Scrum Master or Project manager - common mistakes that Scrum Master do

Below are few common mistakes that Scrum Master do usually in Agile world : 

1. Acting as a Project Manager: 

Scrum master should not act as a Project Manager. In Agile Methodology, we have daily scrums. Before starting for the day , team gather together and discuss about the current task and next things.Usually team members report "what they did yesterday". Here scrum master should not ask them which task should be the next. Instead here team has to come up with the self organizing for the day. This is where the scrum master makes mistake.He is asking for the next like a manager and not the scrum master. A Scrum Master should ask team members and make them for "what should be finished next?"

2. Scrum Master making decision for the team/team members: 

Most of the time scrum masters are hired as a experienced person, who has good personality, sound knowledge of project management with Good communication skills.Due to this team members rely on scrum master for each and every decision that they should be doing. This is totally wrong. Team has different personalities and knowledge people , and letting them to take decision , express their opinions can help to deliver the good or better things. Ruling over the team, affects the team spirit.

3. Scrum Master holding sole responsibility for the delivery: 

This is a common problem usually in traditional way working companies which has just recently started in Agile methodology. Command - and- control in which single person is responsible for project delivery. But when it comes to the responsibility of the Scrum Master to deliver the product, he/she just concentrates on the product delivery, ignoring the quality. To avoid this, stop planning projects individually. Planning is collectively done by the team members. It needs each and every team member to adhere to the commitments, to understand the target and the way to achieve that.

4. Not removing obstacles at an initial stage: One of the main roles of the Scrum Master is to remove the speed-breakers. The daily stand-ups are the best way to communicate the obstacles to get the task done. But in case these barriers, (more correctly, the issues or constraints), are not escalated by the team members, Scrum Master will fail to remove them. Scrum Master should remind the team at the very beginning to present

the potential blockers which might delay the deliverable.

5.Not conducting Retrospectives after every Sprint.

One of the principles from the Agile Manifesto states that- “At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly”. Agile is about the adjustments, fine-tuning and versatility. Not conducting retrospectives decrease team's efficiency and derail the project as finding the gaps become difficult without it later on.

6. Not adhering to the Agile Manifesto:  The agile manifesto gives us the core principles and key values required to become an agile team. Therefore not adhering to the agile manifesto can ultimately lead to failure in the implementation of agile and so the delivery of project.

7. Less or no stand-up: Communication on daily basis allows to keep transparency, visibility, velocity, collaboration into the project and making the smooth delivery. Discussion-based stand-ups are very effective and provide insights into the latest happenings in the Scrum team. It should never be neglected by the Scrum master.

8. Non-prioritized product backlog: Not Ready- product backlog is most common behind the Sprint Failure. Scrum master need to ensure to make backlog ready before the next sprint and it is good.

9. Not considering, handing over the ownership to team: sometime scrum team keeps the backlog task undone, and shift to next sprint, this is due to team fails to complete the high priority task to finish on time. Scrum master should involve and plan the next sprint with involvement of team.

10. Out of Capacity tasks - Scrum master should not overburden the tasks, only when current sprint ends , next sprint should begins. Sprint overlapping should not be there making team members overburden.

These are few common mistakes usually done by Scrum master, and knowing them will surely help to avoiding them.