“Our Scrum Master has to lead all the events”

Are you serious? — episode 21

Many people think that the Scrum Master is leading the Scrum Events. If you’d google “Scrum Master roles” you’d easily stumble upon the following statements:

“The scrum master hosts daily meetings” — Qualities of a Successful Scrum Master

“Facilitating meetings for the team. This includes: preparing, moderation, postprocessing” — 42 tasks for a Scrum Master

“Responsible to Conduct retrospective meetings” — Scrum Master Job Descriptions and Responsibilities In Agile Methodology

This is from the first page of results on Google. If you are familiar with our series “Are you serious?” you are probably not surprised about my response: these statements are INCORRECT!

You might wonder: where does it say that the Scrum Master doesn’t lead the events? And if the Scrum Master doesn’t lead them, who does? What IS the Scrum Master’s role at the events? To answer this let’s take a deep-dive into Scrum.

Facilitation

The Scrum Guide says the following about the responsibility of a Scrum Master at the Scrum events:

“Facilitating Scrum events as requested or needed” — SG, As a service for the Product Owner and the Development Team.

The Scrum Master facilitates. But … what does “Facilitate” mean? There are several ways to look at this.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary it’s not to lead, but:

“To make something possible or easier” — Cambridge Dictionary

But there are other definitions of ‘facilitating a meeting’. The first thing you find when you google this is:

“A meeting facilitator is person responsible for leading a meeting.” — wikihow.com

How do we know that the Scrum Guide doesn’t have this same definition of leading a meeting? Well, the Scrum Guide has an answer for every event.

Sprint Planning

This is the Scrum Master’s role according to the Scrum Guide:

“The Scrum Master ensures that the event takes place and that attendants understand its purpose. The Scrum Master teaches the Scrum Team to keep it within the time-box.” — SG

We read:

• ensures it takes place.
• ensures that attendants understand the purpose.
• teach to keep it within the time-box.

None of these suggest that the Scrum Master LEADS the meeting. So, who then does lead the Sprint Planning? The Scrum Guide doesn’t say, so it’s up to the Scrum Team.

“Scrum Teams are self-organizing and cross-functional. Self-organizing teams choose how best to accomplish their work, rather than being directed by others outside the team.” — SG

The Scrum Master CAN lead it, but so can the Product Owner or a member of the Development Team.

Maybe no-one needs to lead the Sprint Planning. This is a realistic option when everyone knows exactly what to expect from this event.

Daily Scrum

This is the Scrum Master‘s role at the Daily Scrum according to the Scrum Guide:

“The Scrum Master ensures that the Development Team has the meeting, but the Development Team is responsible for conducting the Daily Scrum. The Scrum Master teaches the Development Team to keep the Daily Scrum within the 15-minute time-box.

The Daily Scrum is an internal meeting for the Development Team. If others are present, the Scrum Master ensures that they do not disrupt the meeting.” — SG

The Scrum Master doesn’t have to attend the Daily Scrum. This event is for the Development Team. They determine how they run it and if someone needs to lead the Daily Scrum. A Scrum Master can be present to coach the Development Team during this event, but this is not the same as leading the Daily Scrum.

Sprint Review

This is the Scrum Master’s role according to the Scrum Guide:

“The Scrum Master ensures that the event takes place and that attendees understand its purpose. The Scrum Master teaches everyone involved to keep it within the time-box.” — SG

This is all that is mentioned in the Scrum Guide about what a Scrum Master should do for the Sprint Review. It is interesting to assess what the other Scrum Team members are to do. This is what the Scrum Guide says about the Product Owner’s role:

“Attendees include the Scrum Team and key stakeholders invited by the Product Owner” — SG

The Product Owner explains what Product Backlog items have been “Done” and what has not been “Done” — SG

The Product Owner discusses the Product Backlog as it stands. He or she projects likely target and delivery dates based on progress to date (if needed) — SG

It’s obvious that the Product Owner has an active role, but it doesn’t say anything about leading the Sprint Review.

Then there’s the Development Team:

“The Development Team discusses what went well during the Sprint, what problems it ran into, and how those problems were solved” — SG

“The Development Team demonstrates the work that it has “Done” and answers questions about the Increment” — SG

Here also there’s no mention of leading the event.

It’s clear that the Scrum Team as a whole has distinct roles during the Sprint Review, but Scrum doesn’t prescribe who leads it. Hence it can be anyone from the Scrum Team, including the Scrum Master.

Sprint Retrospective

Many will think that the Scrum Master owns this event as the Scrum Master’s finest moment. However, this is what the Scrum Guide says:

“The Scrum Master ensures that the event takes place and that attendants understand its purpose.

The Scrum Master ensures that the meeting is positive and productive. The Scrum Master teaches all to keep it within the time-box. The Scrum Master participates as a peer team member in the meeting from the accountability over the Scrum process.” — SG

“The Scrum Master encourages the Scrum Team to improve, within the Scrum process framework, its development process and practices to make it more effective and enjoyable for the next Sprint.” — SG

Logically the Scrum Master has an active role at the Sprint Retrospective:

• Ensure that the event takes place.
• Ensure that the attendants understand its purpose.
• Ensure that the meeting is positive and productive.
• Teaches all to keep it within the time-box.
• Participates as a team member from the accountability of the Scrum process.
• Encourages the Scrum Team to improve.

A Scrum Master often leads the Sprint Retrospective to make sure that all of the above is happening accordingly. But the Scrum Master doesn’t have to lead it.

Mature Scrum Teams can have very effective Sprint Retrospectives without the Scrum Master leading it. Here the Scrum Master could function as a mentor, maybe even limited to giving a gentle nudge into the right direction or perhaps only a hint to make people think out of the box.

Bottom Line

The Scrum Master ensures that the events take place. But the Scrum Guide never mentions that the Scrum Master has to lead the Sprint Events. This includes the Sprint Retrospective. What’s more: the Scrum Guide doesn’t prescribe this at all. As a result it is up to the Scrum Team to decide.

Did you like the article? Then it would be awesome if you’d clap 👏🏻. I am also very keen to learn what you think about this topic.

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