Saturday, October 1, 2016

First day as Scrum Master

If you've been hired as a Scrum Master, you'll most likely have a vision of the future state of the team based on interview questions. But do you really know what's going on? Here's what I have done to start integrating myself with the team and building my knowledge.

The very first thing to do after you get a brief tour of the place, it always starts with a tour, is have a general meet and greet session with your team. Tell them your story, invite questions, and if appropriate, like the team is new to Scrum, discuss why you're there. This is a light-weight meeting more about introductions than any deep understanding. But, you're not just saying hello, you're watching and listening closely. The team will almost certainly be on their best behavior at this first meeting so the clues of how they interact will be subtle and mostly come from body language. Watch how the others react when someone speaks.

Start by asking each team member in turn what their most recent proudest moment, greatest success, or greatest satisfaction was as a member of the team. As you go, note the introverts and extroverts, the cynics and optimists, and note how many shared the same positive experiences. If everyone shares the same experience as their best then this becomes your target of understanding later, that is, what about that experience pulled the team together. If there are several 'greatest' moments then you'll need to dive into this during the one-on-one meetings with the team after to figure out how each person measures success.

Ask each member in turn what their biggest issue or impediment is. Write this down. Be seen as writing it down. This is important as you need to follow-up. The first question is about past successes but the second question is about the team's future and although not explicitly stated, it's setting the goal of more successes in the future.

On your first day, you're looking to set the tone as an open and honest person, as someone who cares about the team, as someone the team can be open with, and as someone there to help. You can do this following these three steps:

1. Telling your story with some personal details, family, pets, an awkward moment but use caution to not go too far. You want to leave the team yearning to learn more about you, not for them to make final judgments.

2. Ask a question about team successes that helps to reveal team dynamics and ask it of each individual. Listen and watch closer for clues to the team. Be cautious that you're not judging but ask any follow-up questions to draw out the experience they felt.

3. Ask the question of what the team expects or hopes you can do for them. You make it clear that you serve the team. Resist any temptations to "solve" problems here, this is not the setting. Do follow-up on any issues or problems, you need to establish that you're there to actively help.

The next thing to do is conduct a one-on-one interviews but this is another topic.

Have a supremely successful week.

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