EAE News
Scrum Master: The Importance of Coaching
15 de June de 2022
Developing technical projects in companies requires a strategic and intelligent vision similar to that of sport preparation. It involves overcoming obstacles, checking each goal along the process, learning from mistakes, applying what you learn and facing the challenges that come up along the way.
Agile methodology, which is gaining more and more ground in the corporate vision, includes a series of principles, with an iterative approach, for the development of projects. On the field, the rules for this “stage race” are dictated by the Scrum model, the management process for reducing complexity in the development. On this path, the Scrum Master is the coach.
1. The Role of the Enabler
Scrum Masters —aka the project enablers— are in charge of leading teams in these short cycles (or sprints) in which a product is designed, built, tested and presented. Their mission will depend on the sector, the market, the product or the client. It’s not a completely standardised job, but it often has cycles of two to four weeks long in which the backlog (the list of tasks that will be divided among the team) is addressed.
As managers and coaches, Scrum Masters are in charge of making sure the goals are met by following Scrum model practices. Thanks to these general outlines, teams will be able to handle and solve problems with greater chances of succeeding and manage the risks and challenges that come up along the way, learning from each sprint and incorporating what’s been learned to the rest of the cycle.
2. The Stages of the Scrum Process
-Planning:
Members of the team gather in order to plan the sprints routine. They define the tasks and the cascade process to progressively unlock goals and they assign the roles of each member. In this stage, it’s important to bear in mind budet and deadlines as well as challenges and opportunities.
-Execution:
In this development stage, teams start to complete sprints and tasks. Scrum Masters will make sure deadlines are fulfilled and get rid of obstacles in order to reach newly added goals.
-Revision:
In order to be able to learn from each stage of the project and identify the coming problems, the whole team must debate and go over the completed tasks. Thanks to this, response times will improve for later sprints, processes and mechanisms.
3. Principles of the Scrum Model
-Iterative Development:
This way of working constantly creates, proves, refines and approves in order to progressively increase knowledge during the process and, in this way, be more prepared for the next stages.
-Empirical Control:
One of Scrum requirements is to empirically test everything exhaustively. Curiosity is one of the key aspects of agile methodologies but, first and foremost, one must be pragmatic.
-Team Self-Management:
Under the mentorship and supervision of Scrum Masters, the idea is for the whole mechanism to run on its own at all times and for teams to manage their own tasks and procedures.
-Cooperation and Collaboration:
No hierarchy or outdated compartments. Everyone collaborates in reaching goals and completing the backlogs.
-Temporal Delimitation by Cycles:
By establishing daily or weekly goals, Scrum always sets short cycles in which to address the different sprints.
4. Scrum Masters Key Abilities
In order to enable development processes, Scrum Masters must have management and leadership abilities, have a good knowledge of agile methodologies, make sure that the different stages are completed and help everyone solve problems. Additionally, they have to inspire trust, solve conflicts, get permits and be capable of tapping the good qualities of each member of the team.
Scrums must have a mix of knowledge, experience, values and vision with which to lead the interactions between people and softwares and provide an agile and effective answer that will meet the client’s demands.
Scrum Masters are in charge of leading project-development teams using agile methodologies, following short and iterative cycles in order to be constantly learning and solving problems.
Article written in collaboration with Iván Zamarrón, Director of the Master’s in Project Management and the Master’s in Agile Methodologies and Product Development at EAE Business School