As per Scrum Alliance, a Scrum Master is an individual that has the ability to facilitate the product development process for the Product Owner as well as the Agile team. While developing a particular product, Scrum Masters handle the section of Scrum with their Scrum expertise. Moreover, skillful Scrum Masters are equipped with knowledge of resources and tools required to fulfill the goals of the company, and they even know how to tackle the obstacles that can affect the pace of the product development process. They make sure that the process is moving forward seamlessly without any issues. Of course, the truth is that a good Scrum Master must have amazing Scrum Master key skills to be truly effective. Let us find out various important facts about Scrum Master right below. So keep on reading further.

What is a Scrum Framework and Who is a Scrum Master? 

A Scrum Framework is all about providing the Development Team with the project details by the Product Owners, but overall, this process is handled by the Scrum Master by being the head of the entire team. The whole project cannot be done at one time; therefore, it is divided into chunks which are known as “Sprints.” Sprints help to introduce an effective product lifestyle within the given timeframe. During the process of product development, the responsibility of the Scrum Master is to coordinate all the project activities organized with business goals. As the Scrum Master is the head of the Scrum team, (s)he manages the development process by resolving problems, making the team understand, and implementing Scrum strategies better to make the whole team perform to a greater extent.

What Are the Major Responsibilities of a Scrum Master?

Ahead, you will know what should be Scrum Master required skills to become popular. Before getting into that, it would be better to know about the major responsibilities of a Scrum Master, which are as follows:

Team Controlling Power:

To control the whole team, the Scrum Master should be able to create a working environment of comfort and trust. Similarly, the Scrum Master should have the ability to identify and resolve the issues that arise between the team members. 

Handling Intricacies:

The major duty of the Scrum Master is to recognize all the obstacles affecting the product’s progress and remove them with all potential. He can even take the help of other stakeholders if the problems are beyond his limit, but the involvement of the Scrum Master is very essential in removing the hurdles.

Good Communication:

The Scrum Master should carry out effective communication with the team, the stakeholders, and the Product Owner, no matter if it is verbal or written. A lack of efficient communication can destroy the stability of the product development process. Proper communication is a thing that brings complete transparency across the organization and thereby decreases the interruption of the workflow.

Leadership:

The Scrum Master is the individual who leads the Agile team; thus, they are called “True Leaders.” The main aim of the Scrum Master is to enhance the involvement and dedication of the team in work. The responsibility of the Scrum Master is to just direct and give a helping hand to the team to get the work done efficiently and on time.

Coach of the Team:

It is the job of the Scrum Master to guide the Product Owner as well as the Development team. He should make sure that everyone is following and implementing the Scrum framework, practices, Scrum principles, and values. This way, (s)he tries to spread the Scrum framework all over the company to make them entirely know of the Scrum strategies used in the process.

Essential Skills to Become a Renowned Scrum Master

Now it is time to know about the skills required to become a renowned Scrum Master, and you can check out that just below:

Powerful Agile and Scrum Training Skills

An effective Scrum Master should know how to train the team with Agile and Scrum principles. Also, he should make them active in following the guidelines of Agile as well as Scrum without fail. Even though Scrum looks simple, it has been designed with its own terms and conditions, which should be understood by everyone to implement the framework appropriately in the process. Hence, the Scrum Master should teach the terminologies and systems of Scrum to the team. One can find an extreme level of understanding and expertise of the Scrum values as a certified Scrum Master with no doubt. There are many Scrum companies that provide the team with different online resources like Scrum Guide and the glossary to make them familiar with the Scrum framework.

Technical Knowledge

 Obviously, the Scrum Master skill set also includes the proper technical knowledge so as to involve in assisting the teams of software development forming programs with minimum roadblocks. Moreover, as one of the main jobs, (s)he should collaborate with the Product Owner to discover a system to allow the team to complete tasks efficiently. Furthermore, the Scrum Masters should have knowledge of the technical processes and terms of the organization.

Organizational Skills

 If we talk about another skill of Scrum Master, is the capability to apply a well-designed system of the organization. For that, they should organize everything right from planning to structure in a proper manner to remain everyone on track. With this skill, the Scrum Master should miss any task assignments and keep the whole team updated and on schedule. Nowadays, most Scrum Masters depend on online project management tools so that they can keep the complete team organized and connected all the time. Also, (s)he makes sure that every task assigned to the individual team members should not be missed and is completed on time without any delay. It is their job to find a system that is suitable for every member of the team as it is very much important to keep everyone updated and organized.

Resolving Conflicts

 Everyone in the team has distinct working styles, personalities, behaviors, and ideas; hence it can definitely lead to conflict among the team members. However, the Scrum Master should have the potential to resolve the conflict, which is very risky for the progress of the team. The Scrum Master is potent enough to come up with clear ways to end the conflict in a smart way. In addition, (s)he should be a good facilitator and expert negotiator to help the team settle the conflicts among them. Even though the Scrum Masters interfere in the conflict of team members, the individuals should be adopted interpersonal skills to compromise on hand without taking the issue far ahead.

Teaching Skills

 As the Scrum Master is the head of the team and equipped with a lot of knowledge and expertise, they should have the skill to teach the team to follow Agile systems properly. Thus, strong coaching abilities are essential for the Scrum Masters to show the right way to the team. An efficient Scrum Master can give answers to what, why, and how in the presence of the team members. He keeps on encouraging the team to work together, harder, and smarter by improving their skills. Also, they are well-known about the weaknesses and strengths of each and every member of the Agile team, and they can also analyze the point of view of every team member. These are the skills the Scrum Master required to become a famous Scrum Master.

Bottom Lines

When it comes to product development, there should be the involvement of the Scrum Master, the Product Owner, Developers, and other stakeholders. However, a Scrum Master is different from others involved in the process. They head the whole team and operate with both the Product Owner and Developers to make everyone go hand-in-hand. They have the top authority in the team, and everyone should follow them without any fail. Even though they have a long list of responsibilities, they are not holding the place of Project Managers. In fact, they are above everyone on the team as they hold a place of leadership. They are the “self-managers” who have the capacity to manage everything on their own. Besides, they play the role of a team member, a referee, and a trainer. It is very important to find the right Scrum Master for the company to make the development product successful. They should build a healthy relationship with all the members to be a strong leader of the Agile team. So if you are searching for an effective and smart Scrum Master, you should make sure that they have all the above-mentioned Scrum Master skills so that the development project would achieve success with ease.