A Scrum Master has a critical role in an organisation’s overall Agile or Scrum implementation success. There is a mastermind behind the successful implementation of Agile transformation on a large scale. It is often claimed that if the job of a Scrum Master is not clearly understood, then change as expected to be carried out is bound to fail.
Nevertheless, many individuals are playing the role of Scrum Masters who don’t follow the principles of the Scrum framework. Scrum Guide should be followed in letters and spirit by the Scrum ® Master, and if there is any violation of the same (called Anti-patterns), it will negatively impact the set organisational goals. Anti-patterns result in hampering progress and slowing down the achievements of the company.
While the Scrum Anti Patterns Scrum Anti Patterns may seem to be a quick-fix solution to the challenge at hand, not following the principles of the Scrum ® framework, in the long run, will impair the teamwork, eventually causing the Scrum ® Master undue pressure and stress.
This article outlines the Top 32 Scrum ® Master Anti-Patterns that one should look out for a while carrying out Agile or Scrum transformation in the organisation. So, let us see the comprehensive list:
Top 32 Anti-Patterns That Should Be Avoided
- No sufficient ability to coach the Product Owner
- Scrum ® Master who follows a style of Command-and-Control Leadership
- Scrum ® Master who takes updates from the product development team at the time of Daily-Standup, contrary to the fundamental objective of a Daily-Standup
- When they allow spillover of the respective work to subsequent prints
- When they are always reluctant to take even partial credit for unfinished work in the current sprint by splitting story points
- Who allows for burnout of the Product Development Team
- Scrum ® Masters doing their job without actually believing or following the values and principles of Agile and Scrum
- When they tend to conduct Sprint retrospectives always in the same fashion
- Scrum ® Master when they play the role without having an idea about the behavioural aspects of their position that requires equal attention
- A scrum ® Master follows the wrong path if they solve the challenges for the team members without even giving them a chance to participate and do it by themselves
- Showcasing to stakeholders about the working software while in the Sprint Review
- When they don’t make any effort to create awareness of the Agile Engineering practices to be followed by the team
- When they don’t follow Timeboxing
- Allowing the managers of the company to attend Sprint Retrospectives review
- Assigning significant and extensive tasks directly to the Development team members
- When he abuses his position to influence team estimates
- Pushing the team to make unnecessary commitments for Sprint deliverables
- When a Scrum ® Master does the planning for the development team themselves instead of trying to guide the team on the plan
- Practice biasness among team members and is arbitrary in assigning tasks
- When they act authoritatively
- When they don’t possess the requisite knowledge on how to implement Agile/Scrum
- Provide solutions for the team without giving them the freehand to come up with their solution
- Allowing members to work on tasks other than those assigned during the Sprint Planning
- Hide relevant information from the team
- Starts playing the role of a manager
- Doesn’t listen to the issues of the team during Sprint Retro and only pushes their viewpoints
- When they start explaining each of the points raised in Sprint Retro
- micro-managing the team
- When they create poorly organised minutes of meeting for the daily standup
- Poorly managing the Triple Constraints, i.e., Scope, Cost, and Schedule
- Despite not possessing the bandwidth, it plays the SM role for multiple development teams.
- Plays their SM role without understanding the role of an Agile Coach on the team
The role of a Scrum ® Master requires them to wear many hats and take up multiple roles. In the daily life of their job as a Scrum ® Master, they need to play various functions like:
- Servant-Leader
- Facilitator
- Coach
- Conflict negotiator
- Manager
- Mentor
- Teacher
But a great and successful Scrum ® Master knows and has the experience to play the proper role at the right time. When one understands the diversity of parts to be played by them in diverse situations of leading a team, they become capable of facilitating their team to apply Scrum principles effectively and efficiently. This is the true success of being a qualified Scrum Master.
Final Thoughts
It requires a lot of expertise and understanding to play the role of Scrum ® Master to achieve organisational goals. However, it is unfortunate that too many can quickly fail an individual as a Scrum ® Master in their role. The abovementioned are some of the Top 32 Anti-Patterns that scrum masters should read and comprehend where they are going wrong. When they understand their mistakes and avoid these Scrum ® Anti-Patterns, they will only be able to achieve success.
A Scrum ® Master has to face a range of challenges daily. Some additional challenges that add up to it are a lack of organisational support, inexperienced team members, and internal conflicts that are hard to resolve.
Thus, a Scrum Master role is difficult to execute at large-scale organisations. It is equally essential for the product development team to stand by the Scrum ® Master and offer their sincere support wherever necessary. After all Scrum ® framework is a group activity in the end.
We hope it was a helpful article for the readers. Don’t forget to share it with others if you like it.
