The 1 Rule for Scrum Master Servant Leadership

Scrum in many ways can be compared to a game. It has rules, goals, participants and hopefully is enjoyable to play (most of the time!). One of the determining factors of how well a team can use Scrum to guide continuous improvement is the dynamism of that coach, the Scrum Master.

On one hand, the Scrum Master helps the team understand and enact the rules of Scrum. On the other hand, they need to know when it is ok for a team to bend the rules. When a team is learning how to use an event to bring empiricism to life, they may get a few things wrong. If we were to immediately stop the game for every single mistake, the teams might not be able to pick up the momentum needed to get good at the game!

A servant leader also understands that when teams are clear on the 'why' of what they are doing, they will be more engaged. To cultivate the soil of engagement  - we may benefit from letting teams experience what happens when we break time-boxes, miss out on certain outcomes, combine anti-pattern roles & more.

But how do we do this without bending Scrum so far out of shape that we lose its power? As with every team, it depends. A good Scrum Master will help the team follow the rules of the guide. A great Scrum Master will know when to bend the rules to keep the game flowing. Let me show you how.

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