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Potential things to work upon by Scrum Master when entire team is out

Last post 06:17 pm November 10, 2020 by Sebastian Synoradzki
7 replies
06:12 am November 2, 2020

Hi All,

Please assist me with what are the potential things / tasks SM can work upon when entire team is out for a week due to company holiday.

 


10:33 am November 2, 2020

If there is some kind of disconnect between the Scrum Master and the rest of the team (as it sounds by the Scrum Master not being on holiday as well), maybe the Scrum Master will add transparency to the impact of this way of working.


12:31 pm November 2, 2020

I agree with Simon Mayer that there is a disconnect if the entire team is out of work for a holiday, yet the Scrum Master is expected to work. This seems like a very strange arrangement for everyone involved, and even brings up questions as if there are cases where the Scrum Master has a holiday (other than planned vacations and such) yet the team is working.

Anyway, there's probably someone that is responsible for the work you are doing, perhaps a manager or the person who is leading the agile values, principles, and culture in the organization. The first thing I'd do is contact this person (preferably before they go on holiday as well, if it applies to them) and understand what they expect to be done at this time. If I had to give a suggestion to them, I'd probably lean toward some kind of professional development. Especially today, there are a lot of resources available online, including virtual training. Perhaps there is a training course during this week that would provide useful knowledge to bring back to the team. Additionally, preparing coaching or training material for the team would be useful.


03:58 pm November 2, 2020

Well, if it is a company holiday the DevTeam is taking but the SM not, there are not nessecarily issues between DevTeam and SM.

I am sitting in Germany but part of my DevTeam is sitting in Egypt. When they have their big feasts they are off for a week, while I am working with the few Germans in the DevTeam. I have also seen mails by our supporters in China or Japan that they have company holidays for a week and I think in India this also is the case for few holidays.

 

Is the PO also on Holidays or just the DevTeam? If the PO is working, you might concentrate on the PO, if there are any ways to optimize something in how the PO works or how the backlog is maintained.

You can train stakeholders about Agile and Scrum values/principles, coach your organization...

If there is absolutely nothing to do, do some self studies about Scrum. November 18th the new Scrum Guide will be published in a live event. If that is in the week, join the event. If it is after, study the new guide. Check out if there are any new tipps, check if you can optimize your way to retrospect...

 


05:41 pm November 2, 2020

Please assist me with what are the potential things / tasks SM can work upon when entire team is out for a week due to company holiday.

According to the Scrum Guide, what services should the Scrum Master provide to others outside the team, including the wider organization?

Bear in mind that there could be a multi-company organization he or she is part of.


08:20 am November 4, 2020

@Simon, Thomas, Tim - I am located in India and entire team (Devteam and PO) are located in US.

They have a one week holiday due to Chirstmas. As I am a contractor and does not work for the same company on permanent basis, I am excluded from the holiday. 

"Training" to enhance the skills is one solution got from above conversation. What else can be performed by the SM during this time?


11:13 am November 4, 2020

in the Scrum context there is not much to be done, as everything should be self organized by the Scrum Team and not given by the SM. You can of course go through things that were done, inspecting if there is something you think should be adapted, to bring it up at the next Retro or Daily.

Other than that in Scrum context you can self-study on Scrum, but also other Agile Methodologies, for example Kanban, which many Scrum Masters like to combine with Scrum for several reasons. Keep your eye open on other methodologies, to check if the approach of your team can be improved using other methods or bringing in parts of those methods.


02:10 pm November 10, 2020

Learn about systemic coaching, clean language + questioning, thinking fast and slow, the 5 minute coach, evolvagility, agendashift etc. Work on your coaching skills.


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