Top 7 Habits of Highly Successful Scrum Masters and Agile Teams

Sometimes, the simplest gestures carry the most profound insights. The heartfelt letter of appreciation from an Agile team to their Scrum Master shared above, illustrates the transformative impact a great Scrum Master can have. It’s these traits that create thriving teams, foster collaboration, and deliver continuous value.

The role of a Scrum Master goes far beyond facilitating meetings and enforcing Agile practices. It’s about creating an environment where teams can thrive, adapt, and deliver value.

Let’s dive into these key habits and explore how you can cultivate them to become an outstanding Scrum Master.

The best Scrum Masters know that living Agile principles matters more than just following practices.Without a shared understanding of Agile principles, even the most meticulously executed practices can become hollow routines. Teams with a strong foundation in principles like collaboration, adaptability, and continuous improvement can consistently deliver value.

How to Foster Agile Principles:

• Revisit the Agile Manifesto to emphasize the “why” behind the work.
• Leverage retrospectives to reflect on how principles are being upheld.
• Align team goals with customer and organizational priorities.

Example in Action:
An Agile team struggling with prioritization shifted their approach after their Scrum Master facilitated a session on the principle of delivering value early and often by using the ping pong ball game, and refining the sprint planning process. The result? A more streamlined backlog and a noticeable improvement in stakeholder satisfaction.

A Scrum Master wears multiple hats to meet the evolving needs of their team and organization. Understanding when to shift between these roles is critical to fostering a high-performing team.

Key Roles of a Scrum Master:

• Servant Leader: Supports team members and stakeholders to achieve common goals.
• Mentor: Shares Agile expertise to upskill the team.
• Conflict Navigator: Resolves tensions that hinder team collaboration.
• Coach: Guides the team in embracing Agile mindsets and aligning behaviors.
• Facilitator: Ensures productive collaboration during Scrum events.

Key practice:
Balance your involvement by observing when the team can self-organize versus when intervention is needed. Letting teams solve their own challenges fosters ownership and growth, but at the same time, there might be a need to step in to offer guidance. Some opportunities include:

• Involve the team in setting up processes, such as scheduling Scrum events at times that suit everyone.
• Assigning different people to be the Scrum Master so that you can be an observer and guide from the side.

Example in action:
A Scrum Master noticed that their team often waited for directives. By gradually delegating planning tasks and asking, “How would you solve this?” the team became more proactive and confident in their decision-making.

Successful teams rely on steady rhythms and structured retrospectives to maintain focus and adapt effectively. The retrospective should be a safe space for sharing, exploration and ideation that doesn’t become yet another whinging festival.

How to Build Rhythm and Improvement:

• Definite the sprint cadence and ensure people adhere to it consistently.
• Ensure clear roles and responsibilities, as well as sprint goals for each cycle.
• Ensure Scrum events occur at consistent times, creating predictability for the team.
• Experiment with new retrospective questions to keep the sessions engaging and productive.
• Identify patterns in feedback to proactively prevent recurring challenges.

Example in action:
A Scrum Master established a 2 weekly sprint cycle for a mobile app team working on a user registration feature by ensuring clear planning, effective daily standups, and proactive issue resolution. During Sprint Planning, the team committed to realistic goals with a clear Definition of Done. Daily standups kept progress aligned, and mid-sprint, the SM resolved a testing delay after a blocker was identified at stand up. The sprint ended with a successful demo, incorporating stakeholder feedback for future improvements in the UI/UX. In the retrospective, the team identified actionable steps to optimize their workflow, creating a foundation for consistent, predictable delivery in future sprints.

A successful Scrum Master and Agile team never stop learning. They understand that growth comes from reflecting on experiences, embracing feedback, and staying updated with industry trends.

Key Practices:

• Regular Retrospectives: Retrospectives, as mentioned earlier, are also crucial for continuous learning.
• Training and Certifications: Invest in professional development for team members, such as Scrum certifications or specialized Agile courses.
• Knowledge Sharing: Hold regular lunch-and-learn sessions or internal workshops to share new insights and skills.

Example in action:
A team at a mid-sized tech firm struggled with sprint velocity until their Scrum Master initiated a bi-weekly “tech talk.” These sessions boosted cross-functional learning, leading to noticeable improvements in team performance and morale, encouraging both individual and group learning. They would also check in on the effectiveness of the retrospective with a quick check out question. If the score was 3 or less, they would ask instead of general feedback, ask retrospective questions like, ‘What small change could have made the retrospective more effective?’ to inspire actionable improvements.

Agile teams focus on delivering value rather than merely completing tasks. A successful Scrum Master steers the team toward outcome-based thinking, ensuring that every sprint delivers meaningful results, rather than ticking off tasks.

Key Practices:

• Define Success Metrics: Use key performance indicators (KPIs) such as customer satisfaction or time-to-market rather than task completion rates.
• Customer Feedback Loops: Integrate customer feedback into sprint reviews to align deliverables with user needs.
• MVP Approach: Prioritize developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to validate ideas early.

Example in action:
An Agile team working on a mobile app avoided feature bloat (Scope creep) by focusing on user feedback for each sprint. This ensured every release added measurable value to the product.

Successful Agile teams take ownership of their work. They thrive in environments where they’re empowered to make decisions, experiment, and solve problems independently. Google’s research on high-performing teams highlights psychological safety as a critical factor. When team members feel safe to express themselves without fear of judgment, they innovate and collaborate more effectively.

Key Practices:

• Delegation: Allow teams to choose their sprint tasks and decide how to tackle them.
• Encourage Accountability: Make team members responsible for achieving sprint goals while providing the necessary support.
• Create Psychological Safety: Cultivate a culture where mistakes are seen as learning opportunities.

Example in action:
A Scrum Master noticed that their team often waited for directives. By gradually delegating planning tasks and asking, “How would you solve this?” the team became more proactive and confident in their decision-making. Every 2 months, they would also run a Team Health Check on psychological safety and discuss attitudes and behaviors based on the outcome that would help everyone in the team feel like they could participate.

The Agile manifesto emphasizes responding to change over following a plan. Successful Scrum Masters and teams embody this mindset by adapting to challenges without losing focus.

Key Practices:

• Flexible Sprint Planning: Adjust sprint goals based on changing priorities or unforeseen roadblocks.
• Risk Management: Anticipate potential challenges and have contingency plans in place.
• Experimentation: Use spikes to explore solutions to complex problems during sprints.

Example in action:
When a last-minute regulatory update required changes to an ongoing project, a resilient Agile team quickly re-prioritized their backlog. This adaptability prevented delays and ensured compliance.

It’s clear that the best Scrum Masters and Agile teams don’t rely on luck or happenstance—they cultivate habits that drive continuous growth and collaboration. By embracing Agile principles, balancing diverse roles, empowering team ownership, and fostering a culture of improvement, you can unlock your team’s full potential.

Now it’s your turn: Which of these habits will you cultivate next? Whether it’s improving your retrospectives or empowering team ownership, start small and grow from there.

Need a starting point? Why not take this self-assessment quiz to identify your strengths and areas for growth.