Professional Scrum Master training is an exciting and rewarding process. And while it might feel like a lot of information to take in all at once, the good news is that you’re not alone! There are plenty of ways to get support throughout your training. In fact, there are many resources available to you right here on this website – check out the PSM Tips and Tricks page if you haven’t yet.
However, we understand that sometimes it’s best to hear from other students who have gone through similar experiences as you have (or will). So today, we’ve compiled seven simple secrets from real Professional Scrum Masters who have completed their training and made it work for them.
Focus on the value at the heart of scrum
It’s important to remember that scrum is not about being busy, but rather about achieving results. Scrum is a framework for building and delivering value. When you think of scrum as a process instead of just a framework, it becomes less effective.
Scrum is not designed to be used as an “on-the-job” learning tool in your organization because there are other more appropriate training resources out there which can help you better understand the concepts behind scrum and how they’re applied within your organization.
Use your on-boardings as a model for applying scrum
On-boarding is a great time to learn about your new job and company. It’s also a great time to learn about the team you will be working with and the role you are taking on. You can use these same principles when applying scrum:
- What do I need to know?
- What resources am I missing?
- How can I get started quickly, but safely?
Be open to failing fast
- Be open to failing fast.
- This is the essence of scrum.
Let me explain: You can’t possibly know everything about your team, your product or your customers—and you may need to change direction as a result of what you discover during sprint planning and retrospectives.
Nothing is worse than being caught up in analysis paralysis or being afraid to admit that something isn’t working out (or at least not working out yet).
Help people identify the goals that matter most to them
The third thing you can do to help people identify their own goals is to remind them that scrum isn’t just about tasks and processes. Scrum is about the team, and it’s important for the team to understand its own goals. The scrum master should help the team identify the goals that matter most to them.
This can be done by asking each member of your team what her biggest goal was for last sprint, and then asking her which aspect of her job she thinks will help her achieve this goal. You should also ask each member of your team if there’s anything else he wants or needs from you as a scrum master in order for him to reach his goal(s).
Make room for curiosity
Curiosity is the mother of all learning, and as such, it’s a pretty powerful tool. Curiosity isn’t a question—it’s a state of mind. It doesn’t come with an expectation or conclusion; curiosity is just curious.
Curiosity isn’t good or bad; it’s just what it is: something that arises in your experience and then passes on by (unless you’re very hard-headed).
Curiosity can lead to learning new things about yourself or others, which brings us back to Scrum Master training—curiosity can help you learn how to be more effective at leading teams through change!
Scrum is not about being busy, it’s about achieving results
One of the most common mistakes people make when they start working with Scrum is equating it to being busy. This is a big mistake. Scrum is not about being busy; it’s about achieving results.
Scrum is not about doing lots and lots of stuff, it’s about getting things done right and on time, every time. It’s not an excuse for over-work or under-deliver; in fact, quite the opposite!
So how do you achieve this? By focusing on your velocity (the amount of work you can complete within a given sprint), making sure your taskboards are up-to-date and clear at all times, keeping your backlog groomed so it reflects reality rather than wishful thinking, and having regular standups where everyone talks about what they’ve done since last meeting as well as what they plan to accomplish moving forward
The biggest impediment to sprint planning is not sprint planning
Sprint planning is not the problem. The problem is not having a clear plan to begin with. The biggest impediment to sprint planning is not sprint planning—it’s the lack of a shared understanding of what needs to get done, how it should get done, and who will do it.
A good Scrum Master will do everything in their power to ensure that this shared understanding exists before they ask for input from the team during Sprint Planning Meetings.
Sprint Planning happens every day – not just once a week at the beginning of the sprint.
Learn to embrace the daily sprint planning meetings. Sprint planning is a team activity and should be done in person, not over Slack or email. Even if your team is distributed, make an effort to meet at least once per day for 15-20 minutes.
Sprint planning isn’t just a meeting where you discuss what needs to be done during the next few days; it’s also an opportunity for learning—both from each other and from our customers who are using the software we build!
It’s easier than you think to improve your professional scrum master training.
Scrum is a framework for building great products and teams. It’s not a rigid process, but rather a way of thinking about what you’re doing. Scrum is a way of working that can be applied to any project, product or team size.
In fact, scrum is so flexible that it can be used across many different types of projects: software development, hardware design/manufacturing and more!
Scrum is also easy enough for anyone on your team to understand—whether they’re new to agile methods or they’ve been using them for years. As long as they’re willing to learn how it works, everyone will benefit from adopting scrum practices at work!
Conclusion
As you can see, the benefits of applying scrum to your professional life are numerous. You may already be familiar with some of them and just need a little reminder about others. If you’re new to the concept of scrum, don’t worry; by following these seven simple secrets, you’ll be well on your way to becoming more productive at work!
