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How to get experience as a Scrum Master without being one
- 1. How to get experience as a Scrum Master without being a Scrum Master Katrina L. Coker (She/Her/Hers) “The Scrum Mother” thescrummother@gmail.com Instagram and TikTok: @TheScrumMother LinkedIn: katrinalcoker-thescrummother THANK YOU!
- 2. Who am I?
- 3. Agenda • My Agile Journey • Life as a Scrum Master • Getting Experience as a Scrum Master • Formal Training • Informal Training • When you might NOT want to be a Scrum Master • Q&A *Will NOT be going through Agile/Scrum 101 nor non- SM roles, though questions about these are welcome!* OBJECTIVE: To walk away with at least ONE thing you can change or work on tonight to get experience as a Scrum Master…without being a Scrum Master
- 5. My Agile Journey • Engagement Analyst – Remote – March 2016 - February 2018 Certified Scrum Master - April 2016 Certified Scrum Product Owner – March 2017 Product Owner/Scrum Master – Tysons/McLean, VA– May 2018 - April 2019 Scrum Master II – April 2019 – February 2021 Senior Scrum Master – Remote – March 2021-?
- 6. “The following information is my experience and not necessarily industry standard nor the opinions of the companies that I worked for.” Disclaimer
- 7. Life as a Scrum Master
- 8. Operations Compassion VALUE Scrum Master = SME, Coach, and Master Problem-Solver, “The Get S*** Done, People-People”
- 9. What makes a good scrum master? Operations • Facilitate • Coordinate • Follow-up and follow-through • Metrics • Identify and Remove Impediments/Blockers Compassion • Team-oriented • Personable • Servant Leadership • CARE • Mediate • Listen/ Seek to Understand 9
- 10. “So…How do I get experience as Scrum Master without being a Scrum Master?”
- 12. FORMAL TRAINING
- 13. Courses • CSM • Find any and all agile/scrum professional organizations • Improving.com – Promo code ATL- SCRUM for $400 off courses! • Free and Paid • LinkedIn Learning/ Udemy/Coursera • TikTok/YouTube • Webinar ACSM Skills: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= A21oaAvAq1g Formal Training
- 14. Literature • Scrum Guide 2020 • Agile Manifesto • Scrum.org - recommended reading • Agile Blogs/Podcasts • LitheSpeed • LeadingAgile • Hyperdrive • DrunkenPM Formal Training
- 16. AGENDA • Create an agenda/outline – high-level topics and presenter • Create itinerary – hour by hour, minute by minute • Know what’s in scope vs what’s NOT in scope • KEY TAKEAWAY • Always walk into a meeting with AT THE LEAST, the desired outcome of that meeting • Best to know what content will be presented and who’s presenting it Informal Training
- 17. TAKE NOTES • Meeting Minutes – Be THE note taker • Be the first to show up and the last to leave • Repeat back what you heard • Ask questions to clarify • Make sure everyone is on the same page • KEY TAKEAWAY • In order for a Scrum Master to identify and/or remove blockers and impediments, we need to be “In the room where it happens.” • We have to, truly read between the lines, track patterns, follow up on promises Informal Training
- 18. Public Speaking • Presentations • Facilitation • Facebook/Instagram/TikTok Live • Podcasts • KEY TAKEAWAY: • We talk to people ALL DAY • We are, essentially, professional Emcees Informal Training
- 19. Talk to Stakeholders • Get comfortable talking to people at all levels of an organization • Meet strangers • Elevator speech • If talking to persons from levels “above your pay grade” makes you uncomfortable, seek out a mentor at that level • KEY TAKEAWAY: • Job titles do matter, and Scrum Masters need to be comfortable with all of them • Stakeholders/Users/Buyers are people, too Informal Training
- 20. Vision Board/ Roadmap Planning • Get use to long-range planning/roadmap building • Make list of areas of your life • Set action items for each areas • Prioritize • Break it up into sprints/iterations • KEY TAKEAWAY: • Agile is still centered around a project, can’t change something that doesn’t exist Informal Training
- 21. Kanban/Scrum • Kanban Board • Create your lists: To Do, Doing, Done • Can customize the columns – I have: To Do, This Week, Doing, Blocked, Done, Cancelled/Won’t Do • Physical Board – paper and post-it notes • Virtual – Trello, Android Reminders/To do, Notes, etc • Sprints • Break your long-term goals into segments/iterations • KEY TAKEAWAY: • Be the example • Start organizing your own work before helping a team organize theirs. Informal Training
- 22. Metrics and Reporting • Track progress vs commitments • What are areas that performed better than expected? • What are areas that need improvement? • Examples • Goal of drinking water every day vs skin results • Exercise/food intake vs Body fat percentage • Making your bed vs how you feel over time • KEY TAKEAWAY: • Can’t modify or change something that doesn’t exist • Tracking Trends is key! Informal Training
- 23. Accountability Partner • Make Commitments and ask someone to follow up with you • KEY TAKEAWAYS: • Before you can hold your team accountable, you have to hold yourself accountability • Get comfortable with someone telling you to Step UP Informal Training
- 24. Conflict • Intentionally talk to someone you know shares a different opinion than you • Watch news outlets or listen to radio stations that may not side with your political views • Have that difficult conversation with a friend or family member that you may have been avoiding • Create a safe space for others to confide in you • Be open and vulnerable • KEY TAKEAWAYS: • Get comfortable with giving and receiving feedback • Get comfortable with conflict Informal Training
- 25. Coaching/Mentoring • Find an organizational to volunteer with • Plan group events • Have 1:1s with teammates and colleagues - • Ask: “What can I do to help you be more successful?” “What are some of your pain points or challenges?” “What keeps you awake at night?” • KEY TAKEAWAYS: • Scrum Masters are coaches of the Scrum process but also coaches and cheerleaders of individuals • We are servant leaders helping to make the team, workplace, and world a better place Informal Training
