How to Become a Better Scrum Master - Agile Tour Beirut 2016 - Ben Linders

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Ben Linders ConsultingHow to Become a Better Scrum Master Ben Linders


Ben Linders Consulting

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Ben Linders ConsultingTHANK YOU TO OUR

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Agile, Lean, Quality & Continuous Improvement

Trainer / Coach / Mentor / Writer / PresenterRecognized Expert on Agile RetrospectivesCMMI & People-CMM Assessor

Freelance Editor for InfoQ.com

Ben Linders

Co-Author Getting Value out of Agile Retrospectives English Dutch French Japanese Spanish Italian Chinese Russian Polish German Greek Turkish Vietnamese

Author: What Drives Quality & Continuous Improvement

eBook: Download from Amazon, InfoQ or LeanpubPrint: Buy on Amazon or other bookstores

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https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SWJO1DI

http://www.infoq.com/minibooks/agile-retrospectives-value


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1304789624/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1304789624&linkCode=as2&tag=benlinshamyex-20&linkId=XLDKFJEDCXUMN4UT

https://www.benlinders.com/book/getting-value-out-of-agile-retrospectives/



More than Scrum



No one best way



What is Agile?



Being Agile (not: doing Agile)



Agile Manifesto“We are uncovering better ways of developing

software by doing it and helping others do it”



Agile PrinciplesNone of the twelve agile principles mentions Scrum master

Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.

The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.

At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.



Scrum master role in Scrum GuideThe Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring Scrum is understood and enacted. Scrum Masters do this by ensuring that the Scrum Team adheres to Scrum theory, practices, and rules.

The Scrum Master is a servant-leader for the Scrum Team. The Scrum Master helps those outside the Scrum Team understand which of their interactions with the Scrum Team are helpful and which aren’t. The Scrum Master helps everyone change these interactions to maximize the value created by the Scrum Team.



ScrumMaster in Scrum PrimerThe ScrumMaster helps the product group learn and apply Scrum to achieve business value. The ScrumMaster does whatever is in their power to help the Team, Product Owner and organization be successful.

The ScrumMaster is not the manager of the Team members, nor are they a project manager, team lead, or team representative. Instead, the ScrumMaster serves the Team; he or she helps to remove impediments, protects the Team from outside interference, and helps the Team to adopt modern development practices.

He or she educates, coaches and guides the Product Owner, Team and the rest of the organization in the skillful use of Scrum. The ScrumMaster is a coach and teacher. The ScrumMaster makes sure everyone (including the Product Owner, and those in management) understands the principles and practices of Scrum, and they help lead the organization through the often difficult change required to achieve success with agile development.

Since Scrum makes visible many impediments and threats to the Team’s and Product Owner’s effectiveness, it is important to have an engaged ScrumMaster working energetically to help resolve those issues, or the Team or Product Owner will find it difficult to succeed.

https://www.infoq.com/minibooks/Scrum_Primer



What do you do as a Scrum master?



Scrum master = Superman?• Assure Scrum is understood• Team adheres• Servant leader• Help stakeholders to collaborate

with team• Help people interact• Maximize value• Motivated individuals• Establish trust• Constant pace• Self-organizing team• Team adopts to change



Are Scrum masters needed?





Successful Scrum masters

Lead

Connect

Improve



Lead



Don’t manage, lead!



Get the best out of people



Which leadership style / approiach do you use as Scrummaster?



Servant leadershipAs a servant leader, you're a "servant first" – you focus on the needs of others, especially team members, before you consider your own. You acknowledge other people's perspectives, give them the support they need to meet their work and personal goals, involve them in decisions where appropriate, and build a sense of community within your team. This leads to higher engagement, more trust, and stronger relationships with team members and other stakeholders. From mindtools.com

What do you look for in a servant leader?7 secrets of servant leadership

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/servant-leadership.htm



http://www.infoq.com/articles/what-do-you-look-for-in-a-servant-leader

http://www.inc.com/peter-economy/7-secrets-of-servant-leadership-that-will-lead-you-to-success.html



Leadership Styles• Situational leadership• Autocratic• Paternalistic• Democratic• Intent-based• Holacracy• Sociocracy• Host leadership Effective Leadership• Servant leadership for Scrum masters• Reinventing organizations• Management 3.0 and managing for happiness

https://situational.com/

http://online.stu.edu/autocratic-leadership/

https://www.cleverism.com/paternalistic-leadership-guide/

https://www.verywell.com/what-is-democratic-leadership-2795315

http://www.davidmarquet.com/

http://www.holacracy.org/

http://www.sociocracy.info/

http://hostleadership.com/

https://www.benlinders.com/2016/leadership-styles-scrum-masters/

https://www.greenleaf.org/


https://www.infoq.com/articles/book-reinventing-organizations

https://www.benlinders.com/2014/a-management-3-0-workout-summary-in-15-tweets/

http://www.benlinders.com/2016/managing-for-happiness-15-tweets/




Follow the leader?



