On Being Scrum Master

· Ben’s Blog

My manager asked me to be scrum master for my team a little over two years ago. Initially I was reluctant because the role seemed a bit tedious and would incur some overhead. I've always had a healthy (to me) cynicism of process, especially the Agile™ product. And the role of scrum master seemed to embody many of the negative aspects of that whole industry. Even the name is bothersome—are they really masters of it? Seems presumptuous. But he wasn't really asking, either. So I said yes.

Over the years, I have found my assessment to be true—it does get tedious and it does take some time away from other activities. And I can't say I love those parts, nor can I say I love the role, but I've embraced it and come to enjoy parts of it. The funny thing is that almost every other scrum master I've talked to came about their position in a similar way—taking up the role because no one else wants to. Why is that?

I'm not sure—maybe it's just my organization. But here are some thoughts around the role: