… is to create a collaborative environment using Scrum’s inspect and adapt core, to get the most valuable things done first and frequently. Get the team up and running with a steady flow of work towards an identified product goal, and then look at what problems are being surfaced.

There’s a reason a lot of organisations haven’t taken that well to ‘doing Scrum by the book’.    Often, it doesn’t fit the current context, and whilst the framework itself is close to genius in the way the events, roles and and artefacts fit together, if it causes too much friction then telling teams to “do Scrum properly” isn’t going to help.

So I’ll look at what suits the context and start there.  Look for the barriers, the opportunities and the tipping points.  I’ll say when there’s a compromise too far and protect against it with a duty of care.  But if you really don’t want to do a  daily scrum every single day right now, it’s OK,  I’m not going to force it.  If and when the value of the practice is clear, then the team will do it willingly.  That’s my kind of result.

A new team needs to know its individual’s skills, preferences, aspirations, boundaries. We need to iron out enough differences in our experiences so that we can have a common way of working, whilst benefiting from all that diversity.

We need to agree how to visualise work, how to estimate, how to divide work, how to assist each other, resolve conflict, work with other teams and stakeholders. We need to learn what to tolerate, what to refuse, what to challenge, what to leave for now.

I’ll make sure we start with a basic roadmap showing the product vision, a sufficiently stacked backlog to start meaningful feature development, and a working structure which allows measurement for inspection and predictability.

Your Product Owners may be flying it, new to the role or somewhere in between.  The PO/SM is an essential partnership I give immediate attention to; mentoring / nudging as appropriate, and enabling / covering as needed – always affiliative around a common goal

The great Scrum Master knows the balance between delivery of business goals and leading the organisation positively towards business agility.

This is who I strive to be.

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