When the Scrum master is away …



Connect



Collaboration mattersTeam <–> POTeam <-> customersPO <-> customersInside TeamScrum master <-> …

Collaboration is key for succes with agile



Decreasing distanceColocated teams• Teambuilding• Collaboration Time (stand-up, sprint review,

retrospective)• Pairing• Build relationships

Remote teamsSame as colocated, plus:• Emotional distance• Travel & meet face 2 face

https://www.benlinders.com/2011/agile-software-development-with-distributed-teams/



Create a culture of safetyCheck safety in retrospectives,stand-up, day-to-day work, etc. • Prime directive• Exercises:

– One Word– Constellation– Team Kudos

When safety is low

Deal with safety, make sure problems are raised!

http://www.benlinders.com/2015/retrospective-prime-directive-translations/

http://www.benlinders.com/2013/feelings-matter-in-agile-retrospectives/


http://www.benlinders.com/2014/guest-blog-making-retrospectives-interesting/

http://www.benlinders.com/2016/what-to-do-when-safety-is-low-in-a-retrospective/



Effective agile meetings• Know the Why• Right audience• Focus• Time-boxing• Facilitation



Dealing with ImpedimentsMake it visibleRaise issues earlyFeelings matterWhy over HowKnow the root causesSafe-to-fail experiments

Handling Impediments

https://www.benlinders.com/2015/handling-impediments-why-it-matters/



Improve



Follow the rules?



Embedded Improvement Agile values, principles, practices, and methods

support continuous improvement

• Frequently Inspect and Adapt• Scrum master, focus on process• Stand-up, deal with impediments• Agile Retrospectives• Coaching & Mentoring



How do you coach as a Scrum master?



This isn’t coaching



This isn’t coaching either



Agile CoachingHelp people to find and do improvements

Give FeedbackProvide Ideas Inspire PeopleMake it happen

Agile Needs Coaching

Develop Coaching Skills

http://www.benlinders.com/2015/agile-needs-coaching/

http://www.benlinders.com/2013/the-way-i-develop-my-agile-coaching-skills/



Change doing change

• Don’t change people• Start with “why”• Offer help• Environment for change• Be an example• Be there



Look and Listen

https://www.benlinders.com/2010/you-can-observe-a-lot-by-just-watching/



Know thy strengthsProject that succeeded• Learn from things that go well• People and team strengths• Exploit to improve

Learn from success Solution focused retro

Identify strengths, apply them to solve problems

http://www.benlinders.com/2015/learning-from-things-that-go-well/

http://www.benlinders.com/2013/using-solution-focused-in-a-strengths-based-retrospective/



Agile RetrospectivesPractice for teams to reflect on their way of workingand to continuously become better in what they do.

Focus upon

• Teamworking

• Self organizing

What is an Agile Retrospectives

http://www.benlinders.com/2013/whats-an-agile-retrospective-and-why-would-you-do-it/



No blaming or complaining



Focus on the vital few actionsSmall but significant continuous improvements• Actions for the next iteration• Destroy actions to focus:

– Dot voting– Remove bottleneck– Devil’s and Angel’s advocate– Kill actions Vital Few Actions

• Enable teams to improve

Focus to assure that vital few actions get done!

http://www.benlinders.com/2014/retrospective-exercise-vital-few-actions/

http://www.benlinders.com/2013/getting-to-the-root-causes-of-problems-in-a-retrospective/



Experiment



Become a Better Scrum master

Every journey for agility and continuous improvement starts with a first agile step

http://www.benlinders.com/2015/process-debt-agile-step/



And don’t forget …



Questions?Questions?

Ben LindersIndependent Consultant Agile, Lean,Quality & Continuous Improvement

[email protected]@BenLinders.com @BenLinders www.linkedin.com/in/benlinderswww.linkedin.com/in/benlinders www.facebook.com/BenLindersAdvieswww.facebook.com/BenLindersAdvies www.benlinders.comwww.benlinders.com

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Background Information



Assigning the Scrum master role

• Technical or organizational? Both!• Part time or full time? Depends• Fixed or rotating? Mostly fixed

Dedicated full time Scrum masters are hard to implementRotating Scrum masters in teamsLet the Scrum master come from the team

http://www.benlinders.com/2015/no-dedicated-scrum-master/

http://www.benlinders.com/2015/do-you-rotate-scrum-masters-in-teams/

http://www.benlinders.com/2013/let-the-scrum-master-come-from-the-team/



Effective Scrum master practices

• Keep the goals in mind, why over how• Pull in actions from the retrospective• Balance between doing it yourself vs helping others• Encourage collaboration• Be an example

What is success for a Scrum master?

http://www.infoq.com/articles/scrum-master-success



Scrum master skills• Tech leading• Coaching• Communication• System view

“soft skills” for working with technical and business people



Golden Rules for Improvement• Dare to share, early and frequently• Result depends on team, not individuals• The one who checks out a task is not necessarily

the one who has to finish it• The one’s working on a task are the right people• You may critique anything,

but never criticize anyone

BenLinders.com/GoldenRules

http://www.benlinders.com/2011/golden-rules-for-agile-process-improvement/



Getting More out of Agile & Lean Practices for teams and stakeholders to develop the right

products, deliver faster, increase quality, and create happy high performing teams.

