Scrum Master is not a servant leader anymore
The accountabilities of the Scrum Master changed drastically over the years. So much there’s little left of the original. It is no wonder many are confused about it.
1998: The birth of the Scrum Master
"The ScrumMaster is a team leader role responsible for resolving the Blocks." - 1998
2002 — Agile Software Development with Scrum
“The Scrum Master is responsible for the success of Scrum […] The Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring that Scrum values, practices and rules are enacted and enforced”.
“The Scrum Master is the driving force behind all the Scrum practices […]; he or she sets them up and makes them happen”
“How does the Scrum Master keep the team working at the highest possible level of productivity? The Scrum Master does this by making decisions and removing impediments. When decisions need to be made in the Daily Scrum, the Scrum Master is responsible for making the decisions immediately…”
"A Scrum Master is a servant-leader whose focus is on the needs of the team members and those they serve (the customer), with the goal of achieving results in line with the organization's values, principles, and business objectives".
“The Scrum Master is responsible for promoting and supporting Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide. Scrum Masters do this by helping everyone understand Scrum theory, practices, rules, and values.”
"The Scrum Master is a servant-leader for the Scrum Team. The Scrum Master helps those outside the Scrum Team understand which of their interactions with the Scrum Team are helpful and which aren’t. The Scrum Master helps everyone change these interactions to maximize the value created by the Scrum Team."
The Scrum Master is no longer responsible to make Scrum a success by enforcing it. Now the Scrum Master is responsible to “promote and support” by “helping to understand”.
With this, the Scrum Master completed the journey from manager to guide or coach.
Current edition of the Scrum Guide — 2020
“The Scrum Master is accountable for establishing Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide. They do this by helping everyone understand Scrum theory and practice, both within the Scrum Team and the organization.”
“The Scrum Master is accountable for the Scrum Team’s effectiveness. They do this by enabling the Scrum Team to improve its practices, within the Scrum framework.”
On top of that, Scrum Masters are no longer termed as servant leaders:
“Scrum Masters are true leaders who serve the Scrum Team and the larger organization.”
The removal of the term "servant leader" for the Scrum Master has caught many by surprise with the release of the latest version of the Scrum Guide. That being said, this change has not impacted the accountabilities of the Scrum Master in any way. Now the Scrum Master is accountable for the Scrum adoption and the effectiveness of the team. The Scrum Master is a 'true leaders who serve'.
1998: The birth of the Scrum Master
Back in 1998, when Scrum was published in a paper by Mark Beedle, Martin Devos, Yonat Sharon, Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber, the Scrum Master was described as:
"The ScrumMaster is a team leader role responsible for resolving the Blocks." - 1998
2002 — Agile Software Development with Scrum
“The Scrum Master is responsible for the success of Scrum […] The Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring that Scrum values, practices and rules are enacted and enforced”.
“The Scrum Master is the driving force behind all the Scrum practices […]; he or she sets them up and makes them happen”
“How does the Scrum Master keep the team working at the highest possible level of productivity? The Scrum Master does this by making decisions and removing impediments. When decisions need to be made in the Daily Scrum, the Scrum Master is responsible for making the decisions immediately…”
As you can see, the Scrum Master started out as a manager, driving the direction of the team and making decisions. Nothing that was Scrum-related could happen without the consent of the Scrum Master.
‘What is Scrum’ 2003
“The ScrumMaster is responsible for the Scrum process, for teaching it to everyone involved in the project, for implementing it so it fits within an organization’s culture and still delivers the expected benefits, and for ensuring that everyone follows its rules and practices.”
The ScrumMaster is stripped from a lot of management responsibilities. Instead, the ScrumMaster is responsible for the Scrum process and its effectiveness. Not the ScrumMaster, but the Team (of developers) determines how to turn the Product Backlog into an Increment. The only other mention of the ScrumMaster is involving the Retrospective. The ScrumMaster organises and facilitates this event.
First edition of the Scrum Guide — 2010
“The ScrumMaster is not the manager but leads by coaching, teaching and supporting the team. The ScrumMaster helps the Team understand and use selfmanagement and cross-functionality.”
The 2010 Scrum Guide also confirms the leader/coach stance of the ScrumMaster.
To summarize, the 2010 Scrum Guide largely moves way from the management characterization of the ScrumMaster role. But it doesn’t do this consistently. The ScrumMaster still guards the Sprint Goal and helps to appoint and train the Product Owner.
