Clark Maxwell

If you join a team as a Scrum Master today, you’re entering a market where you can’t just blend into the background. The first weeks are where you set the tone, build credibility and prove you were a good hire. Weeks 1–4 Make it your full-time job to learn how this team really works. Sit in on everything you can, from daily scrums to unplanned conversations. Pay attention to how work moves from idea to done, where it stalls and how decisions are made. Talk to people one-on-one and ask what slows them down or frustrates them. Start capturing specific examples and metrics, even if they feel small. How many tickets carry over from sprint to sprint? How often are priorities changing? How many meetings actually end with clear outcomes? By the end of week four, you should have a map of the team’s reality, written in their language, not in Agile jargon. Weeks 5–8 Begin showing the team what you’ve observed in a way that makes them curious instead of defensive. Use what you collected to create a simple visual or story that helps them see their work from a different angle. Highlight small wins you’ve spotted, like fewer rollovers or better backlog clarity and call out the people making those wins happen. You’re building trust here.. you want them to feel that your observations are there to help, not to police. This is also the time to experiment with small adjustments: maybe changing the way you run the retro, adding a 5-minute daily planning check or creating a clearer definition of done. Keep tracking data so you can show what’s improving. Weeks 9–12 Start collaborating on bigger changes. The groundwork you laid means you now know which issues are symptoms and which are root causes. Work with the team to design improvements they believe in, not just ones you think are “best practice.” For example, if priorities keep changing mid-sprint, help them work with stakeholders to agree on a clear commitment process. If too much work is stuck in progress, run a short experiment to reduce WIP and see what happens. Keep sharing the results openly, so the team and stakeholders can see the impact in both numbers and day-to-day experience. In the first 90 days, your goal isn’t to push “Agile” harder. It’s to show that you’ve been paying close attention, you understand the reality of their work, and you can help them make it better in ways that matter to them.

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In this post, PST Mary Iqbal argues that Scrum Teams should focus on customer outcomes, not internal metrics like velocity or throughput. Outcomes create purpose, alignment, and ensure Scrum’s empiricism delivers real value. https://ow.ly/YOfs50X7fhh #ScrumTeams #Empiricism

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❓👉Can you walk me through a typical Sprint Planning meeting? ↘️Here's an overview of a typical Sprint Planning meeting: 🔶Objective: Set goals and create a plan for the upcoming Sprint. 🔶Attendees: Scrum Team (Product Owner, Scrum Master, Development Team). ⏺️Agenda: 1️⃣. Review Product Backlog: Product Owner presents top-priority items. 2️⃣. Sprint Goal: Team discusses and agrees on a clear Sprint Goal. 3️⃣. Task Estimation: Team estimates effort required for each task. 4️⃣. Sprint Backlog: Team selects tasks to include in the Sprint Backlog. 5️⃣. Commitment: Team commits to delivering the selected tasks. ⏺️Outcome: A clear Sprint Goal, a defined Sprint Backlog, and a shared understanding of the work to be done. 👉Best Practices: -1️⃣ Keep the meeting focused and time-boxed (usually 2-4 hours). -2️⃣ Ensure all team members participate and contribute. -3️⃣ Use visual aids like boards or charts to facilitate discussion. This meeting sets the stage for a successful Sprint! #SprintPlanning #Scrum #Agile

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