Scrum Master/ Seattle, WA (Onsite) 6 Months Contract

Scrum Master

An experienced Scrum Master is needed to support a team relatively new to Agile Methodology. Specifically, the Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring that Scrum is understood and enacted and that the Scrum Team adheres to Scrum theory, practices, and rules. The Scrum Master is a participative leader for the Scrum Team who helps remove impediments to the Development Team's progress and who understands and practices agility. The Scrum Master helps those outside the Scrum Team understand which of their interactions with the Scrum Team are helpful and which are not. The Scrum Master helps everyone change these interactions to maximize the value created by the Scrum Team. In addition to the Scrum Master responsibilities, this Scrum Master creates high performing teams who share a common vision, goals, metrics. They enable teams to collaborate, challenge and hold each other accountable to achieve outstanding results.

Scope of responsibility:

• Promotes and supports Agile and Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide and SAFe framework. Teaches and coaches Scrum Team(s) regarding Scrum theory, practices, and rules.
• Ensures that all Scrum ceremonies take place with the proper attendees, ensures that attendees understand their purpose, and facilitates Scrum ceremonies as requested or needed. Promotes collaboration and tries to achieve synergy between team members and with other teams, Products and Components.
• Teaches and coaches across multiple teams regarding how to write better user stories, acceptance criteria, sizing of stories, planning to deliver value, limiting WIP, the importance of continuous learning, including continuous improvement within each sprint.
• Supports Product Owner/Manager(s) by finding techniques for effective Product Backlog management, understanding product planning in an empirical environment, and teaches/coaches Product Owner(s) on how to arrange the Product Backlog to maximize value.
• Resolves cross-team dependencies and impediments to the Development Team's progress that the team is unable to resolve themselves.
• Improves the skills and abilities of self and the team through continuous learning, development, participation in activities like lunch & learns, and engaging in organizational learning opportunities such as CoPs, Book Clubs, and Hackathons. Demonstrates a growth mindset and zest for learning new technical and soft people skills. Continuously improves their skills and abilities to enable them to teach and coach diverse audiences.
• Effectively analyzes and leverages empirical data (i.e., metrics) to continuously improve quality, transparency, delivery predictability, and organizational decision-making.
• Balances teaching and coaching. The Scrum Master frequently encounters situations where individuals and teams require advice on how to handle a situation. This role will coach the team how to best proceed, most often through asking questions instead of providing an answer. It is a challenging role, one which requires the ability to handle difficult conversations and provide targeted and nuanced responses. The Scrum Master helps grow the overall level of the team members.

Sample outcomes: Product Owners/Managers and Delivery team members can demonstrate their knowledge of Scrum and Agile by functioning as a team, participating in Scrum ceremonies, speaking intelligently about how Scrum and Agile works, and work as a system of teams that produce a high-value product for the business/customer.