Second and third edition of the Scrum Guide — 2011
‘What is Scrum’ 2003
“The ScrumMaster is responsible for the Scrum process, for teaching it to everyone involved in the project, for implementing it so it fits within an organization’s culture and still delivers the expected benefits, and for ensuring that everyone follows its rules and practices.”
The ScrumMaster is stripped from a lot of management responsibilities. Instead, the ScrumMaster is responsible for the Scrum process and its effectiveness. Not the ScrumMaster, but the Team (of developers) determines how to turn the Product Backlog into an Increment. The only other mention of the ScrumMaster is involving the Retrospective. The ScrumMaster organises and facilitates this event.
First edition of the Scrum Guide — 2010
“The ScrumMaster is not the manager but leads by coaching, teaching and supporting the team. The ScrumMaster helps the Team understand and use selfmanagement and cross-functionality.”
The 2010 Scrum Guide also confirms the leader/coach stance of the ScrumMaster.
To summarize, the 2010 Scrum Guide largely moves way from the management characterization of the ScrumMaster role. But it doesn’t do this consistently. The ScrumMaster still guards the Sprint Goal and helps to appoint and train the Product Owner.
Second and third edition of the Scrum Guide — 2011
This edition introduces the term ‘servant leader’. As of now, the Scrum Master is the servant leader of the team. Also new are the services to the Product Owner, Development Team and Organization. These all involve teaching, coaching, mentoring, facilitating and helping.
With the second Scrum Guide, we arrived at a point where the Scrum Master doesn’t interfere with the self-management/self-organization of the team anymore. She doesn’t guard the Sprint Goal and also doesn't help to appoint the Product Owner.
The Scrum Master finally left the management stance.
Fourth and fifth edition of the Scrum Guide — 2013/2016
“The Scrum Master’s job is to work with the Scrum Team and the organization to increase the transparency of the artifacts. This work usually involves learning, convincing, and change.”
Another, arguably important, addition is the responsibility for the Scrum Master to ensure artifact transparency .Transparency is one of the pillars of empiricism. The creators of the Scrum Guide emphasize the importance of it by including this artifact transparency section.
Sixth edition of the Scrum Guide — 2017
With the second Scrum Guide, we arrived at a point where the Scrum Master doesn’t interfere with the self-management/self-organization of the team anymore. She doesn’t guard the Sprint Goal and also doesn't help to appoint the Product Owner.
The Scrum Master finally left the management stance.
Fourth and fifth edition of the Scrum Guide — 2013/2016
“The Scrum Master’s job is to work with the Scrum Team and the organization to increase the transparency of the artifacts. This work usually involves learning, convincing, and change.”
Another, arguably important, addition is the responsibility for the Scrum Master to ensure artifact transparency .Transparency is one of the pillars of empiricism. The creators of the Scrum Guide emphasize the importance of it by including this artifact transparency section.
Sixth edition of the Scrum Guide — 2017
“The Scrum Master is responsible for promoting and supporting Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide. Scrum Masters do this by helping everyone understand Scrum theory, practices, rules, and values.”
"The Scrum Master is a servant-leader for the Scrum Team. The Scrum Master helps those outside the Scrum Team understand which of their interactions with the Scrum Team are helpful and which aren’t. The Scrum Master helps everyone change these interactions to maximize the value created by the Scrum Team."
The Scrum Master is no longer responsible to make Scrum a success by enforcing it. Now the Scrum Master is responsible to “promote and support” by “helping to understand”.
With this, the Scrum Master completed the journey from manager to guide or coach.
Current edition of the Scrum Guide — 2020
“The Scrum Master is accountable for establishing Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide. They do this by helping everyone understand Scrum theory and practice, both within the Scrum Team and the organization.”
“The Scrum Master is accountable for the Scrum Team’s effectiveness. They do this by enabling the Scrum Team to improve its practices, within the Scrum framework.”
On top of that, Scrum Masters are no longer termed as servant leaders:
“Scrum Masters are true leaders who serve the Scrum Team and the larger organization.”
The removal of the term "servant leader" for the Scrum Master has caught many by surprise with the release of the latest version of the Scrum Guide. That being said, this change has not impacted the accountabilities of the Scrum Master in any way. Now the Scrum Master is accountable for the Scrum adoption and the effectiveness of the team. The Scrum Master is a 'true leaders who serve'.
This recent change is made to communicate better the leadership qualities of the scrum master who not only helps the team discover their real potential through self-management but also enables the broader organizations to achieve superior results. Thus, anyone reading the scrum guide will better understand that scrum masters have a two-fold responsibility of managing both up and down.
This concludes the journey of Scrum Master from termed as ‘Servant Leader’ to ‘A True Leader Who Serves’.
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