This article is a combination of two columns, published (and inspired) on RedHat by amazing Taz Brown and on Scrum.org by exceptional Barry Overeem.
Are you an orchestra conductor?
Hey, Scrum Masters, you are a true and hard-working Sensei if you:
- ensure the entire team supports the chosen Scrum process;
- understand the power of self-organization;
- understand the value of a steady sprint rhythm and do everything to create and maintain it;
- know how to truly listen and you are comfortable with silence;
- understand the strength of coaching and have learned some powerful questions by heart;
- recognize healthy team conflict and promote constructive disagreement.
Are you agree with these facts? Each routine of one Scrum Master is, of course, different and depends on a variety of factors. So…
Let’s see how a typical day stacks up for a Scrum Master (including every aspect of his/her living):
7:00 am – Scrum Masters usually get up and go to the gym for at least 45 minutes, but given the fact that they are working from home now, they’ll either walk/run on the treadmill or jump rope for 30 minutes. Physical activity is just as important as the mental aspect of our lives;
7:45 am – Shower up and get dressed;
8:20 am – Have some breakfast and make coffee/espresso;
8:30 am – Drive into work;
9:00 am – Scrum Masters get to work and clean up the teams’ room before the team gets in;
9:15 am – Reading emails and respond to priority emails from the team, team’s Manager, or agile Coach;
9:30 am – Scrum Masters typically will spend time just checking in with the team and taking a look at the team’s Jira Scrum board just to see if there are any patterns of behavior they might need to address. Also, modify the team’s impediment board if an impediment or impediments have been removed;
10:00 am – Starting Daily Scrum (time-boxed for 15 minutes);
10:15 am – Any parking lot items are discussed right after;
11:00 am – Scrum Masters might have a meeting with the team’s manager, leadership, or facilitate a community of practice or brown bag lunch around topics like effective engineering practices for example;
12:00 pm – During this time, they might have a lunch meeting or coffee with a Product Owner;
1:00 pm – Lunch – usually 30 minutes is more than enough time for this important activity;
1:30 pm – At this time they could be facilitating a backlog refinement event leading up to Sprint planning also could be a Sprint review/demo or Sprint Retrospective;
2:30 pm – Now, they meet with Test Automation or DevSecOps Team;
3:00 pm – It’s time for the facilitation of a team-building workshop;
4:00 pm – Perfect moment for Scrum Masters to do final check-ins with the team and then answer final emails;
4:30 pm – Updating the team’s Scrum journal;
5:00 pm – Final, Scrum Masters complete their To-Do list for the next day;
A typical day in the life of the Scrum Master is quite challenging because you can’t forget:
- that start the day with an open and curious mind (and strong coffee. 😊);
- remember: your agenda is as good as empty. Except for the Daily Scrum and maybe some other Scrum events;
- that you attend the Daily Scrum as an observer. You listen to what is and isn’t being said;
- based on your observations you determine your next steps. This might be consulting, teaching, coaching, facilitating, mentoring, managing, problem-solving, or just sitting with the team, listening and watching the team;
Tell us, how’s your typical working day look like? And don’t forget about…
…new online Certified Scrum Master Course with Petri Heiramo (23rd – 24th November).