This idea emerged from a September 2023 Agile Moose Herd group discussion. It centered on a question about an organization that had recently surveyed their teams (~35) about how effective their Scrum Masters were. The results were 2/10, so not very good.
Our discussions focused on what could be done to foster improvement
I brought up the notion of bringing this to the Scrum Master Guild or Community of Practice. The Moose who brought up the situation wasn’t clear about whether there was one in the organization. So, that might be a place to focus on improvements. At least bring the assessment details to the CoP and see how they want to react.
THE REAL POINT
But as we chatted, the most crucial idea I landed on was this one. And it’s a novel for me or one I haven’t explored before. It’s that…
The name of the game as a Scrum Master or Agile Coach is to—
Never Go It Alone!
You’re not a ‘role’ or an ‘accountability’; you are a team member!
Build partnerships.
Have—Skin in the Game.
And you live to…get shit done! Not talk about getting shit done, but actually, partner with your leaders and teams to…get shit done!
BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS
What does building partnerships look like? I would say it’s more multi-faceted, critical, and challenging than you think. It’s also a continuous activity. It starts, for example, partnering with—
Scrum Master partnering with Team(s)
Scrum Master partnering with Manager(s)
Scrum Master partnering or pairing with Product Owner(s)
Scrum Master partnering or pairing with Scrum Master(s)
Scrum Master partnering with Stakeholder(s) & Sponsor(s)
Coach partnering or pairing with other Coach(s)
Coach partnering or pairing with Scrum Master(s)
Coach partnering with Manager(s) & Leader(s)
Coach partnering with Stakeholder(s) & Sponsor(s)
Continuously building on the premise that we’re in this together. We get measured together. We (ugh!) share OKR’s. We’re not individual contributors or roles but in a partnership striving to achieve aligned, integrated, and shared goals.
In other words, you can’t measure one of us without the others! In a term, what does partnership mean in this sense?
Building a trustful and respectful relationship;
Creating shared accountabilities and responsibilities;
Ensuring precise alignment around goals;
And experiencing the joy of collaborative delivery.
TEAM SECRETARY?
This statement came out in the Herd—
Well, the Scrum Master isn’t the team’s secretary…right? I’m not there to do the things the team doesn’t want to do.
Well, true. But what if, to connect to them and gain (skin in the game) you need to do a bit of that? Or dive in and do some risky work? Or partner and do pair programming, pair testing, or pair story writing?
My advice would surround not getting “stuck” on the role or accountability dynamics. Instead, be a great team player focused on getting into the game with your team and your leaders so, if that means doing some menial grunt work for the greater good. Then, I’m all in.
Please don’t get stuck on me. Instead, get stuck on we.
WRAPPING UP
I’ll repeat it.
Stop thinking about your Scrum Master or Agile Coach roles as something you can do alone and be successful. It’s not, and you can’t!
And before you tell me that your organization, team, or boss doesn’t want or support your partnering or creating working relationships, I’ll say—get over it!
To be successful, you can’t go it alone. So, it’s up to you to figure out how and with whom to partner. It’s a Prime Directive for your and your organization’s success.
Stay agile, my friends,
Bob.
Thanks for this exploration! I once received a compliment about “actually giving a damn” and this resonates so much with the concept of partnering to get shit done. Also, I’ve always looked for others, both inside and outside my org, to thought partner with and learn from. I’ve never clearly articulated why, and I think you’ve hit the nail on the head for me here :)