Is domain knowledge a must to be a great Scrum?Master?

I had a chance to chat with my childhood friend after a long time on WhatsApp recently. 

I was happy to hear about his career progression and family. He is working in the capacity of a technical consultant in his current assignment in Bangalore, India. His entire career seems to be in the e-commerce domain right from his career commenced in Software development.

At one point in time, he was puzzled to hear about my career path and different engagements I was part of over the past. He was curious to understand how I could manage to succeed as a Scrum Master without strong domain knowledge. 

He started arguing that domain knowledge is a must to be a great Scrum Master. Somehow, I couldn't buy his argument wholeheartedly. 

Is domain knowledge a must to be a great Scrum Master?

Borrowing an interesting illustration from Joshua Partogi, Professional Scrum Trainer (PST), Scrum.org on ‘What does Scrum Master do all day? to draw inferences to the question my friend asked.

Scrum is a framework that thrives upon Self-managing teams. The framework provides clear boundaries, accountabilities, and do help with commitments. 

The role of the Scrum Master is to help the Developers and the Scrum Team as such to live by the values of Scrum within their own context and associated tactics identified.

Scrum Masters should actively listen and be curious with their open and powerful questions. Questions that help the developers discover and navigate conflicts between their individual values and Scrum values. 

Scrum Masters do observe patterns in the decisions made as a team and help facilitate bringing in lean thinking and an Agile mindset to guide them collectively to look at their problems.

The opportunities that come from these conversations help the Scrum Master switch between wearing multiple hats viz., guide, facilitator, mentor, or coach.

Every Scrum event demands psychological safety for Scrum team members to inspect and adapt effectively. The Scrum Master help create a safe environment where open and honest conversations do happen.

The Scrum Master help facilitate in revealing the impediments and work together in resolving the same enabling the Scrum team to achieve the Sprint Goal.

Definitely, a fulfilling and challenging role being a Scrum Master in playing the role of 

• A facilitator helping to collaborate within the boundaries of the framework
• Coaching Individuals and the Scrum Team to work in tandem 
• A Leader who serves and help the team in managing themselves
• A Mentor bringing experience through continuous learning & experimentation
• An Impediment Remover helping reveal and resolve Impediments
• A Catalyst of change promoting a culture of trust & transparency

There is a paradigm shift required from Developers and Scrum Team as such from doing Scrum to delivering more value. And, this is not possible without an active role played by the Scrum Master. 

Lack of exposure towards the domain or technology is not going to impede much for the Scrum Master playing his / her role. 

How badly do you need an umbrella in your car?

The most popular and super luxurious Rolls Royce Phantom and Ghost model cars come up with a pop-out umbrella hidden in the door jamb. The well-constructed umbrella priced at 700 USD comes with water repellent coating, mildew resistance, and windproof features. 

700 USD for an umbrella? Are you kidding me?

Who would care for that when they are already sold out with the idea of owning a car for 500000 USD!

(In addition to giving a cover from rains and bright sun) Having a pop-out umbrella hidden in the Rolls Royce:

• May give an initial cover from paparazzi for celebrities when they get down the car 
• Structural elements and the design in the umbrella don’t fold out / fold the other direction during heavy winds

As per an interesting statistic, 4358 Rolls Royce cars were sold globally in 2018 wherein the same year, Indians alone bought 4.4 million cars (which also includes a hundred-odd Rolls Royce). 

These are cars mostly without any umbrellas but still making sense for buyers fulfilling their commute and/or business intent.

Not every car essentially needs to have a pop-out umbrella or let me better reword it; not every car buyer may express interest in having an umbrella with a holder built part of their car.

Wrap Up!

“The first essentials, of course, is to know what you want.” — Robert Collier

Let me bring back the readers’ focus from the analogy of a 700 USD umbrella in Rolls Royce to domain knowledge for Scrum Masters.

It is quite common for a Scrum Master to come from a technical, project management, or business background. And it's going to be of real help here with your knowledge from the past dealing with the Software Development space. But it is not a mandatory thing.

What remains mandatory as attributes for the Master of Scrum (Scrum Master) is Curiosity, Modesty, Patience, Focus, Self Starters and Knows Scrum.

A Scrum Master (master of Scrum) who knows not just Scrum by book, but knows how to help an organization successfully embrace Scrum.

“The Scrum Master is accountable for the Scrum Team’s effectiveness. They do this by enabling the Scrum Team to improve its practices, within the Scrum framework.” — The Scrum Guide 2020

The attributes discussed here become critical to the success of the Scrum Master role enabling him/her to get the job done when compared with bringing just the technical or domain expertise to compliment.

Scrum Master, the master of Scrum. 

Remember the pop-out umbrella in Rolls Royce and million cars sold in India still without that feature?

Hope that clarifies.

Share your views and feedback in the comments section.