How can you evaluate your success as a Scrum Master using metrics? Agile metrics is a complicated topic with no one-size-fits-all solution. There are many options to choose from. Where do you even start?
In this three part series, I’d like to explore how Scrum Master accountabilities can guide you to choose metrics you can collect and track to evaluate yourself and your team.
Watch the video below to learn more about the first group of metrics related to your product and the results of the work of the team.
Agile metrics to help your Scrum or Kanban team improve
Agile Metrics to Measure the Success of Scrum
Scrum Master accountabilities
Looking back at the Scrum Guide 2020 we can clearly see what the Scrum Master is accountable for:
The entire Scrum Team is accountable for creating a valuable, useful Increment every Sprint.
The Scrum Master is accountable for establishing Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide.
The Scrum Master is accountable for the Scrum Team’s effectiveness.
Scrum Guide 2020
We can easily translate these accountabilities in benefits of having a Scrum Master – what are the results of the Scrum Master’s work:
The Scrum Team is delivering a Done Increment every Sprint
Scrum is being followed with all elements, rules, values, and principles
The Scrum Team is high-performing and is continuously improving
This list in turn gives us a way to track success of a Scrum Master with qualitative and quantitative metrics.
Done Increment every Sprint
The whole point of Scrum is to deliver a Done Increment every sprint. It comes back to working software over comprehensive documentation.
Only a usable working product brings value to our customers, so it has to be our focus.
As a Scrum Master you can track how close your team is to delivering a Done Increment every Sprint and what is getting in their way. You can also look into your product quality and the Definition of Done.
In the end, if your team deliver a Done high-quality Increment every single Sprint, you are successful in your role, together with the whole Scrum Team.
Understanding the key concepts of agility and Scrum
Agile and Scrum are not just processes or rules to follow. As we say, Scrum is easy to understand and difficult to master.
To be able to achieve success with it, it’s essential to understand key concepts and foundational principles.
If you’d like to take the next step as an Agile professional, the online course Success with Agile and Scrum is a great place to start. Learn more about how to become successful in an Agile environment and how to become an awesome Scrum Master
How close is your team to Done?
That’s a question to ask yourself and your team: are we getting to Done? If not, what can you do?
A little time for self-reflection. Share your insights in the comments below.