A Scrum Master facilitates the inclusion of the Scrum methodologies to ensure smoother execution of the project plan. The roles and responsibilities of a Scrum Master lies somewhere between management and team leader. Finding a Scrum Master to fulfill the needs of the company is a very complex task, as the qualities needed for the role of a Scrum Master are carried by very few employees. The qualities vary from product to product, considering the unique features and the existing technicalities. Despite the individual requirements of the companies, there are five must have qualities of a Scrum Master:
- Effective communication skills: The Scrum Master is a person who takes care of all the communication between the product owner and the entire team members, communication within the team, without actually being included in the strategy flow of the product. Considering the Scrum Master does not enjoy the authority and power to scare the people to achieve the objectives, the only way left is best communication skills. Here values and ethics plays an effective role. Giving respect and getting respect go hand in hand via effective communication network.
- Healthy inter-personal relationship with team members (Community building and Servant leadership): Considering the Scrum Master understands the strength and weaknesses of the Product team members and the requirement of the projects, it is the core responsibility of the Scrum Master to guide the team members to remain organized, to speak out the problems and arrange the training and other such sessions as and when required. A Scrum Master may act as a team leader but does not enjoy the powers and authorities of a manager in real sense. The ultimate way to influence the team members is to command the respect.
- In depth understanding of product and the related market: One of the key roles of Scrum Master is to understand the problems faced by the team members. Knowing the work-related technicalities in detail, a Scrum Master can help the team members with proper solutions without taking much time. Prompt and effective solutions help team members to remain progressive on the decided roadmap to achieve the goal.
- Seeking continuous improvement: The ultimate objective of the Scrum Master is to improve the day to day working habits of the team members to improve the efficiency. The habit of an introspective and retrospective analysis of each and every process and procedure help the Scrum master to streamline and optimize the work as and when required. Scrum Master actually encourages the employees to step back and reflect to understand where they actually stand.
- Understanding the difference between Servant leadership and traditional leadership: The role of Scrum Master is not to decide what a team is supposed to do, but to help the team with the support as and when required to achieve the objective by eliminating any impediments if present.
A servant leader is different from a traditional leader in a way that servant leader always thinks about the team members. The traditional leader serves the organization, whereas the servant leader serves the people in the organization. The execution of the management’s decision lies in the hands of employees, and employees tend to respond to those who think about them prior to the organizational goals. A servant leader understands that the employees not only work for the organization, they work for themselves too. Taking care of individual requirements to the best of the capacity is the role of a Scrum Master. Hence, a Scrum Master must have the core qualities of a servant leader, rather than a Traditional leader.
Also Read: Roles & Responsibilities Of Scrum Master
