Check yourself (before you wreck your Team)

Recently I put together a survey that I sent to my teams. It was a quick five-question survey just to take a pulse of how they perceive me in my role of Scrum Master with them. It was 100% anonymous and, honestly, I was a little nervous about what the results would be.

Here are the questions I asked:

1)    How would you rate the over-all performance of your Scrum Master? (Scale of 1-5)

2)    How would you describe the level of interaction your Scrum Master has with your team?

a.     Too hands off - Doesn't really add much value

b.     Too hands on - Please just let us do our job

c.     Just about right - Interjects when needed, Actively listening when not needed

3)    Which of the following words would you use to describe your Scrum Master? Select all that apply.

a.     Professional

b.     Engaged

c.     Apathetic

d.     Good Listener

e.     Authoritative

f.      In Control

g.     Fun

h.     Inexperienced

i.      Distant

j.      Available

k.     Distracted

l.      Annoying

m.   Responsible

n.     Energetic

o.     Detached

p.     Servant mindset

4)    What could your Scrum Master do to better serve you and/or your team?

5)    Other Comments

The first couple of responses came in and I was pleased that they both were very positive in the first three questions. However, they skipped the last two. And that was okay, but I was hoping to get some open-form feedback. But not to worry, there were more responses to come and lots of learning opportunities.

When I got my first response that wasn’t 100% positive, strangely I felt relieved. I think it was because I knew this person was taking it seriously and putting thought into their answers. And that is really what I wanted. They had some good feedback. Feedback I needed to hear. Information that will help me focus on opportunities moving into the new year that I might have otherwise missed.

 I ended up getting several more responses that also were helpful. Pretty much all of the comments were positive, but gave me insight into the mindset of the team and the concerns they have. It brought out topics that haven’t necessarily come up in retrospectives or other discussions. And I’m not sure they would have come out had I not sent out this survey.

So I challenge any Scrum master or other organizational leader out there to try something similar. Use a survey or some other method that is outside of the retrospective format. Check in with your team and see if you can draw out the unspoken concerns or opportunities for improvement. In my case, thankfully, I don’t think I would have done any damage had I not gotten this feedback, but I would have definitely missed out on some opportunities to really serve the team, and our customers, to my fullest ability.