I’m not sure why, but there seems to be a significant portion of the population out there who believe that Scrum Master duties should rotate from person to person each Iteration. It’s usually touted as a "share the pain" policy, with some even saying "nobody should have to do that all the time – they’d go mad!"
Scrum Masters are specialized resources in an organization, just like Architects, Developers, QA and Managers. I doubt anyone would think it’s a very good idea to have each team member take a turn as Architect, rotating once per Iteration. They should be equally uncomfortable suggesting that about Scrum Masters, and I’ll tell you why.
Getting a team comfortable with a Scrum Master takes some time. Just like introducing a new sheepdog to a flock (the often-invoked image of Scrum Masters and their charges), it’s difficult in the beginning. Not only will the new Scrum Master fumble and falter initially but the disruptions will ripple through the team and reduce your value contribution until everyone settles into their new surroundings.
A Harvard study reported that more than 3/4 of all project failures are ultimately attributed to personal problems or issues between team members. If your Scrum Master, who is responsible for helping you resolve that issue, is almost always your peer except for one magical Iteration per quarter, odds of success plummet.
Becoming an effective Scrum Master takes more than just running the meetings. It’s about learning the team members, building a trust relationship, establishing paths of communication with the external resources the team utilizes and spending a significant amount of time analyzing and tracking metrics to discover how to tune the team to higher targeted value contributions.
Further, an Engineer doing a "rotation" as Scrum Master will almost certainly fall into the following traps:
- S/He will not surrender personal contributions to the Iteration, which creates a conflict of interest when the Scrum Master duties interfere with the potential success of the card s/he adopted.
- Not every Engineer on the team will have the respect and authority to adequately facilitate the meetings and correct behaviors on the team during the iteration.
- Someone serving as Scrum Master for only one Iteration every few months will be at the absolute mercy of a Product Owner who holds the post almost permanently. One of the greatest values that the Scrum Master provides to the team is keeping the Product Owner in check.
- Most team members don’t have (or need) a deep grasp of what the Velocity metric is trying to measure. But to act as an effective Scrum Master, they would have to understand that Velocity is the averaged commit achievement against targeted value contribution, and that adopted, found and punted work have to be handled very differently when calculating the team’s actual work capacity so they can guide them toward a safe commitment. Is this really what you want your Engineers thinking about for a whole Sprint?
I could list several more reasons but hopefully you are beginning to see that the role of Scrum Master is a specific and specialized organizational need, not to be equated with whose turn it is to take the trash out. It’s also valuable to note that, while the role of Scrum Master might sound horrific to the well-meaning Executives who suggest a rotation, there are those among us who love the role and will happily perform the duties without complaint. Frankly, though I started my career as a Software Engineer, I think I would rip my own eyeballs out if forced to return to it, even for one week per quarter.
Ultimately, Scrum is about creating a sustainable pace with a reliable outcome. If the team dynamics are in constant flux, the team will never settle into that rhythm that results in hyper-productivity. You might continue to do as well as you had done before trying to use Scrum, but you’ll never do better.
And isn't doing better the point?
And isn't doing better the point?
Why not let everyone play to their strengths, individual interests and skills? Please, stop rotating the Scrum Masters! It only makes everyone queasy…
