Scrum Master Training in Bangalore

What is a scrum master?

A Scrum Master is the facilitator of a scrum, the lightweight agile framework that focuses on time-boxed iterations called sprints as we described earlier. As a facilitator, the scrum master's act as a coach to the rest of the team members. “Servant leaders” is what the Scrum Guide tags the Scrum master as. Good scrum masters are committed to the scrum foundation and values while remaining flexible and open to new methods for the team to improve their workflow.

Why is Scrum Master necessary?

All scrum trainers will teach you that a scrum team must have a scrum master. Without one, the team is lacking the one thing needed to be called a true-scrum, often referred to as scrum-but.When starting with scrum, it can be a huge support to have someone in the role of a scrum master, as they have seen scrum work before and know how to handle the hurdles. Better yet, they have seen many examples of it working through the regular issues. For this reason, scrum masters are hired as consultants to get the team in a flow, rather than as full-time employees.Every scrum team is different. Many experienced teams are able to handle the responsibilities listed as a strong unit and take pride and enjoyment in the shared management of the process of completing a project. The role of scrum master moves around through the team, with team members facilitating standups and retros in turn-taking on the role of a scrum master. This is in an ideal team where many successful projects have been completed and many issues have been seasoned through experience. Even these teams sometimes need to employ a scrum master when a big project is received in a field which is new for them. And for some teams, the right thing to do is just to have the same person play the role of the scrum master every day. Unfortunately, misunderstanding the scrum master's role often leads existing managers to presume it is their job. To better understand why this could be a problem, let’s compare the scrum master to a non-scrum role you may already see in an organization, and why it's important to keep the roles separate from each other.

Scrum Master Responsibilities :

In an ideal agile world, the team would manage their process and tool independently. Yet we’ve found that many teams working towards agile often require a scrum master as the head of their process. It takes a long time for responsibility and authority to connect the team as one cohesive unit. And till this occurs, a scrum master is required. In this context, the role of the scrum master can be as lightweight as setting up the scrum ceremonies or as intricate as any other scrum team member and their extensive jobs. The Scrum Guide lists how the scrum master serves any other scrum role. Indeed, we find that scrum masters often perform some or all of the following, although none are defined by scrum:

• Standups - Facilitate daily standups as required.
• Iteration/sprint planning meetings – This protects the team from getting over-committed and scope creep. Aids in estimation as well as sub-task creation.
• Sprint reviews – Help participate in the meeting and capture user feedback.
• Retrospectives – Note the key areas for improvement and action items for future sprints to be successful.
• Board administration – Work as an administrator of the scrum board to ensure that cards are up to date and the scrum tool, Jira software or otherwise, is working in perfect harmony.
• 1-on-1s – Meet with the various team members individually and with stakeholders as needed. Take care of team disagreements about the process and work styles of the completion of the project. Many scrum practitioners are against 1-on-1, as they believe these communications must happen during team standups, while some teams, particularly new teams, prefer to have these regular 1-on-1 interactions with specific team members. The scrum master eventually decides that these individual interactions are crucial for team development and them to get to know one another intimately.
• Internal Consulting – Scrum masters have to be ready to consult with team members and internal stakeholders on how best to manage the scrum team.
• Reporting – Regular analysis of burndown charts and various portfolio planning tools to understand what gets built and at what pace.
• Blockers – The scrum master helps the team by removing any external blockers and taking care of internal roadblocks through a process or workflow of improvements.
• Busy work – If the scrum team isn’t in tune, that’s the problem of the scrum master. That could mean fixing broken computers, moving desks around, or even adjusting the thermostat of the workplace. Scrum masters should be at ease with doing just about anything to help their teamwork in ease and should not slink away from any task be it as simple as getting the coffee machine fixed or loading the updated sprint plan up to the team.

Best Scrum Tool Selection Criteria :

The industry's scrum software tools include various features that facilitate you to plan, execute, and ship software. Some scrum tools are primarily concerned with backlog grooming and sprint execution, whereas others include sophisticated burndown reports and kanban boards. However, there is no single tool.Allow you to run sprints: This is an obvious requirement. However, you'd be surprised at how many scrum tools are available that don't even have a dedicated view for you to run your sprint.Keeps customers at the centre: Customer feedback and requests should be at the centre of your software development. While it is the responsibility of the product owner to manage and prioritise feedback, it should not be difficult to collect this feedback and bring it together from your helpdesk software, live chat app, error monitoring tools. Promotes transparency and aids in the visibility of progress: The best scrum tools allow you to track at both the micro and macro levels without causing chaos. Developer-friendly: At the end of the day, it is up to the developers to keep everyone updated on the status of the project. If they are dissatisfied with the tool and fail to update progress, it is difficult to know who is doing what and when the feature will be released.

