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The fastest way to cripple a Scrum Team? Hire the wrong Scrum Master.
Too many companies mistake the Scrum Master for a process admin. Someone to book meetings, write Jira tickets, and make sure the team follows “the rules.”
That’s not a Scrum Master. That’s an event planner.
The real Scrum Master is a lean-agile practitioner, someone who understands product strategy, DevOps, modern engineering, and team dynamics. They’re a change agent, not a note-taker.
A strong Scrum Master:
- Coaches the team to be self-managing, so they don’t depend on them.
- Challenges the status quo and removes obstacles, instead of just escalating them.
- Understands what good looks like in both product and engineering.
- Connects the team with the business, ensuring alignment on value delivery.
A weak Scrum Master? They turn into a Scrum Secretary, maintaining the illusion of agility while the team stagnates.
If you want Scrum to actually work, hire someone who sees Scrum as an enabler of high-performance teams, not just a set of meetings.
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