The Scrum Master Elevator Pitch
We’ve all heard the term elevator pitch: You have 30 seconds in an elevator to sell someone on something, what do you say?
In the Agile Mentors Community, one member asked a very thought-provoking question:
Let’s say you have to give an elevator pitch to an executive who has zero understanding of what a Scrum Master does and very little understanding about agile.
She turns to you in the elevator and asks:
“What do you do as a Scrum Master? Do you just guide the process or do you do real work?”
You have one floor to go (roughly 30 seconds); What do you say?
Helping the Team Along Their Agile Journey
One member summed it up nicely, saying “The Scrum Master helps the team along their agile journey.”
She added that on a new team, the Scrum Master should be pretty hands-on facilitating events, removing impediments, and teaching Scrum and the agile mindset.
As the team matures, the Scrum Master’s job is to help the team learn to facilitate its own events and remove its own impediments.
The “real work” of a Scrum Master is seeing the progress as teams move from norming to performing, and are increasingly delivering business value.
Chief Impediment Removal Officer
In a quick elevator meeting, one member suggested saying, “The Scrum Master is the Chief Impediment Removal Officer.”
That same member added that if you can get in more than 30 seconds, or have to write a job description, you can add more details.:
Enables the team to focus on the work at hand without having to deal with interruptions.
Serves as the communicator between the product owner and the team, and sometimes the customer as well.
Facilitates the processes that allow projects to complete on schedule, and with products that makes the customer happy.
Serves as a go-between for teams, product owners and management.
Provides push back to protect the team from interference that would disrupt a valuable increment being delivered at the end of a sprint.
Acts as a servant leader who has the trust of the team and of management, and can facilitate productive collaboration among them.
Helping Teams Do What They Do Best
Another member simply put it, "I work with small teams of developers and testers to help them deliver valuable software more efficiently and effectively."
Similarly, another member said the role of a Scrum Master is, “Helping teams of people to be able to get on with doing what they do best.”
Teaching Communication and Teamwork
One member describes her role of Scrum Master as, “I teach adults how to talk and enjoy group projects.”
“Nerds aren’t known for being social, so I teach nerds how to talk to each other,” added a different member.
Along those lines, a member added, “I help teams discover better ways of developing software, build healthy relationships, and communicate effectively so that we can enjoy our work.”
The Group Therapist
“I think Scrum Masters are pretty similar to group therapists,” a member commented.
However, when first describing what he does to someone unfamiliar with agile, he starts with, “Scrum Masters care about enabling a team to build a product fast.”
He adds that while this is a good opener, more explanation is needed. He then adds:
“Take a traditional project manager and divide his responsibilities into a Product Owner who cares about building the right thing, a Scrum Master who influences the Scrum Team to care about their collective growth, and a Scrum Team who can self-manage/self-organize.” That’s a Scrum Master.
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