Anyone here working as a Scrum Master?

[Hullabalooo]

Exactly that! I'm thinking about changing careers but utilising existing skills and thought this kind of work in the IT sector but people focussed would be a possibility.

Anyone know much about it/ how to get into it?

We did 4 days, but that included certifying as scrum master and also doing product owner training. It was bespoke in house training so slightly different to the normal courses

Thanks for this. It's really helping to build a picture of what it's like as a role

@rvpisnomore could I send you a copy of my current cv to have a quick look. See if you can see transferable skills? Hope not a massive ask!

Of course. Will pm you.

Thank you!

Hello. I’m a Product Manager/Owner and as you can see from some of these answers it’s important to remember that the definition of what a PM/O and SM do is different depending on the company, the team and the industry. In some cases it might change from project to project.

In base terms though: you’re ensuring a self-managing team has all the resources they need to keep working. This can mean working inside the team to make sure requirements are clear, or working outside the team to tell the CTO more resources (Dev, servers, cake) are needed.

Trad project management can be useful, or a detriment depending on what kind of personality you are - a SM is a servant-leader not a manager. You won’t be expected nor will it be desired that you produce any kind of spreadsheet or Gantt chart; however you will want to keep an eye on sprint cadence so you can guide the team to more realistic commitments. Your PO/M will also be concerned about this since the ultimate responsibility for delivering the project/product/software rests with her, not you.

People skills and ability to speak up should be as desirable as tech knowledge but you’ll get more respect in team if you can have vague understanding of concepts and complexities.

Good luck!

Some good advice and descriptions of scrum master here and sone terrible advice. Which reflects quite well how variable the quality of agile is. SophieLeGiraffe has the right idea.

Generally, a pm mindset is a hindrance for a SM but it doesn't stop lots of PM's doing SN roles (generally poorly, by applying PM works view and practices but using agile terms to describe them).

Read the scrum guide and watch the Scrum Alliance eLearning videos on their website but be aware that Scrum is deceptively simple but really hard to master in the real world. Hiring a scrum master with zero real world experience would be a proper gamble (and probably a sign that the company isn't going to be able to be very agile, which will compound the difficulties you would face) so best to try to get dome experience or apply the technique on your existing work to get to know it.

Basic certifications (CSM, PSM) are simple attend remember badges, and not an indication of quality, the more advanced levels (A-CSM, Certified Team Coach, PSM2/3, etc) are more rigorous and require experience and variety of engagements.)

Good luck! It's a really rewarding role once you master it, but not as similar to a PM role as it might appear.

Terrible spelling and autocorrect- sorry. For SN read SM, and works view is 'world view'

Wow you lot know your stuff! Incredibly helpful. Thank you.