Various Integration Available Tools for Scrum Master :

• Zepel: It collects customer requests from various tools, prioritises them, and track their development progress every step of the way. It provides a snapshot of the work at each level. You can simply drag-and-drop cards to prioritise features, visually track feature progress, and use Progress as a roadmap to align your entire team on a common goal.
• Trello: Trello allows you to create an unlimited number of Boards and use each one to plan and track almost anything, from a roadmap to a simple task list, sprints, and even something as broad as a wedding. You can make a card, categorise it, add comments, set due dates, and assign owners to it.
• Jira: JIRA is marketed as the industry's agile tool, and it offers nearly every agile capability. However, this is one of the primary reasons why several teams are abandoning JIRA. If you haven't used JIRA before, it can be difficult to get started due to its steep learning curve, slowness, and clutter. JIRA has over 3000 integrations that you can use for your projects, according to my research. These integrations are used to track time, connect to external tools, and more.
• Zoho Sprints: Zoho Sprints lets you schedule meetings and send invitations with a location and duration. This is ideal for running Scrum meetings. Zoho Sprints provides reports such as burndown charts, burnup charts, and cumulative, as well as logged times that you can manually enter, allowing you to see how your team is progressing.
• Yodiz: Yodiz is a project management tool that is simple to use. It is compatible with both the Kanban and Scrum methodologies. Its ability to take any raw data and turn it into charts that you can use to see if your team is stuck and needs assistance. This tool also allows you to add time estimates, multiple columns for tracking work, and priorities. Yodiz is also free if you are an NGO or a non-profit organisation.
• Sprintly: It integrates well with Github and allows your development team to update their work from Github automatically. Other integrations, if required, are handled by Zapier. Sprintly has a sophisticated search syntax and a user-friendly type-ahead UI. If you prefer to use a mouse, they have point-and-click search filters that make it easy to find tickets. According to some online reviews, one of Sprintly's biggest drawbacks is that there are no due dates or a dedicated view for sprints or scrum boards. It also tends to slow down and impede the team's productivity.
• nTask: nTask is primarily a project management tool that includes several features that make Scrum implementation simple for you. It includes features such as Gantt charts and time sheets, which can be useful for tracking progress and deciding on next steps. nTask, like Zoho Sprints, includes advanced meeting participant controls that can be used to schedule and productively execute your daily scrum meetings without fear of losing productivity.
• VersionOne: VersionOne is a feature-rich and adaptable agile project management tool. It is compatible with Kanban, Scrum, a hybrid of the two, and even SAFe. This enables businesses to scale more quickly and efficiently. VersionOne enables you to plan and track portfolio and programme level initiatives. It provides you with end-to-end visibility into the performance of your project and reports to help you make data-driven decisions.
• VivifyScrum: VivifyScrum is a project management tool that supports kanban and scrum methodologies. It includes basic collaboration features such as assigning roles to team members and more. One of its more useful features is the ability to link projects to relevant collaboration boards from which team members can track their progress. It includes a product backlog, the ability to have multiple sprints active, a sprint goal, and the ability to view its progress as a report as part of the scrum features.

Benefits of Scrum Master Certification :

• The Agile methodology is sweeping the globe, and the CSM credential can help you stand out from the crowd. This certification demonstrates that you are a leader capable of providing expertise far beyond that of a traditional project manager. A Scrum Master Certification demonstrates that you possess the potential that companies seek in Scrum Masters. Scrum Masters are in high demand because every team requires a dedicated person who can run and perform various Agile projects.
• Acquire and Effectively Apply Scrum: Whether you are a Scrum novice or a professional who has previously used Scrum, a certification broadens your knowledge and can assist you in overcoming obstacles. It's especially useful when managing large teams across multiple departments using the same framework.
• Improve Team Leadership and Collaboration and you can motivate and lead your teammates as a Certified ScrumMaster. You will guide them and ensure that the team works well together. The Certified Scrum Master credential shows your employees that you have the experience and skills to successfully lead an agile team. It also serves as a differentiator, demonstrating to potential employers that you have the education.
• Advance Your Career is becoming a Certified Scrum Master can significantly broaden your career options. This certification will make you more relevant and competitive in your field, allowing you to offer a higher salary than your non-certified peers. It also provides you with the necessary skills to contribute to organizational change and the achievement of the company's objectives. It also demonstrates that you have an agile mindset, which is beneficial to your organization.