Professional Scrum Master I (PSM I)People & TeamsHard
A Scrum Team has been together for several Sprints, but the Scrum Master notices that the Developers rarely engage in discussions or offer opinions during Sprint Retrospectives, often waiting for the Scrum Master to prompt them. From the perspective of fostering a self-managing team, what is the best approach for the Scrum Master to take?
- ACoach the Developers on the importance of contributing to continuous improvement and actively facilitate their voices.
- BDesign a new, highly structured Retrospective format with mandatory individual contributions for every item.
- CIntroduce a rotation system where each Developer must lead a segment of the Retrospective.
- DShare anonymized feedback from previous Retrospectives to encourage more participation.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Coach the Developers on the importance of contributing to continuous improvement and actively facilitate their voices.
A self-managing team takes responsibility for its own continuous improvement. The Scrum Master's role is to coach them to embrace this accountability and facilitate an environment where their voices are heard and valued, rather than imposing structures or forcing participation.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. This is a prescriptive, top-down approach that hinders self-organization and doesn't foster intrinsic motivation for contribution.
- C. While it forces participation, it doesn't necessarily address the underlying reasons for their silence or foster genuine self-management.
- D. This might provide context but doesn't directly coach the team to overcome their reluctance to speak up or take ownership of the Retrospective.
Facilitating Self-managing Retrospectives
The Scrum Master facilitates Sprint Retrospectives to empower the Scrum Team to identify, discuss, and implement improvements to their process, fostering their ability to self-manage their continuous improvement.
- Encourages transparency and inspection.
- Helps the team own their improvement actions.
- Ensures a safe environment for open discussion.
Memory trick: A silent retrospective needs a coach's touch, not a dictator's clutch.