Growing Past a ‘Just-Enough’ Scrum Master

Starting Without Experience

I became Scrum Master simply because my predecessor had quit, and the team needed someone to keep things moving. I volunteered - partly out of curiosity, partly because I figured I already knew Scrum well enough. Maybe all I had to do was keep the wheel spinning the way it was.

At the beginning, I ran everything exactly as it had always been: daily meetings on time, planning sessions with the right format, retros with tidy agendas, tasks clearly laid out on the board. I read the Scrum Guide, memorized the terms, kept track of the timings, and followed every step by the book. Everything ran like a machine - flawless, but soulless.

I thought I was doing fine. But the longer I did it, the more I felt something was missing. I didn’t really know why I was doing those things, nor did I see how they brought deeper value to the team. I understood the role of a Scrum Master in theory, but I couldn’t feel its essence. I was doing everything “right”, yet it all felt flat.

The sprints kept rolling, the work got done, and the meetings took place. We could call it “stable”. But beneath that stability, I started noticing cracks - small conflicts no one addressed, the same topics coming up in retros but never being resolved, Sprint Goals drifting away from what customers truly needed. It felt like we were stuck in a loop - always moving, but not moving forward.

Realizing Something Was Missing

At that time, I still put my Developer role first. Being a Scrum Master was just a side job, or so I thought. As long as nothing broke and the process stayed intact, that was enough. Until one day, after a sprint that didn’t go so well, I sat quietly and remembered a saying I’d once heard - simple, not new, but this time it struck me differently:

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

I sat in silence for a long time. And then I asked myself: Is my team actually going together? Or are we just moving in parallel, each in our own direction, sharing a sprint backlog but not really the same journey? From that moment, I began to change - not the team, but myself first.

Learning to Truly Listen

I stopped running meetings like a checklist and began to truly listen - not only to what was said, but also to what was left unsaid. I revisited the Scrum Guide, this time not to memorize, but to understand why each principle exists. I began to see Scrum not as a framework to be followed, but as a mindset - a way to unlock people’s potential in a complex system.

I learned to ask more open questions. I stopped giving quick answers and instead gave the team space to step into uncertainty - where sometimes even they surprised themselves with what they discovered. Each time the team faced a tough issue, broke it down honestly, and tried a new path, I didn’t just see a change in how we worked; I saw a spirit of learning come alive.

Some sprints failed. Some retros fell flat. Some experiments went nowhere. But there were also beautiful moments - when people started opening up, trusting each other more, and finding real value in continuous improvement.

Little by little, we created an environment where everyone felt safe - to speak, to try, to fail, to learn. Some ideas worked, some didn’t. But what mattered was that we kept trying, and we learned that what counts is not always being right, but being willing to change when we’re not.

Being Present as a Scrum Master

For me now, being a Scrum Master is no longer just a role assigned to me. It’s a way of being present - quietly observing, listening, inviting, and creating the conditions for the team to connect better, to understand each other more, and to work more effectively together. I don’t always get it right, and the team doesn’t always hit the mark. But through all the trying, failing, and growing together, I’ve come to see this: even the little things I do can still carry meaning.

I didn’t start this journey with deep knowledge or big ambitions. I once thought “doing enough” was enough. But the more I’ve walked alongside my team - through missteps, disagreements, and moments of shared insight - the more I’ve realized: a Scrum Master doesn’t create results. A Scrum Master creates the space where good things can happen - naturally, sustainably, and full of life.