How Many Teams Can a Scrum Master Support? with Rosemary Atanga and Quincy Jordan

This week, Dan Neumann is joined by two of his colleagues, Rosemary Atanga and Quincy Jordan. In this episode, they explore the answer to a very common question: How many teams can or should a Scrum Master Support? Dan, Rosemary, and Quincy talk about the role of a Scrum Master and how it is affected by supporting one, two, or even more Teams. They dive deep into many examples of when different ratios could work keeping effectiveness and a healthy environment as priorities.

 

Key Takeaways

• How many teams can or should a Scrum Master support?
• • Sometimes supporting too many teams is a matter of budget and financing.
  • Effectiveness is different than being busy, someone can be busy doing nothing. Having one Scrum Master working with multiple Teams can really affect the effectiveness of his work.
  • There must be a process for a Scrum Master to take the lead of a second Team, making sure first this Team is stable and understands all the Agile principles.
  • Are you setting the Team up for success or failure? Are you wearing out your Scrum Master? Even if it works, it is not sustainable.
• The role of a scrum master:
• • The Scrum Master needs to be an Agile Champion and to become the coach for his Team; it is crucial that every member knows about the accountabilities in order to grow into maturity.
  • The Scrum Master is there to coach and mentor the Team on best practices to really see the best benefits of Agile.
  • A Scrum Master has to foster a healthy Scrum environment.
• One Scrum Master for one Team:
• • This is a healthy ratio, it is a very good starting point for a Team that is at the beginning of its Agile Journey.
  • If the Scrum Master is supporting a very mature Team, they will be less dependent, and then it is more suitable for the Scrum Master to think to take a second Team.
• One Scrum Master for two Teams:
• • A one-to-two ratio is really ideal; in general, it works better this way.
  • The ratio usually depends on the projects, especially if a Team is taking more than one project at a time.
• One Scrum Master for three or more Teams:
• • If the Scrum Master has two Teams that are pretty mature, and one that needs more help, it might be possible to be the support for the three Teams.
  • If it is only very temporary a Scrum Master could take more than three Teams; it will be very wearing on the Scrum Master, it is not a healthy situation but is something that could be done if there are strategic reasons to do so.
  • It is not a recommended scenario.
• What can go wrong if the Scrum Master is overloaded?
• • Lack of focus. Every Team has different needs, so it will be hard to balance and give the same attention to all Teams.
  • The Scrum Master’s morale can be affected.
  • The health of the Team can be affected since they are not getting the support they need.

 

Mentioned in this Episode:

“The Scrum Master Checklist,” by Michael James.

 

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