OC APLN Mtg April 1st - ScrumMaster Anti-Patterns

Join us on April 1st at the Orange County Agile Project Leadership Network for a presentation on ScrumMaster Anti-Patterns.

ScrumMaster Anti-Patterns - Where Does It Go Wrong?

With the ever-growing popularity of Scrum, ScrumMaster has become a de facto role on many agile projects. Yet quite a few ScrumMasters struggle with the role, and a lot of organizations aren't gaining the benefits a ScrumMaster is intended to provide.

For example, do you recognize these anti-patterns? Do you know why they can cause pain?

* My ScrumMaster has never been on a Scrum team (but he took a class).
* My ScrumMaster can't really explain to me why we're using Scrum.
* My ScrumMaster is my manager.
* My ScrumMaster runs our daily status meeting.
* My ScrumMaster is busy writing code.
* My ScrumMaster never goes to lunch with us.

Through more than 4 years as a Certified Scrum Trainer and over 9 years on agile teams, I've spent a lot of time with ScrumMasters and what the role is supposed to be. But I've also seen too many dysfunctional ScrumMasters and how that affects product delivery and costs the business.

In this lively and thought-provoking talk, we'll explore the ScrumMaster role, why teams end up with dysfunctional ScrumMasters and how that hurts agile projects. We'll explore common ScrumMaster anti-patterns, why they occur and how to avoid them. We'll challenge the ScrumMaster role, compare it to other models, and address if agile teams really need a ScrumMaster.

Your Speaker:

Paul Hodgetts has been involved in lean and agile development as a coach, mentor and team member since 1998. He is the founder and CEO of Agile Logic, a local Southern California agile consultancy, and has helped companies like Microsoft, SAP, Cisco, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Kelley Blue Book achieve success with challenging, real-world agile projects