I've been speaking with a lot of colleagues and clients lately about the value of a Scrum Master or Agile Coach, maybe it's a sign of the times, the perceived state of agile or just a poor economy, but pretty much everyone agreed on the same skill needed to stand out and add true value, what is it? Let's chat about it.
So, what do you think the number one skill needed for Scrum Masters or Agile Coaches is?
A total grasp of AI? Able to expertly engineer your own prompts? Nope.
A deep and thorough understanding of agile techniques and practices, balancing theory with real world experience? Nope.
Data science, data analytics, machine learning? Nope.
It's simply to be self-measuring, proving how you add value and being able to demonstrate it and being able to do this before being hired at interview.
So why, how come?
Well, because as you probably know there are thousands and thousands of Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches out of work applying for all the vacancies, and because organisations are tired of not seeing tangible visible value being delivered from their past experience of SMs and ACs.
They want to be sure that you're going to be able to do this and provide real value.
So how can you show this?
Well, first don't focus on intangible things that can't easily be quantified. So drop all the usual agile lingo, don't talk about mindsets, culture, self-management, servant leadership and all the rest. Not unless you're asked but even then try to steer the conversation where you've added real value.
For example, if you're talking about servant leadership discuss how you handled a difficult stakeholder (all stakeholders can be difficult!) and how you got them on side.
Yeah, I know it might go against your beliefs and principles, mine too, but believe me people just don't want to hear about things you can't demonstrate and prove and crucially that doesn't directly lead to visible value.
Plus they've heard it all before so you'll just lose credibility.
Focus on where you've tangibly delivered value, that you can quantify, such as through your coaching on data driven metrics you helped the team reduce their cycle time by 20%, their lead time by 15%, resulting in a faster time to market.
The trick here is to have evidence of this, anyone can say this, it's another thing to prove it.
One way is to get LinkedIn recommendations from your previous boss or stakeholder, which essentially confirms this. In order for that to happen you'll need to establish and maintain great relationships, so think about that in your current role.
Also don't forget about the power of networking, attend agile meetups and contribute, build your LinkedIn network, write posts and articles and try to get yourself a good reputation on LinkedIn, you'd be surprised who takes notice.
The most important thing is to focus on is value and how you deliver it.
Although you're a Scrum Master, Scrum itself is not your mission. In fact Scrum is not always going to be the best framework, sometimes it might be Kanban or some other agile way of working. Sometimes it will actually be waterfall and there's no harm in stating this, it shows you have objectivity.
But what you want to make crystal clear is that no matter what, your primary driver your objective, is customer value, team value, product value and of course business value, these will always be a constant.
How do you prove value? Through metrics or KPIs. Now don't be afraid of this virtually every role I can think of is measured in some way.
Management like measurement and so will the interviewer.
Show you’re value focused and offer this up freely, if it doesn't come up into the conversation get it in there yourself, don't forget this it's very important.
Right, you're value focused and you're going to have 4 KPIs you measure yourself against when taking on a new role in order to determine if you're being effective or not.
It's important to communicate this, trust me the employer will love it.
No. 1 KPI - Customer Value
Your first KPI is customer value. This is the most important outcome your team delivers and so it's very important for you.
You ask questions like, ‘Is the customer getting the value they need, has their problem been solved?’, and you'll use objective measures to test this such as net promotor score, usage stats, support requests etc.
Based on this you decide what framework you need to create in order for the team to deliver the best possible outcome in the shortest possible time.
No. 2 KPI - Continuous Improvement
Your second KPI is continuous improvement. This is arguably the next most important thing you're there to do.
You can measure continuous Improvement in a variety of ways, such as, is customer satisfaction going up or down? How is the team satisfaction evolving? Is there a sense of achievement? How quickly are challenges being overcome? How many have been completed compared to before you arrived?
No. 3 KPI - Psychological Safety
The third KPI is psychological safety. This is an important metric to measure because it's a pre-condition for the team to be able to contribute ideas in order to continuously improve.
Success here will mean you've earned trust as a Scrum Master and be in a better position to help the team. It's also likely the Scrum values are being adopted.
The outcomes of health check retros can be used to measure.
No. 4 KPI - Goal Achievement
Your fourth KPI is goal achievement. This goal is about creating trust on the part of the customer and on the part of the stakeholders.
How sure can the customer be that when they request something it will be delivered on time and as they imagined?
To measure this you can use predictability. So, how predictable are you with your Sprint Goals? Are you getting better at delivery?
You could use data driven metrics here, for example, cycle time or Monte Carlo Simulation.
Showing that you measure yourself and of your own accord sends a powerful signal to prospective employers, that maybe, just maybe, you can deliver value.
Also, suggest that if employed they use these same KPIs to measure you, it shows some strength of character that you're willing and want to be measured.
It sows the seed in the employer's mind that you can deliver value.
Don’t be afraid of measurement, it is your friend and could well be your saviour. There are virtually no jobs in this world that aren’t measured in some way or other.
One of the problems making it difficult and challenging to get a Scrum Master position in 2024 is that for many years their value hasn’t been obvious. So, embrace measurement and show the tangible value you deliver.
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