Scrum Master Choices – Professionalising the Teacher Stance, Part 3
Prior to reading this blog, please read the introduction to this series here.
Professional Teaching is not a transactional exchange. It is not defined by how confidently content is presented or how smoothly the session ran. In reality, teaching at a professional level is a cyclical process of adaptation, where the educator is continually inspecting how learners are responding and then adjusting to support deeper understanding. In this post, I will explore Evaluation, the next competency in this series that focuses on professionalising the Scrum-Master-as-a-Teacher stance.
A Scrum Master does not simply tell a product team what to do because that isn't their job (but it is part of it). They enter into a learning engagement with the team which is bi-directional. A Scrum Master agrees to learn their domain and processes whilst supporting them to become more effective and efficient, whilst the team agrees to engage in a growth/learning mindset This engagement begins with identifying a need, is followed by teaching with intent, and is shaped by continuous feedback and refinement. At the core of this practice is evaluation but not in the sense of scoring or testing, but as a means of validating learning and progress. For example, you run a Definition of Done creation workshop - can you prove to us all that it was impactful, purposeful and creating lasting change? The aim with evaluation to discover whether learning occurred - in a product sense, it's evidence-based management of progress.
In the context of Professional Scrum, this means something very specific. Scrum is built on empirical process control i.e. transparency, inspection, and adaptation. If a team is to continuously improve, they must understand their current system of work. That understanding includes not only what they do but why they do it. The frameworks, the values, and the underlying principles are not an end-state. They are tools for navigating complexity. And if those tools are misunderstood or misapplied, any effort to improve is likely to be shallow or misplaced.
Therefore, a Professional Teacher working within a Scrum environment is not just evaluating whether someone can recite the Scrum Guide (can I get a 'hell no'?). They are evaluating whether the team truly grasps the purpose behind their practices, whether they understand the reasons that iterative delivery is beneficial, and whether they recognise what’s preventing them from achieving agility. This is nuanced, ongoing work, and it places the accountability squarely with the teacher i.e. the Scrum Master. Whilst it is a commonly held belief that the burden of learning is on the learner, the Professional Teacher rightly owns that burden themselves. In a formal education context, this accountability is obvious. A teacher whose pupils consistently underperform doesn’t blame the children; they need to reflect on their methods. They examine their assumptions. They change their practice. It is this same ethic that separates the act of teaching from the profession of teaching.
In Agile Coaching or Scrum Master circles, there’s a tendency to lean into self-management as a reason to avoid teaching altogether (or at least to deliver it passively). The logic would go: if my team didn’t respond to the teaching, maybe they weren’t ready? But readiness is not a binary state, and it is certainly not static. In the classroom, a skilled practitioner knows when to switch delivery methods, when to revisit prior learning, and when to stop altogether and clarify a concept from a different angle. The same must apply here. The Professional Teacher is not committed to the content but they are committed to the learners' understanding.
That’s why evaluation is not a step that happens at the end of a workshop or theme of work. The Scrum Master should be evaluating constantly. It includes every question asked mid-conversation, every moment of body language interpreted, every small test of understanding, every "Oh! It's not refinement again, is it!?". It is both structured and intuitive. The Professional Teacher is always observing.
Let’s take a practical example. Imagine a team challenges the value of having a Sprint Goal. They express frustration that it feels artificial or that it’s rarely met. A trainer might respond by delivering a definition, or perhaps referencing the Scrum Guide. A Professional Teacher, on the other hand, will probe. They’ll evaluate what the team really believes about the Sprint Goal. Is it seen as a plan, a promise, a negotiation, a contract? Do they understand it as a unifying purpose for the Sprint? And then crucially they will respond based on what they find. They might offer a metaphor. They might walk through real examples. They might pause the conversation and bring in a canvas to co-create a future Sprint Goal. They adapt, not because the content changed, but because the understanding didn’t land. Evaluation doesn’t end when your Powerpoint slides do.
To take this further, let’s consider how we might embed evaluation into our everyday practice. It starts by asking the right questions. Not of the team, but of ourselves:
How will I know they’ve understood?
What will I look for while I teach them something new?
What will I do if I don’t see it?
These are not questions we ask in hindsight. They are questions that shape the design of the learning moment itself. It's called Assessment for Learning and you can even see this concept in the Professional Teacher Standards (Standards 4, 5 and 6) of the UK education system. The Professional Teacher anticipates misunderstanding and plans for it. They also revisit the topic later, perhaps in a Retrospective, perhaps through informal conversation to check how the learning is showing up in the product team's practice.
Evaluation Criteria
As the Scrum Master:
I use questioning and reflection to gauge understanding throughout a workshop and not just at the end.
I vary my teaching based on evidence of learning, not assumptions.
I revisit and reinforce key concepts over time, based on observed gaps or misconceptions.
I adjust the pace, structure, or depth of a topic depending on team feedback (explicit or implied).
I evaluate my own delivery based on outcomes, not performance.
As the Scrum Team:
We reflect on whether we understand our ways of working and principles not just whether we can describe them.
We feel safe to admit confusion or gaps in understanding.
We apply the learning from workshops in meaningful ways and share our insights.
We recognise when further support or teaching is needed and seek it proactively.
As the organisation:
They value learning outcomes and reflection as part of the delivery cycle.
They create space and time for iterative teaching and development and acknowledge is as part of 'working time'.
They support the Scrum Master in their role as a learning facilitator, not just as a delivery manager.
Actionable Ideas
Teaching Reviews: After a session, ask the team to write down one thing they’ve understood more clearly and one thing they still have questions about. Use this to inform follow-up.
Knowledge Retrospectives: Periodically replace or augment a Sprint Retrospective with a knowledge-focused session. What have we learned? What do we not yet understand enough to use effectively?
Mini-Teachbacks: After introducing a concept, ask a team member to explain it back in their own words. Listen carefully as this is rich evaluation data.
Embedded Checkpoints: During a workshop, deliberately stop at planned moments and ask, “What’s the most important thing we've heard so far?” This gives you feedback and cements their learning through application.
To teach professionally is to take responsibility for what learners walk away with. It is to hold ourselves to account for not only the message delivered, but for the change in understanding (and process improvement) that follows. Evaluation is not an add-on. It is not optional. It is what makes the difference between speaking and being understood.
As a Scrum Master, when you adopt the teacher stance, you are not simply sharing knowledge. You are facilitating growth. And growth, by its very nature, needs to be measured, nurtured, and adjusted over time.
In the next blog, we will explore the ‘Continued Development’ competency and how the Professional Teacher sustains their growth alongside their learners. Because if teaching is a craft, it must be practised with intention and refined with care.