Tag Archives: scrum master

Impediment Resolution: The Measure of a Scrum Master

Daily Scrum Tip, Scrum Tips,

I saw an interesting discussion on a Linked In group about how to measure the effectiveness of a Scrum Master.  Someone suggested velocity should increase.  I violently disagree with that one for a whole bunch of reasons but that’s not the point of this point.

Firstly, I don’t like metrics and measurements as it relates to “productivity” or “measurement” of people.  I don’t know how to measure those and I haven’t heard any valid arguments for doing such.

For argument’s sake, let’s say you need some non-sensical measurement to rate the effectiveness of a Scrum Master because you don’t trust them you want to reward high productivity.

I introduce to you, the Impediment Resolution Metric. Continue reading →

A Scrum Master Can’t Help You

Scrum Tips, Scrum Tools, tactics, ,

I failed Scrum.org’s question about whether or not the Scrum Master is a management position.  I still think it was a trick question, and I did manage a 77% so I guess I’m qualified enough to still talk about Scrum.

The textbook definition of a Scrum Master is someone who “removes impediments” and facilitates the process for the team.  I suppose from a process perspective the Scrum Master does do management type of work but in general terms the Agile community doesn’t agree that the team’s manager makes a good Scrum Master.    The general thinking is that a manager can circumvent team self-organization and creativity by directing the team and in theory this is fine but in practice it’s just not reality for medium to large sized organizations. Continue reading →