Scrum is a technique by which we can manage complex tasks involved in a software development process, in an agile environment. It is a framework that enables a team to collaborate on complex projects. Scrum is a team effort with characteristics like self-organizing, cross functional and highly productive who has the intention of adding some value to the product development. Scrum enable teams to experiment, discover and collaborate their learning.

Who is Scrum Master?

A scrum master is the one who is responsible for monitoring the activities of the agile team to ensure that the proceedings are in the favour of the project’s goals.

A scrum project team is usually divided into three roles – product owner, scrum master and the team.

1. Product Owner–He manages return on investment by supervising the team about what to build and the sequence to be followed in the process.
2. Scrum Master– His responsibility is to facilitate communication between the customer and the team, provide solutions to a given problem and ensure maximum value to the end user.
3. Team– The prime duty of a team is to simply build the product by applying agile practices.

A scrum master makes sure that all resources are utilized in the best possible way. Agile software development is incremental, iterative and collaborative in nature. An agile project is scheduled for a fixed length of time, ideally 1 to 4 weeks, during which the team often meets to discuss the nitty gritty of the project.

Qualities a Scrum Master must possess :

• Possess great knowledge and a consistent learner:An efficient scrum master needs to possess great knowledge about scrum framework and methodology. Ideally a scrum master must be aware of the niceties of the project along with the skills and strengths of his team members, be able to foresee any challenges that may cause trouble in the path of product development and take measures to eradicate the same.
• Responsible :A person who is entrusted with the task of handling a team, must possess the responsibility to supervise the process. Scrum master is responsible as well as accountable for his team’s work.
• Collaborative :A team’s best output lies in a collaborative approach by the team working on a given project. A scrum master must try to create an atmosphere of open communication so that the team members can freely discuss issues about the project, be able to offer their personal opinions and reach consensus to solve a given problem.
• Committed :Commitment of the scrum master towards his team is of prime importance. He must dutifully carry out his task of being a team lead and guide the team towards accomplishment.
• Influential :The personality of a scrum master or any team lead in general should personify an epitome of dedication and diligence. That way a team will be in a position to get inspired and deliver the best of their potential.
• Have great knowledge about the team he is working on :Well, a team can only be managed efficiently if the scrum master knows a great deal about his team members in terms of their thought process, their approach towards a given situation, traits of a member and so on.
• Resolves team conflicts :A scrum master must cordially resolve team conflicts in order to deliver the best. Identifies what leads to team conflict thus introducing activities or practices to eliminate or to reduce it and take measures to prevent from further occurrence.
• Introduces change :Change is inevitable. It is a very important fact that in order to grow productively, there needs to be a flexible approach towards any new change in terms of adoption of a new tool, admission of a new team member, introduction of new methodology of work and so on. Few engineering practices that could be introduced are worth mentioning-
  1. Introducing automated builds and continuous integration in order to reduce the total amount of time and effort required in manual builds.
  2. The development of the project must follow an incremental approach to maintain simplicity.
  3. Encouraging pair programming to make the increased software quality.
• Encourage to take initiative:A great quality of a scrum master is to encourage the team to take initiative regarding their activities, process and environment.
• Shares experiences :Learning from past experiences is a great way to understand the working of various activities and apply the same in the ongoing work to achieve better results.
• Be a leader :A scrum master is the one who teaches like a teacher and acts a leader as well. The scrum team should be led by a person who has leadership qualities and can guide the team towards an accomplished direction.
• Possess problem solving skills :A scrum master must be able to inculcate the habit of problem solving approach among team members.

Conclusion:

A scrum master is required to play many roles at a time. He must therefore possess a well-balanced leadership and management skills to guide his team towards attainment of a common goal. A team must therefore endeavor to cooperate with each other and coordinate tasks among themselves in order to deliver an end product that is robust and value-driven. Thus agile and Scrum together inculcates a habit of open communication and active participation by all the team members equally.