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scrum

How do I prepare for being a Scrum Master?

At a time in my career, I wanted to work as a Scrum Master, however, the biggest question for me was “ Where do I start to become a scrum master?”.  You may have a similar question and now when I reflect on this question, I feel it is normal to question yourself about how to prepare for a Scrum Master interview, and how to equip yourself with the knowledge to serve a scrum team. Based on my experience in transitioning to a Scrum Master role, here are seven pieces of guidance that you can follow –

Guidance 1 – How do I prepare for being a Scrum Master ?

Start with Why – Sounds familiar, the famous book from Simon Sinek. This is the most critical question to ask yourself, Why do I want to become a Scrum Master? Ask this question to yourself and convince yourself that you are clear on your path to being a Scrum Master.  If you have the conviction of becoming a Scrum Master, you are unstoppable.

Guidance 2 – How do I prepare for being a Scrum Master ?

Path to becoming a Scrum Master – Assuming you have zero knowledge of Scrum, creating a plan and following it will help you reach your goal of becoming a Scrum Master. This will lead to the 1st question that we discussed, Where do I start to become a scrum master?”. A few things that I followed to become a Scrum Master are as follows –

a) What is Agile?

b) What is the Agile Manifesto?

c) What are the various frameworks under agile?

d) What is Scrum?

e) Read the Scrum Guide

f) Read the Scrum Guide – Again and Again and Again and +++++++ (Scrum is easy to understand but difficult to master, reading the Scrum Guide once a month and reflecting on your experience and learnings on Scrum will make you understand Scrum better)

Guidance 3 – How do I prepare for being a Scrum Master ?

Scrum Master Certification – Understand various Scrum Master Certifications available, and go through the course outline before taking up a certification. The major advantage of doing a certification is to get the knowledge in a capsule format in a limited time.

Guidance 4 – How do I prepare for being a Scrum Master ?

Daily life of a Scrum Master – Understand what a Scrum Master does daily, day-to-day tasks, and challenges faced. Connect with Scrum Masters and ask them about the challenges they faced in their organization/teams.  Also, learn about their context, the processes followed, things working well, and things not working well.

Guidance 5 –How do I prepare for being a Scrum Master ?

Prepare for the Scrum Master interview – Here is a list of questions which you can go through for a Scrum Master interview.

Check this – https://www.lighttangent.com/how-to-prepare-for-a-scrum-master-interview/

Guidance 6 – How do I prepare for being a Scrum Master ?

Learn the tools used by Scrum Master – JIRA/Asana/Azure, these are some of the tools used by Scrum Masters with JIRA being the most commonly used. Tool knowledge will increase your confidence during the interview process. ( I asked a few Scrum Masters to give me a walkthrough of JIRA and that helped before I took up a Scrum Master job)

Guidance 7 – How do I prepare for being a Scrum Master ?

Apply Apply Apply – Now you are ready to take up a Scrum Master role, you know a Scrum Master, and you are aware of the challenges faced by a Scrum Master, it is time to apply for a Scrum Master role either in your organization/outside of your organization. Speak to your friends/colleagues/network and inform them that you are looking for a Scrum Master opportunity. My strong recommendation is to apply for internal job postings in your organization as many organizations promote career aspirations and do not necessarily look for prior experience as a Scrum Master. Keep trying and keep applying till you land up with a Scrum Master job.

scrum

How to start a career as a Scrum Master

A common question from professionals who want to move to a Scrum Master role, before we delve further let’s understand “Who is a Scrum Master”. Do read the Scrum Guide 2020 for an understanding of the Scrum Master role.

Identify which of the category you find yourself in –

Category 1 – Professional with 6+ years of experience

Category 2 – Professional with 3 – 6 years of experience

Category 3 – Professional with 0 – 3 years of experience

Category 1 – Professional with 6+ years of experience

 There are 2 scenarios –

Scenario 1 – Your organization is not following Scrum, hence there is no Scrum Master opportunity in your organization. Refer to the article – How to get a Scrum Master Role. This will give you a detailed list of activities that will help you to prepare for securing a Scrum Master Role. The day you are confident, start applying for Scrum Master positions as there are organizations that recruit passionate individuals for Scrum Master roles and towards Scrum in general.

Scenario 2 – Your organization is following Scrum. You have an opportunity to apply for Scrum Master within your organization as part of internal job mobility or IJP program. However, before you apply for the Scrum Master role, you have to have adequate knowledge/understanding of Scrum, hence refer to the article – How to get a Scrum Master Role. This will give you a detailed list of activities that will help you to prepare for securing a Scrum Master Role.

Category 2 – Professional with 3 – 6 years of experience

(Recommendation is to gain domain/technical knowledge in your field. Observe the Scrum Master (if you are working in a Scrum setup). If you are not in a Scrum setup, refer to this article –Learn Scrum Master role without being part of a Scrum Team). Some organizations recruit Scrum Masters with less than 6 years of experience; however, it is better to move to a Scrum Master role with good domain knowledge and technical skills. For example, as part of an IT team, if you are a developer/tester/business analyst, continue working as a developer ( say Java) and be proficient in Java coupled with gain knowledge of the industry ( say Retail). With good knowledge of Java and retail industry knowledge with over 6 years of experience and observing your Scrum Master, observing the Scrum events, you are in a better position to take up the Scrum Master role.

