Participant handouts from Scrum Master as a Facilitator workshop. During this workshop we learn and practice some basic meeting facilitation skills, focus on tips and tricks for Scrum ceremonies, and simulate a Scrum cycle using our learning

1.
SCRUM MASTER
AS A
FACILITATOR
WORKSHOP
PARTICIPANT HANDBOOK
Page 1 of 11 Facilitation Workshop Handouts

2.
Introduction 3
Workshop Purpose 3
Expected Workshop Outcomes 3
Desired Workshop Impact 3
Appetite to learn more on facilitation, excitement, satisfaction 3
Facilitation vs. Coaching 4
Facilitation Definition 4
Coaching Definition 4
Facilitation skills 4
Be Prepared 5
Set the stage good practice: 5
Questions Bank - before the meeting 5
During the Meeting - Feel the Room 5
Control what you can; Let go everything else 5
Working Agreements (example) 6
Boundaries 6
Why do we need boundaries? 6
Time boxing 6
5 steps Facilitation 6
Enthusiasm 7
Why do we need enthusiasm? 7
Facilitation in Scrum Ceremonies 8
Grooming 8
Purpose 8
Outcomes 8
Impact 8
Tips and Tricks 8
Planning 8
Purpose 8
Outcomes 8
Impact 8
Tips and Tricks 8
Daily standup 9
Purpose 9
Outcomes 9
Impact 9
Tips and Tricks 9
Sprint Review 10
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3. Purpose 10
Outcomes 10
Impact 10
Tips and Tricks 10
Sprint retrospective 11
Purpose 11
Outcomes 11
Impact 11
Brainstorming rules 11
Decision making 11
Introduction
Welcome to the Scrum Master as a facilitator workshop.
These handouts are for your future use during your daily routine.
These handouts are also useful for writing down important things during the workshop
Workshop Purpose
Help participants improve their facilitation skills for better meetings
Expected Workshop Outcomes
At least one “aha” moment, acquire tool/s to use in meetings
Desired Workshop Impact
Appetite to learn more on facilitation, excitement, satisfaction
Page 3 of 11 Facilitation Workshop Handouts

