“The only thing worse than starting something and failing… is not starting something.” -Seth Godin. In the Agile world, the Scrum Master and the Product Owner launch into action together, guided by flexibility and adaptability.
Prioritization Techniques
To help the Product Owner (PO) manage the product backlog effectively, the Scrum Master can teach him different prioritization techniques. Among these techniques, we find:
- MoSCoW : Allows you to categorize backlog items into “Must-have”, “Should-have”, “Could-have” and “Won’t-have” (Dorothy Graham, 1999).
- WSJF : This is a technique that considers both the business value of each task and the effort required to complete it (Dean Leffingwell, 2007).
Facilitating User Stories
The Scrum Master helps the PO to formulate User Stories following the model “As a [user], I want [action], in order to [benefit]”. This promotes a clear understanding of user expectations and needs (Cohn, 2004).
Organization of Backlog Grooming Workshops
The Scrum Master conducts Backlog Grooming workshops with the PO and Development Team to ensure that all parties understand the tasks at hand and are ready for future sprints (Schwaber & Beedle, 2002).
Estimation Techniques
In order to estimate the complexity and effort required for each task in the backlog, the Scrum Master can introduce estimation techniques such as Poker Planning. This approach encourages dialogue and consensus within the team (Grenning, 2002).
Coaching and Mentoring
The Scrum Master plays a mentoring role, training the PO on Agile principles and practices, to maximize the value delivered by the team.
Conclusion
The Scrum Master is a crucial facilitator in the Agile team, helping the PO optimize team performance and deliver a product that meets user needs and business objectives.
References
- Dorothy Graham (1999), “Software Inspection”
- Dean Leffingwell (2007), “Scaled Agile Framework”
- Mike Cohn (2004), “User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development”
- Ken Schwaber & Mike Beedle (2002), “Agile Software Development with Scrum”
- James Grenning (2002), “Planning Poker or How to avoid analysis paralysis while release planning”