Scrum master

A Scrum Master helps a Scrum team apply the Scrum methodology, ensuring compliance with the principles and processes established by the organization.

This role, created as part of the Scrum method, ensures that a person with expertise in the field can coach others and facilitate the team's work so that it is in the best possible conditions.

The Scrum Master's role during a sprint

During a sprint (a specific development phase guided by defined objectives to meet customer expectations), the presence of a Scrum Master is crucial. Their role is to ensure that team members work efficiently, respect timeboxes and adopt an agile approach. They play the role of methodological guardian, helping the team to plan meetings, accomplish tasks and collaborate, especially when the team is not yet sufficiently autonomous or agile.

The Scrum Master guides the team towards emancipation and self-management.

Main tasks of a Scrum Master

To the team :

• Coaching the team in its adoption of Scrum.
• Intervene if necessary, for example by interrupting members who exceed their speaking time during daily Scrum meetings.
• Train members to integrate the principles of self-management into their work environment.
• Encourage the team to meet deadlines for tasks and organize Scrum events.
• Help the team focus on effective product increments and remove obstacles to progress.

To the Product Owner :

• Facilitate collaboration between stakeholders to speed up decision-making.
• Help plan product development empirically.
• Suggest techniques to improve the product.
• Support the Product Owner in managing the Product Backlog (list of features to be modified based on customer feedback).

Scrum Master objective

The success of a Scrum Master lies in the fact that the team no longer needs him. For example, he often leads retrospectives (review meetings aimed at improving the process for the next sprint). During these sessions, he helps the team identify what worked well, what didn't, and how to improve Scrum management.

A team member expressing the desire to lead the next retrospective himself would be a sign of success: it would demonstrate that he is autonomous and has fully integrated the principles of the Scrum methodology.