Full Day Workshop:Deploying practices effectively Improve CollaborationTips & Trick for Agile & Lean Improve Continuously

Increase your organization's agility!

BenLinders.com/agilelean

http://www.benlinders.com/workshop-getting-more-out-of-agile-and-lean/

http://www.benlinders.com/workshop-getting-more-out-of-agile-and-lean/



Retrospectives BookGetting Value out of Agile RetrospectivesBy Luis Gonçalves & Ben Linders

Download from InfoQ or LeanpubBuy on Amazon or Lulu

amazon.com/dp/B00SWJO1DIleanpub.com/gettingvalueoutofagileretrospectives

Mailinglist: eepurl.com/Mem7H


http://www.infoq.com/minibooks/agile-retrospectives-value


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1304789624/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1304789624&linkCode=as2&tag=benlinshamyex-20&linkId=XLDKFJEDCXUMN4UT

http://www.lulu.com/shop/luis-gon%C3%A7alves-and-ben-linders/getting-value-out-of-agile-retrospectives-a-toolbox-of-retrospective-exercises/paperback/product-21658161.html

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http://eepurl.com/Mem7H



Retrospectives Book BundleSix successful retrospectives books• Getting Value out of Agile Retrospectives• Fun Retrospectives• Fifty Quick Ideas to Improve Your Retrospectives• The Retrospective Handbook• Retrospectives for Organizational Change• The Retrospectives Kickstarter

These books will make your agile retrospectives rock!Teams will love to do them :-).

leanpub.com/b/agileretrospectivesDiscounted price: $30,48 (excl. VAT)


https://leanpub.com/funretrospectives

https://leanpub.com/50quickretrospectives

https://leanpub.com/the-retrospective-handbook

https://leanpub.com/retrospectivesfororganizationalchange

https://leanpub.com/agile-retrospective-kickstarter

https://leanpub.com/b/agileretrospectives



Agile Retrospectives

amazon.com/dp/B00SWJO1DI benlinders.com/exercises/

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SWJO1DI

http://www.benlinders.com/exercises/



Continuous Improvement

Become aware of importance of continuous improvement,

Explore how it’s engrained in agile software development

Suggestions that you can use in your daily work to improve continuously

Increase your organization's agility!

Leanpub.com/continuousimprovement

“Continuous Improvement is the act of continuously doing whatever helps to become better and thus more valuable”





Assessing your AgilityOver 40 tools:• Self-Assessment checklists• Readyness checks• Maturity assessments• Agile health checks• Measurements• And much more! Agile Self-Assessments

http://www.benlinders.com/tools/agile-self-assessments/



Articles on Effective Agile• Self-assessing how Agile you are• Sustainable Improvement through Agile Retrospectives• Working in a Sustainable Pace• Becoming Agile and Lean • Succes Factors for Using Scrum and Getting Benefits• Process Improvement: The Agile Way• Golden Rules for Agile Process Improvement• How to deal with Resistance when Implementing Agile• Managing Projects with Agile Teams• Agile Project Management• Establishing and Maintaining Stable Teams• Getting Business Value out of Agile Retrospectives• Sharing Knowledge is Power• Are your Professionals Empowered?

http://www.benlinders.com/2014/self-assessing-how-agile-you-are/

http://www.benlinders.com/2013/sustainable-improvement-through-agile-retrospectives/

http://www.benlinders.com/2013/working-in-a-sustainable-pace/

http://www.benlinders.com/2012/becoming-agile-and-lean/

http://www.benlinders.com/2013/success-factors-for-using-scrum-and-getting-benefits/

http://www.methodsandtools.com/archive/archive.php?id=115

http://www.benlinders.com/2011/golden-rules-for-agile-process-improvement/

http://www.benlinders.com/2013/how-to-deal-with-resistance-when-implementing-agile/

http://www.benlinders.com/2012/managing-projects-with-agile-teams/

http://www.benlinders.com/2011/agile-project-management/

http://www.benlinders.com/2011/establishing-and-maintaining-stable-teams/

http://www.benlinders.com/2011/getting-business-value-out-of-agile-retrospectives/

http://www.benlinders.com/2011/sharing-knowledge-is-power/

http://www.benlinders.com/2011/are-your-professionals-empowered/

Presentations & Public Speaking

How to Become a Better Scrum Master - Agile Tour Beirut 2016 - Ben Linders