Evolution of a Scrum Master

A Scrum Master plays an important role in facilitating agile delivery. When a Team starts using Scrum, their work becomes more manageable, coherent and efficient, and as a result, development time for new products is reduced significantly while maintaining optimal quality.

But sometimes, the implementation of Scrum falls short, and the Team gets confused, progress lags, and quality and efficiency are impacted negatively.

So, why might an agile approach as renowned as Scrum not always work well?

There can be several reasons why Scrum doesn’t always play out as it should. These are almost always related to how it is implemented. There is a relationship between the success of Scrum implementation and the maturity and roles of a Scrum Master.

So, we are going to take a look at the accountabilities of the Scrum Master and the evolution of the Scrum Master’s maturity.

Scrum Master Levels of Maturity?

One of the main Scrum Master’s responsibilities is to guide the Team through the Scrum process. They facilitate scrum events, helping the Team to grasp the framework and improve from one sprint to the next.

The different levels of maturity of the Scrum Master are a useful tool or lens through which to look at how Scrum masters hone their skills and insights along the path to expertise. They represent a common, typical developmental learning curve that most Scrum Masters go through.

The various levels of maturity and their corresponding competencies are neatly described in the «Evolution of the Scrum Master» blog written by Ron Eringa.

How to be a Good Scrum Master?

This is all well and good, but do we understand at which stage of Scrum Master maturity our Scrum Master is at? How does your Scrum Master correspond to the different Scrum Master maturity stages and their characteristics? And how can you extrapolate from this and improve your agile skills to maximize your use of Scrum and deliver high-quality products efficiently?

Inspired by Ron Eringa’s article, the Exadel Agile Team created this Scrum Master Maturity Assessment Test as a pragmatic Scrum Master self-assessment instrument and for a bit of fun!

Eringa charts the evolution of the Scrum Master’s ideal learning curve through knowledge, experience, and dedication to the position, from the initial stages of Clerk, Puppet Master, and Organizer, right through to Coach, Advisor, and finally, Expert. Each stage represents a step up in the evolution of approach, knowledge, and competency in implementing Scrum — with a growing level of expertise at each step.