4. Facilitation vs. Coaching
Facilitation Definition
The act of helping other people to deal ​with a ​process ​without
getting directly involved​ in the process, discussion, etc.
Coaching Definition
A form of personal development:
The act of ​helping ​others ​to learn their way in achieving​ a specific personal or professional
goal
Facilitation skills
● An active, unbiased, member of learning process
● Intervene in a way that adds creativity to a discussion
● Following an agreed agenda
● Time keeping
● Flexible
● Assertive
● Challenge assumptions
● Have fun
https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Just-Something-Stand-There/dp/1576754251
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5. 4 Basic Facilitation Principles
● Be Prepared
● Boundaries
● Time Boxing
● Enthusiasm
Be Prepared
Set the stage good practice:
● Time box agenda
● Parking Lot board
● Working Agreement to start with (see bellow)
● Be on time
Questions Bank - before the meeting
● Who should participate? (Get the whole system)
● Where? Seating arrangements
● What is the desired duration of the meeting?
● Physical accessories: whiteboard, projector, special (e.g. planning poker cards)
● What activities are suitable to “explore the whole elephant”?
● Prerequisites (e.g. prioritized backlog)
● Which meeting structure to use? (e.g. 5 steps)
During the Meeting - Feel the Room
● Is everyone participating actively?
● What can everyone agree on?
● (handle disagreements later)
● Let people have active roles during the meeting
○ Is there any silent disagreement? cynicism?
○ Who is dominant in the group?
○ Who is withdrawn?
○ Who looks bored?
● Make room for all views
Control what you can; Let go everything else
● What do we want?
○ People behave according to goals
● What can’t we control?
○ People’s behavior
● What can we control?
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6. ○ Setting, purpose, boundaries, preparation, …
Working Agreements (example)
● The team starts and ends the day together
● Being on time is critical
● The team stays 100% committed and 100% focused, no interruptions
● All wireless devices on silent mode
● No room for finger pointing
● No veto power from outside the team
● It’s your responsibility to say when you object or disagree
● What I say in the room stays in the room
Boundaries
Why do we need boundaries?
● Gives you sense of self
● Enables to decide how you want to be treated by others
● Enables to make decisions that serve and support you
● Helps to prevent double bind situation
● Creates mutual language
● “Freedom within Boundaries”
Time boxing
● Allocate a certain amount of time to an activity in advance
● Visual
● Plan in advance
● Focus
● End time box: hard vs. soft
5 steps Facilitation
1. Openning
2. Gather Data
3. Generate Insight
4. Decide what to do
5. Closing
https://www.amazon.com/Agile-Retrospectives-Making-Teams-Great/dp/0977616649
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7. Enthusiasm
Why do we need enthusiasm?
● It’s contagious
● If you are not enthusiastic - how can you expect it from others?
● You are the “salesperson” - do you believe in what you are selling?
● Reduce cynicism
● “​Lead by example”
● Learn how to foster enthusiasm in others. Start with these:
Grit:
https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_per
● severance
● The Power of Enthusiasm: ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I5J4P0XaPA
● Intentional Enthusiasm: ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlVCZm1OCxA
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8. Facilitation in Scrum Ceremonies
Grooming
Purpose
Groom the product backlog for the next 2-3 sprints
Outcomes
All refined PBI is viable, estimated, clear and can be “Done” by the development team within
one Sprint
Impact
Excited (or at least engaged), committed for the goal, worth time spent, trustful
Tips and Tricks
● Fishbowl
● Role play - if you were him, explain what made you think that?
● Talking stick & Perfection Game
● Match estimation-technique/s to the situation
Planning
Purpose
Teams own their Sprint Backlog based on their recent experience
Outcomes
Part I: List of top PBIs based on velocity;
Part II: Visualize breakdown of these PBIs and confirm feasibility of plan
Impact
Teammates energized, committed, accountable for their plan
Tips and Tricks
● Planning part 1:
○ Sticky notes on a wall standing up
○ Thought provoking questions
● Planning part 2:
○ Splitting to two groups + review
○ Open the code
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9.
Daily standup
Purpose
Inspect and adjust work until end of sprint
Outcomes
Share bottlenecks, problems and dependencies; Visual board/s and Burndown chart/s are
updated
Impact
Sense of shared responsibility and accountability for remaining work
Tips and Tricks
● Who starts? Remain silent!
● Step 2: Randomly or recommended - when appropriate: Based on priority of PBIs
● Suggest the team to do daily before lunch time
● Avoid eye contact
● Burndown chart
● Daily Probing Questions
○ Progress:
■ Is any of our work invisible?
■ Is anyone assigned too many tasks?
■ Should we act on backlog items “owned” by absent team members?
■ Are there backlog items that we can unblock?
■ Are there backlog items we expected to finish by now?
■ Are there any bottlenecks in the queues (WiP is exceeded)?
○ Looking forward:
■ Is there a demand for backlog refinement (grooming)?
■ Are upcoming backlog items blocked somehow?
■ Are we clear about what's next?
■ Are we doing everything we can to minimize waiting time?
● Challenge the team with a Game:
One team member observe the daily stand up from aside
If she/he is able to identify a problem that others didn’t notice she/he wins!
The winner can select one thing that all the team member will must do and take a video
of that (e.g. dance crazy)
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10. Sprint Review
Purpose
Get a real sense of what was achieved
Outcomes
Feedback on working software delivered during the sprint
Impact
Ownership of results
Sense of pride when it’s good
Sense of shame when it’s not
Tips and Tricks
● No slideware! Always prefer working software
● Encourage teammates to present
● Sprint Bazaar - a self organized, teammates-led way to review
● Show only Done-Done work
● Get the whole system in - invite others outside the team
Page 10 of 11 Facilitation Workshop Handouts

11. Sprint retrospective
Purpose
Tune and adjust in order to become more effective
Outcomes
One or two S.M.A.R.T experiments
Impact
Sense real teamwork; Re-energized, Optimistic
Brainstorming rules
● Suspend judgment
● Encourage wild ideas
● Quantity not quality
● Build on other ideas
● Use magic wand
● Suggest the worst idea ever
Decision making
● Fist of 5
● Thumb voting
● Dot Voting
Page 11 of 11 Facilitation Workshop Handouts