Scrum Master - Senior Engineer @ Iris Software

To define the role, responsibilities, and authority of the Scrum Leader in supporting the Scrum Team and fostering an Agile culture. This charter ensures a shared understanding among team members and stakeholders, promoting accountability and continuous improvement.

Role Overview

The Scrum Leader acts as a servant-leader, guiding the team in applying Scrum principles and practices effectively.

• Leads by example with humility and a commitment to Agile values
• Facilitates Scrum events, ensuring they are productive and timeboxed
• Proactively identifies and helps resolve obstacles
• Serves as an escalation path for impediments and ensures resolution
• Supports the team in maintaining momentum and focus
• Owns the board health - ensures the stories, tasks et al are managed and maintained
• Owns Definition of Ready e.g., will own whether a story or task is ready to be refined by the team

Key Responsibilities

Scrum Events

• Ensure all Scrum ceremonies occur consistently and are well-attended
• Clarify the purpose and goals of each ceremony
• Facilitate inclusive dialogue and participation
• Prepare and guide Sprint Planning and Refinement sessions
• Maintain accurate tools and documentation (e.g., Jira boards)

Board health

• Responsible to ensure the board is up to date and represents a direct reflection of where the work is in terms of progression
• Owns whether issues are ready for refinement
• Owns whether a sprint is ready to start

Impediment Removal

• Identify and work towards resolving blockers to team progress
• Partner with the product owner and external stakeholders to resolve issues

Stakeholder Engagement

• Represent the team in Scrum of Scrums and other cross-team forums
• Foster collaboration and transparency with stakeholders

Performance Monitoring

• Understand and track team velocity
• Coach the team on using velocity data for planning
• Facilitate discussions when velocity deviates from norms

Sprint Success Communication

• Communicate changes in scope, ad hoc requests, or resource constraints
• Protect the teams focus and ensure alignment on sprint goals

Process Improvement

• Integrate best practices from other teams and training
• Monitor team morale and guide conflict resolution
• Promote continuous learning and Agile innovation

Team Support

• Mentor the team in Agile and Scrum practices
• Encourage self-organization and cross-functionality
• Facilitate conflict resolution and team collaboration

Authority

• Empower the team to make decisions
• Request stakeholder support to resolve impediments
• Challenge the team and organization to improve continuously
• Manage the health of the product board, sprint and backlog refinement readiness inline with sprint refinement expectation

Success Metrics

• Consistent execution of Scrum events
• Reduction in recurring impediments
• High team satisfaction and engagement

Collaboration

• Partner with Product Owners to ensure backlog clarity
• Share insights and practices with other Scrum Leaders and Agile Coaches

Review & Adaptation

• This charter will be reviewed quarterly
• Updates will be based on team and stakeholder feedback to ensure ongoing relevance