- 26. Retrospectives • Personal – How is my life going? • SWOT Analysis • New Years Resolutions • Professional – • Interviews – What about my skills are you most excited about? What would you like to see me improve? • Current Career – What is going well? What are areas of improvement? Action Items/Next steps? • Team – Any day, any team or family • How do you think that meeting went? • What do you love? What are current challenges on the team? • KEY TAKEAWAYS: • Check-Ins • Continuous Feedback, Continuous Improvement • NOTE: I have done retrospectives on our team retrospectives… and all team ceremonies Informal Training
- 27. RECAP: Informal Ways to get Experience as a Scrum Master • Agenda • Take Notes • Public Speaking • Talk to Stakeholders • Vision Boards/Roadmap Planning • Kanban/Scrum • Metrics and Reporting • Accountability Partner • Conflict • Coaching/Mentoring • Retrospectives
- 28. “You might be better fit in other roles if…”
- 29. KEY TAKEAWAY: If you… - Prefer being an individual contributor, - HATE meetings or working with people in general - Only want to develop and build good products - Or just lukewarm about life …you will HATE being a Scrum Master… or not be a good one
- 30. Resources Mentioned • Agile Manifesto - https://agilemanifesto.org/ • Scrum.org • https://www.scrum.org/resources/suggested-reading-professional-scrum-master • https://www.scrum.org/pathway/scrum-master • Scrum Guide 2020 - https://www.scrum.org/resources/scrum-guide • Agile Alliance - https://www.agilealliance.org/ • Scrum Alliance - https://www.scrumalliance.org/ • Meetups – https://www.meetup.com – Search for “scrum and agile meetups [INSERT city, state] • Toastmasters - https://www.toastmasters.org/ • Webinar - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A21oaAvAq1g • OTHER • LeadingAgile - https://www.leadingagile.com/ - Check out their blog, podcast, and upcoming conference - elevateagile.com • Hyperdrive - https://hyperdriveagile.com/ - Check out their blog, podcast, and multi-city conferences - https://agilecamp.org/ • DrunkenPM - https://drunkenpm.blogspot.com/ • Improving – Improving.com
- 31. Thank You! Katrina L. Coker (She/Her) “The Scrum Mother” thescrummother@gmail.com LinkedIn: katrinalcoker-thescrummother Instragram and TikTok: @TheScrumMother
Editor's Notes
- Hi everyone. As Joshua mentioned, my name is Katrina aka “The Scrum Mother” and welcome to my world and words of wisdom on “How to get Experience as a Scrum Master without being a Scrum Master.” Shout to all those who are here after learning about it on TikTok or Instagram. To everyone though, I want to say thank you for being here. I know there are many ways to spend your Wednesday evening, and I hope for this to be one of the most productive events of your day.
- A little about me, I am “The Scrum Mother,” a term of endearment given to me by a former teammate. Feel free to follow, like, comment, tag, share as you wish throughout the presentation on LinkedIn, TikTok, or Instagram. Aside from that, I am a Senior Scrum Master at Cvent and very proud to be part of the cventnation. I am 100% remote, based out of the Atlanta area – specifically Sugar Hill – OTP for the Atlanta folk. Fun fact about me, is food is my favorite food, so for all the fellow foodies, you can also follow me on Instagram and Twitter under @tableboothorbar.
- Now, getting into why we’re here… I feel like often in the Agile community, we tend to make agile way more complicated than it is. No, you can’t walk into any organization and just “do agile,” but there are skills that ANYONE can practice. For the purposes of this presentation, I am going to focus on my niche of the Scrum Master role. Almost every week, I talk to people applying and interviewing for Scrum Master jobs, and they are told they don’t have enough experience. Today I will go over the skills that I believe you can start enhancing today to start working your way in that direction. I will NOT be going through Aglie/Scrum 101 or non-SM roles. Though questions are welcome! Note about that, please use the chat throughout and we’ll make sure to come back to you during the Q&A session if not before. My primary objective is for you to walk away with at least ONE practical thing you can change or work on tonight to get experience as a Scrum Master. By then end, you might even say, “I actually already have these skills” and will be better able to articulate how your non-SM work correlates to the SM Role. 06:15-06:18 – Introduction and My Agile Journey 06:18-06:20 – Life as a Scrum Master 06:20-06:33 – Getting Experience as a Scrum Master without being a Scrum Master 06:33-06:35 – When you might NOT want to be a Scrum Master 06:35-06:55 – Q&A PROMOTE INTERACTION IN CHAT
- My Scrum Master elevator speech – Our WHOLE job is to make sure all voices are heard, to bring everyone to the table that needs to be there, to ensure we have a healthy system and always delivering value, and to remove blockers and impediments that keep that from happening. We are the “The Get S*** Done, People-People”
- MEETUP for CSM and ACSM classes in September and October, which will provide an additional $50 off early bird, for attendees. They can visit https://lithespeed.com/agile-and-scrum-training/ to view available trainings & information
- Individual contributor - Doesn’t care about the work or if the client stays or goes Hates meetings (or people in general) Prefers just developing and building good products
- Individual contributor - Doesn’t care about the work or if the client stays or goes Hates meetings (or people in general) Prefers just developing and building good products