SCRUM MASTER APPRENTICE FUNCTION
So, I want a little help from you guys.
First, I need to tell you guys some of my history.
My name is Thiago, I'm 23 , and I'm on an internship in a great company. This company is actually going through digital transformations. And also, in my area wich is DPM- Digital Project Management, we're swichting from Tradional PMBOK method to Agile, in the most part Scrum.
Our agile method is comparable to the Spotify Squad Methods. If you don't know what I'm talking about, we divide our projects in groups. As members of this group we can find the Scrum Master(SM), the Product Owner (PO), UX, UI, DEV, and others..
My problem is, my internship is focused in Business Process Management (BPM), but I have a lot of interest in Scrum and projects in general. The thing is, I've been studying Scrum, by the books and, workshops and trainings that the company have been offering, so now I want to become a Scrum Master. But, I think I have to learn more about the practice, and the only way wich I can learn more about the practice itself is applying it.
So I've created a new function in the project group, the Scrum Master Apprentice. This function would join the SM in reunions and go along all the process of the project management itself. Part of the SM job would be teaching project skills and softskills that are necessary for the project management. And the apprentice could do some operational jobs like, documenting the backlog and making presentations. This could be good for the company, because this way the apprentice could become a Scrum Master and they wouldn't need to spend resources hiring or searching for SM's.
I want to ask your guys opinion cause I've asked a friend who study scrum and he told me it would go, somewhat, against the methodology.
Also as a tip for me as a potential Scrum Master, what should I do to show my skills to my company??
thank you!
Are you sure that the Scrum Master role can be prepared for through project management, documenting a backlog, and making presentations? How likely would a Scrum Master be to do those things?
I've seen companies in the States that have different levels of SM: SM 1, SM 2, etc but never seen an "Apprentice" role. Typically, the SM 1 is an employee with the SM certification and either a little experience (1 year or less), formal training on SM, or at least real world exposure to Scrum like working closely with scrum teams. The SM 1 is usually assigned a single Scrum Team so they gain experience in the role and not be overwhelmed with multiple teams. The SM 2 would be the experienced SM's that even though is not ideal per Scrum Guide, typically have 2-3 Scrum Teams that they work with. The higher level SM's are also available for coaching the lower level SM's when needed but they do not regularly attend ceremonies for that SM's team(s). I think this would be the better approach because rather than just doing a few tasks of a Scrum Master, you're doing the job but at a smaller scale and with available coaching.
In your post you mention things about Project Management tasks that the SM's should do but it is not the job of the SM to make presentations or document the backlog. That is the responsibility of the PO but in some cases the SM will take responsibility of these reporting tasks as a way to help the PO; this is more a case by case basis and not the expected norm of a SM.
Thank you Curtis!
You helped a lot, and that's a great idea!
Sure thing! As you said, the best way to learn is by doing; what benefit is it to only learn a portion of a job that you want when you can learn all of it?