☝🏼 One practice that helped me learn a ton as a Scrum Master

Like most beginners, I made many mistakes when I started working as a Scrum Master almost ten years ago. One of the most significant learning opportunities for me was shadowing. Let me elaborate 🙌

🔦 Shadowing was a practice we used with a group of Scrum Masters, where we visited each other at various events and observed. We noted group dynamics, facilitation, people’s reactions, outcome of the meeting, gathered quotes and data. At times these were pages and pages of text.

🪞Afterwards, we debriefed:

• the team with observations, potential improvements but also appreciation and our learnings

• the SM (on the side) with the mechanics, people’s reactions, what was missing, what was great and what we learned.

We always emphasised one thing thought👇🏼

This observation is made on the spot and based on X min interactions. As we focused on facts, this was a sound basis for discussion and hearing different interpretations. Yet as with all feedback, it could be accepted or ignored. I’ve seen shadowing do wonders 💡

It showed a mirror to the team with things they might have stopped noticing. It gave the SM a chance to gain a new perspective. It helped me listen more to the team instead of following my own narrative. These small nudges gave food for thought for retrospectives to come. 🧠

Later on, I revitalised an Agile Coach exchange programme and did the same with various organisations like (among others) Spotify, BlaBlaCar, PayU, and PZU. You can read the story here: https://medium.com/agile-change/agile-coaches-exchange-programme-bccf170be622

⚡️ What was the single thing that pushed your learning exponentially as a Scrum Master or an Agile Coach? Why was it important for you? I’m all ears!👂🏼