What is the purpose of Scrum Masters? 5 Thoughts

As a Scrum Master, I sometimes encounter the questions: “What is the purpose of Scrum Masters? Why is a Scrum Master important, or even necessary? How does the Scrum Master help the team?” These questions hold the key to effective agile project management. Let’s take a quick look together at what the essence of the purpose of Scrum Masters is - these thoughts can of course also be transferred to Agile Coaches.

Purpose of Scrum Master: Why Scrum Master is important & required

The obvious part: Facilitating meetings

Why is the Scrum Master important, how does he help the team? An unmistakable aspect of the purpose of Scrum Masters is their ability to effectively facilitate meetings. In the agile world, meetings are essential platforms for collaboration and communication. An experienced Scrum Master ensures that these meetings are not only efficient in terms of time, but also goal-oriented. 

Through skillful moderation, he encourages the active participation of all team members, steers discussions in a productive direction and ensures that decisions are made transparently. This seemingly simple task plays a key role in keeping the team on track and integrating agile principles into the daily workflow.

What is the alternative - the Product Owner or a developer moderates meetings? This can work, but it can lead to conflicts of interest. It will also steal valuable time from the other roles, which would probably be better invested in the core tasks of these roles. In this respect, we have a first central argument why a Scrum Master is required for most product teams - or alternatively an Agile Coach.

Apart from that, there are of course many other responsibilities that are usually only organized in passing in a team without a Scrum Master, even though they hold immense potential. So, why is a Scrum Master still required?

Purpose of Scrum Master: Why Scrum Master is important & required

The “soft”, difficult to measure effect of Scrum Masters

In addition to moderating meetings, Scrum Masters have a more profound purpose, which lies in particular in developing the team further. Without the Scrum Master, this would certainly only ever be priority C, because the team would probably always give preference to the requirements of the stakeholders over the “soft” team dynamics. So a Scrum Master helps the team by placing its focus here.

Focus on continuous improvement

The purpose of scrum masters, as mentioned, is to constantly look for ways to improve. Through agile retrospectives and constructive feedback, a Scrum Master promotes continuous development in the team and in the entire agile process.

Promoting transparent communication

Transparency, clarity and openness are the cornerstones of agile teams. A Scrum Master promotes transparent communication by ensuring that information flows freely and that everyone in the team is informed about progress, challenges and goals.

Servant leadership in action

The purpose of Scrum Masters manifests itself in their role as “Servant Leader”. These leaders serve the team, remove obstacles, and enable members to reach their full potential. This is expressed, for example, in the fact that a good Scrum Master also tries to coach team members individually.

Early conflict resolution

Conflicts are inevitable, but how you deal with them makes the difference. An experienced Scrum Master recognizes tensions early and resolves them proactively to ensure a harmonious working environment. This is also certainly more likely to be treated neglectfully in a team without a Scrum Master. An early resolved conflict can be incredibly valuable, also monetarily - so another reason why Scrum Masters are important.

Empathy as a key competence

A Scrum Master is not only an expert in agile project management, but also a psychologist in the team. Empathy makes it possible to understand the needs of team members and create a supportive environment. Some Agile coaches are more experienced here, but good Scrum Masters are usually open to further development in this regard.

Purpose of Scrum Master: Why Scrum Master is important & required

Making the effect of Scrum Masters measurable

The purpose of Scrum Masters is sometimes questioned by managers - then it can become very critical. One way to counteract this: Try to make the effects of continuous improvement measurable. Answer the question “How does the Scrum Master help the team” with numbers - a language that managers understand. An agile tool like Echometer can help you with this.

Echometer is a digital tool that helps agile team leads with agile retrospectives and team Health Checks. Whether remote, hybrid or on-site: it makes team coaching measurable and professionalizes your work while saving you a lot of work. Just take a look at our website to find out more: www.echometerapp.com.

My hypothesis: Anyone who questions the purpose of Scrum Masters has never had a good leader.

Christian Heidemeyer, Psychologist & Scrum Master

Purpose of Scrum Master: Why Scrum Master is important & required

Conclusion: Purpose of Scrum Master

In reflecting on the purpose of Scrum Masters, it becomes clear that they are the backbone of agile teams and why they are important and required. Through mentoring, conflict resolution, empathetic leadership and continuous improvement, Scrum Masters play a key role in ensuring that agile principles are not only understood, but also practiced.

In answering the question about their purpose, we recognize that Scrum Masters are indispensable for the success of agile teams and their ongoing development. Nevertheless, there are of course exceptions and, if required, alternatives for teams that cannot afford a full-time Scrum Master, such as Echometer.

Lastly, a reminder: If you would like to try out how it feels to develop your team further with our tool: You can start an agile retrospective without logging in, in the following, in this case the “Keep, Stop, Start” workshop. 

Alternatively, simply forward our website to the responsible colleagues: www.echometerapp.com.