As a Scrum Master, I know that serving the Scrum Team, Product Owner, and Organization to adopt Scrum is not easy. It takes time (and a lot of time) and patience. During that long journey, I recognize the importance of continuous improvement. I need to “make up my mind” every day and keep myself up to date through continuous learning. By doing so, I can adapt myself and find better ways to support the Scrum Team and Organization to maximize value with Scrum.
Most of the challenges when working as a Scrum Master were not problems that kept coming up in a typical working day, but the heaviness from my old mind. I feel it’s really hard to accept new things. I feel I start to judge more than listen and understand. Every time I feel like that, I remember one of the Scrum Values – Openness.
“Be observing constantly. Stay open-minded. Be eager to learn and improve.” – John Wooden –
Why Openness is needed for continuous learning?
When we were kids, we had no difficulty learning new things. It was easy to accept new information, like a blank sheet of paper. But as we get older and learn more, we develop a natural filter in our minds. And this filter automatically judges the information we listen to. We become less open as we get older.
A closed mind will limit the Scrum Master’s ability to learn new skills. It can stop you from looking for root causes but makes it easy to judge based on experience rather than real data. Most importantly, as a Scrum Master, you need to keep the Openness (and other Scrum Values) alive in the Scrum Team. You lead by example, not only by being open to learning and listening, but also to the way of working, facing problems, and adapting/changing in an uncertain and complex environment. From that, it will help your Scrum Team to keep and improve the Openness.
Keep yourself fresh! And stay humble.
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize the less I know.” – Michel Legrand –
Every time I find I start to judge rather than listen and observe, I know I am not open. Therefore, I always remind myself to stay humble, recognizing that I don’t know everything and that everyone has something I need to learn from. I also share that with the team and ask them to kick me off once I start to be less open. By doing so, we build Trust within the team and help them to understand the importance of Openness.