Category 3 – Professional with 0 – 3 years of experience

For less than 3 years of experience, it is early to take up a Scrum Master role, kudos to you for having clarity in your career and having a north star to follow)

scrum

Scrum Master interview – General Questions

Here are general questions which you may come across as part of the Scrum Master Interview. Usually your interviewer may ask these questions in the beginning of the interview.

Refer this article for a complete set of questions for a Scrum Master interview – https://www.lighttangent.com/how-to-prepare-for-a-scrum-master-interview/

General Questions (GQ) – Scrum Master Interview Questions

GQ1 – Tell me about yourself

(Spend 1-2 minutes talking about yourselves – Focus on your Scrum Master, agile certifications)

GQ2 -What are the 2-3 things you would like before you join an organization?

(Answer in align to the job profile, Mention your affinity towards the organization,)

GQ3 -What are the 2-3 things you would like not to have in the new organization?

(Mention aspects current role challenges, limited learning opportunity, location (if applicable))

GQ4 – Why do you like to join our organization?

(Mention aspects like the advertised role, learning opportunity, brand name (based on the company), compensation)

GQ5 – What are the reasons you are looking for a job change?

(Similar to the above question, you can mention learning opportunity, role of the job based on job description, how your interest matches the new job advertised, location (if applicable))

Tip – Prepare the answers based on your experience, work context.

Agile

What is the difference between a Scrum Master and an Agile Coach?

A common question if you are an agile practitioner or new to agile and trying to understand the difference between the top two commonly used roles. Before we discuss in detail the 2 roles, let’s understand the difference between Scrum (What is Scrum) and agile (agile basics). Skip this if you are already familiar with Scrum and agile.

The next aspect is to understand the two roles in detail. Go through this – Who is a Scrum Master and Who is an agile coach.

Let’s deep dive now with these 2 roles –

ParameterAgile CoachScrum Master
Scope of workThis role is spread across various agile frameworksRole is specific to team using Scrum Framework
Role DefinitionAgile coaching is understanding the situation, the values underlying Agile software development, and how the two can combine. Source – Agile CoachingAs a servant leader, a scrum master serves the scrum team, product owner and the organization.
Role – EngagementWorks with multiple teams, various groups & executivesWorks with few teams (not exceed 3)
Role – DurationEngaged with a team for a limited period for a specific goalEngaged with the team throughout
Role -KnowledgeDeep understanding of multiple Agile methodologies.View Understanding of scrum guide is sufficient (scrum ceremonies, scrum events, scrum artifacts.

Summarise –

Scrum Master works closely with the team/s throughout however agile coach is assigned for a certain period/ specific goal with the scrum team. An Agile Coach focus is to increase the performance threshold of the team. Post achievement of the goal, the agile coach moves out from the engagement. Both Scrum Master’s and Agile Coach’s role are different.

Agile

Who is a Scrum Master?

A common question, who is a scrum master. It is always advisable to refer the scrum guide and understand about scrum master. A scrum master is one who –

  • Establishes scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide
  • Accountable for the Scrum Team’s effectiveness
  • Serves the Scrum Team and the larger organization
  • Coaching the team members in self-management and cross-functionality
  • Helping the Scrum Team focus on creating high-value Increments that meet the Definition of Done
  • Causing the removal of impediments to the Scrum Team’s progress
  • Ensuring that all Scrum events take place and are positive, productive, and kept within the timebox.

Source – Scrum Guide 2020

Tip – If you are new to scrum and reading this, we encourage you to read the Scrum Guide thoroughly. This will give you a good understanding of Scrum.

As a servant leader, a scrum master serves the scrum team, product owner and the organization. Let’s understand a bit in detail the roles and responsibilities of a scrum master towards these teams –

For the Scrum Team:

● Coaching the team members in self-management and cross-functionality;

● Helping the Scrum Team focus on creating high-value Increments that meet the Definition of Done;

● Causing the removal of impediments to the Scrum Team’s progress

● Ensuring that all Scrum events take place and are positive, productive, and kept within the timebox.

For the Product Team:

● Helping find techniques for effective Product Goal definition and Product Backlog management;

● Helping the Scrum Team understand the need for clear and concise Product Backlog items;

● Helping establish empirical product planning for a complex environment;

● Facilitating stakeholder collaboration as requested or needed.

For the Organization:

● Leading, training, and coaching the organization in its Scrum adoption;

● Planning and advising Scrum implementations within the organization;

● Helping employees and stakeholders understand and enact an empirical approach for complex work;

● Removing barriers between stakeholders and Scrum Teams

Summary

A Scrum Master plays a key role as this person ensures the right implementation of scrum framework, coaches the team, remove impediments for improving team’s effectiveness.