Volunteer Scrum Master Handbook

I have to disclose upfront that I am more of an Agile guy than a Scrum guy. Which is to say I feel more at home discussing Agile in general than Scrum in particular. (I’m not even sure how to capitalize it–SCRUM or scrum?)

Over the years I’ve made my peace with Scrum and as I dig into it’s theory and history I find I have few real arguments with the brainchild of Schwaber and Sutherland. My arguments are not with Scrum but with Professional Scrum Masters.

Over past 19 years that Agile/Scrum have reshaped the process of software development many of the traditional roles of software engineering have drastically changed or simply gone away. Technical Writers, Business Analysts, and non-coding Development Managers aren’t needed much by self-organizing teams that talk directly to Product Owners and write up their backlogs on sticky notes. But the one big role that Agile/Scrum has made obsolete is the hard nosed, battle tested, two fisted, lock jawed, steely eyed, organization shaking, cat herding Project Manager.

Back in the day it was the Project Manager who got things done. The good engineers were taught to be sheep and good senior managers were turned into putty by the power of the Project Manager. Microsoft’s variety of Project Manager, the TPM, is still a legend in the industry. It was Windows Vista epic failure and not Agile/Scrum that finally dethroned the TPM.

So when an organization finally buys in to Agile/Scrum where do the people who filled the roles of the waterfall process go? Product Managers became Product Owners. Development Managers who could code became team members or even team leads. Spec writers and Business Analysts moved on. Often Project Manager became Scrum Masters–If the non-coding Dev Managers didn’t beat them to it first.

It is where I got my first bad taste of Scrum: Project Managers turned Scrum Masters who were still doing Project Management. These pseudo-Scrum Masters were the ones with the Microsoft Project plans detailing every sprint from here to release. They demanded status explained in non-technical terms during the daily standup. They stuffed the sprint backlog too tightly (or sandbagged it) and argued with Product Owners over priority. What a mess! It was all Bagile and Fragile.

At least with the non-coding Dev Managers who become Scrum Masters the social graces were respected and they generally stayed out of the way (lest a technical question come their way).

To combat the pseudo-Scrum Master I like to use the role of the Volunteer Scrum Master (VSM). This is just one of the team members (either a coder or a tester) who plays the role of part time Scrum Master. It’s a volunteer and rotating position which can be filled by anybody but the Product Owner. Most of the time the VSM writes code or tests. When the need arises the VSM laces up his boots and does Scrum Master things: Calls for help to scare away any chickens, reminds everyone to follow the process, and let’s me or the full time Scrum Master know that those servers need to be updated by Ops. The VMS removes impediments to the success of the sprint by communication not coercion.

It’s not a glamourous job. There’s no extra pay. There is no authority. You don’t get to wear a uniform or the keys to the executive washroom.

While the job of a VSM is simple and straight forward it can be hard for a new recruit to know where the Scrum Master job starts and ends. So I ask each VSM to think of his part time job as a journalistic one. Observe what is going in the scrum. Take notes. Report findings to the full time Scrum Master or one of the Engineering Directors.

Note: Team members should be responsible for managing themselves. A Scrum Master is not Mom or Dad or a Police Officer. The best way to remove impediments is to communicate them to someone who can address them.

Let’s review how the VCM fits into the role of the Scrum Master…

As you can see the Pro Scrum Master has to be careful. As the Scrum canon defines her job there is some inherent contradiction with the job of Product Owner and even some chicken-like (i.e., management) responsibilities. The VMS has no such ambiguities. He’s just passing through–his sense of self-worth isn’t caught up with the role.

Using VSM enables an organization to limit the number of Pro Scrum Masters, minimize political struggle, and help the team members learn the game of Scrum (the best way to learn is to volunteer).

Here are some sources that help define a Scrum Master’s Role:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrum_(development)#Roles
• http://www.scrumalliance.org/articles/82-scrum-turtles
• http://www.scrumalliance.org/articles/52-empowering-teams-the-scrummasters-role
• http://scrummethodology.com/the-scrummaster-role/
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/127807/what-does-a-scrum-master-do-all-day
• http://www.scrum.org/scrumguides/