How to be a better Scrum Master? 7 Great Tips

Agile teams are only as strong as the Scrum Masters (or Agile Coaches) develop them. You may be wondering how to become a better Scrum Master. Here are some practical food for thought and tips that will help you become not just a good Scrum Master, but the best you can be - including some important Scrum Master qualities and, of course, a note of what a Scrum Master should not do.

Structure your work: How to become the best Scrum Master

How do you become not just a good Scrum Master, but the best? If you ask me, an excellent Scrum Master structures their work. Overall, in my opinion, there are five specific areas based on which you can structure your work and make it measurable - by the way, they also apply to Agile Coaches:

1. “Sprint Goals Delivery” shows your success indirectly through on-time achievement of the desired sprint goal.
2. “Continuous Improvement” reflects whether your proposed changes bear fruit over time. 
3. “Trust” is like the oil for your team’s engine room and can be specifically promoted.
4. “Team satisfaction” ensures productive collaboration, and
5. “Creating customer value” is ultimately the core goal of any agile team and therefore it is also your responsibility whether this is created.

These areas or metrics not only make your own performance measurable, but also lay the foundation for successful agile team management. To go a little deeper, here are a few explanations

Sprint Goals Delivery

The success of a Scrum Master can be measured by the punctual implementation of sprint goals. It’s simple: if the team regularly achieves its sprint goals, this indicates that the Scrum Master is effectively removing obstacles and keeping the team on track.

Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement is a key indicator of a Scrum Master’s effectiveness. If the team is constantly looking for ways to improve, it shows that the Scrum Master has created an environment where innovation and learning are encouraged.

Trust, team satisfaction and delivering value

Trust within the team, team member satisfaction and the continuous delivery of customer benefits are further decisive KPIs. All of these aspects can also be made measurable in one way or another.

What a Scrum Master does not do: Allow the chaos of an agile project free rein and ignore obstacles.

Now that we’ve heard a few tips, what makes a good Scrum Master or Agile Coach?

A good Scrum Master is therefore not just a moderator of meetings, but also a catalyst for continuous improvement by making his work measurable. By specifically optimizing the 5 areas mentioned above, the work of a Scrum Master is professionalized - the management level will be impressed!

The agile manifesto emphasizes collaboration and individual interaction - and that is exactly what is expressed in these five areas.

You can make them measurable through team surveys, burndown charts in Jira, for example, or through qualitative means such as the results of retrospectives.

A Scrum Master is not a project manager. Their job is not to give instructions, but to enable the team to act in a self-organized manner. Avoid taking over decisions - instead, support the team in finding solutions independently. The agile manifesto emphasizes the self-organization of teams as a decisive factor for project success.

For effective Scrum Master performance, a number of particularly effective key traits are essential: for example, structure, empathy, communication skills, flexibility and proactivity. Agile’s project management requires a keen sense of team needs, clear communication, the ability to adapt and proactivity to respond to change early. To give you a brief overview in the form of a list:

1. Empathy: Feeling and understanding what is going on in the team in order to be able to provide targeted support.

2. Communication skills: Clear and effective communication to avoid misunderstandings and promote team collaboration.

3. Flexibility: Adaptability to changing requirements and quick decision-making.

4. Assertiveness: The ability to overcome obstacles and successfully drive change.

5. Proactivity: Early detection of problems and proactive action to minimize potential risks.

6. Service orientation: The focus is on the team, the Scrum Master serves the team and supports it in achieving its goals.

7. Conflict resolution skills: Competent and diplomatic resolution of conflicts within the team.

8. Confidence building: Creating a trusting environment that has a positive influence on team dynamics.

9. Organizational talent: Efficient planning and structuring of workflows in an agile context.

10. Coaching skills: Promoting self-organization and individual strengths in the team through targeted coaching.

So, now you know some good, effective Scrum Master traits that should definitely make you a better Scrum Master or Agile Coach. But there is another relatively simple trick that will make you much better with little effort.

“A fool with a tool is still a fool,” as they say in English. There’s a lot of truth to that - but if the tool is very well developed, then it will most likely have a very positive effect.

This brings me to Echometer, which is very well suited to making you a better Scrum Master, if not the best Scrum Master. If you are serious, Echometer is a game changer.

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.

Many Scrum Masters do not understand the perspective of the Product Owner or Management. If you want to become a better Scrum Master, then get to grips with it!

Christian Heidemeyer, Psychologist & Scrum Master

By structuring your work, setting clear goals and evaluating them using measurable KPIs, you can become a better Scrum Master or perhaps even the best Scrum Master - but you don’t have to. Ultimately, it’s your decision where you want to focus your development. Your Scrum Master qualities can also be used very effectively if you force them and develop them continuously.

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

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