Some of the things I learned from the ScrumMaster Workbook

I’ve just finished working my way through “Scrum Master Workbook Part 1”. It’s really well paced and there was lots to learn.

Here are some of the things that I’ve picked up and am either doing already or have a concrete plan to start doing soon.

Things for me to do for myself

After every meeting, do a tiny mini-retro on my own. Look at:

• was it valuable;
• whether people (including myself) were paying attention;
• what I might change.

Every month do a Proactive vs Reactive retro to see:

• balance or proactive vs reactive actions;
• what low value things can be stopped or delegated;
• what high value and high time things can be made faster, simpler, or automated.

Things to “wait and see”

• Stop chasing up the team for standups. Wait and see what bad stuff, if anything, happens.
• See what happens when people don’t look at the backlog in advance of Sprint Planning. Ask the team about it.

Things to just do

Show the team my reminders once a week at stand-up.

• Focus on finishing work, not starting work.
• Ask “What’s slowing you down?”

Make a one-page reminder of our Story Point scale.

Make a Working Agreement. Start with our existing meeting rules:

Originally published at https://naga.co.za on January 11, 2021.