).

The Scrum Master is in many ways the ultimate servant leader.  By helping team members recognize and achieve their personally-set goals, keeping the team on the Scrum track, eliminating roadblocks to their success, and facilitating communication and understanding, the Scrum Master plays a vital role in keeping software projects on target without burning out the team members who are working with them.  Far from a traditional manager, the Scrum Master role exists to serve the members of the team in the ways that are most productive for the individual team members. This allows the team members to contribute to the overall success of the project.

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