Is Scrum still Scrum without a Scrum Master?

The other day a friend asked "I have a very small team of just three people. I am the Product Owner, we are a well formed team and therefore have all the knowledge we need to develop and deliver our product but we don't have a Scrum Master is that ok?"

My response. "Is it Ok? it depends on what you mean by ok. Can you develop and deliver a quality product that way, certainly. Are you practicing Scrum? You are.. but.. and since that is the answer what you are practicing is really ScrumBut as coined by Scrum.org. It is Scrum but... not exactly as prescribed by the Scrum guide, so it really isn't Scrum.

 The Scrum Master serves a very important role on a Scrum team. I like to view the Scrum Master as the team's physician helping the team not only to practice Scrum but also ensuring that the team members understand why Scrum dictates various ceremonies and behaviors. Lastly, and from a performance standpoint most importantly, a really good Scrum Master helps the team on its journey to being a better team; the Scrum Master coaches the team to be higher performing. This is a many faceted statement. A great scrum master has a solid grasp of team dynamics and understands how to help a team gel and work more effectively together. 

Effective Scrum Masters also understand how to take the Scrum values and turn them from a list into the values that drive how the team behaves. We can talk more about that next time

Their response: "That makes sense, I better talk to management about getting my team a Scrum Master."

 It is important to understand if and why we are practicing Scrum and what benefits we hope to get out of it.

 Stay Agile.




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