Topic Title: Scrum Master’s!  What do they do after the “Stand-Up”?

Initiator: Mark Cruz

Scrum masters are servant leaders, Scrum masters use stand-up’s to pull information if team is on schedule, they draw out impediments from their scrum teams.  They ask the difficult questions to move the team forward.  Scrum Masters work without judgement of their team members, they find ways to help individuals & team to grow and be more successful.  Scrum Masters plan teams necessary activities such as backlog refinement sessions, prepare for scrum events, facilitation of those events for the team.  Scrum Master protects the team from outside distractions.  Scrum Masters are always working with Product Owners to prioritize and understand business needs.  Scrum Masters help the scrum team find dependencies with other teams and facilitate planning sessions to coordinate solutions with those other teams.  Scrum Masters are always looking for ways to refine the process to help the team get greater success.  Scrum Masters use the retrospectives to improve, understand sprint failures and celebrate their successes. Scrum Masters help incorporate new team members to help them fit in to the team.  The scrum master fosters communication within the team and provide a safe spaces.  Scrum Masters keep things on track and respects the teams time.  Scrum Master manages the scrum process.

Initiator:  Mark A. Cruz

Participants:  Yvette Krager, Knud Hansen, Dave Hall, Kelly Watson, Stephanie Raffman, Timmayya Jpjjavarotpu, Becky Hartman, Alison Janke, Gordon Ridge, Kate Leonardo, Eileen Cease, Lynn Flannery, Rita Oglesby

Discussion Highlights:  The group was a cross section of scrum masters, developers, QA and PO’s.  All participated greatly and at the end of the session had a greater appreciation of the scrum master roles and its responsibilities. 

Ideas for Action/Next Steps:  Ask the group to read the 5 dysfunctions of a team.  Have them take the 15 questions quiz and facilitate a meeting, with the goal to build trust.
Do team building exercises to help the team get closer and build trust.
Research Scrum.org or Scrum Alliance for great blogs and helpful hints, like the 3 amigos.