I think this is a question every Scrum Master should ask themselves regularly.
Not because the Scrum Master necessarily wants to leave. Working with a team, spotting patterns, helping people move forward, and occasionally giving things a little push can be incredibly rewarding.
But there is one important principle to keep in mind as a Scrum Master:
Try to make yourself redundant.
That doesn’t mean the role should eventually disappear completely. It means that the team should become less and less dependent on the Scrum Master.
I asked the team
To explore this a little further, I asked the team:
“What would you miss if I wasn’t here tomorrow?”
The answers were interesting.
They mentioned communication with management. Representing the team in discussions with other teams. Helping with impediments that need to be solved outside the team.
They also mentioned facilitating retrospectives. Bringing a different perspective. Being the person who cuts a discussion short when it goes on for too long. And making sure actions don’t simply disappear into the background.
One answer particularly stuck with me:
“For the rest, the team should be able to organise it themselves, and that actually works better when you’re not there.”
I think that gets right to the heart of it.
Don’t become the owner of Scrum
A Scrum Master can easily become the person who makes sure everything around Scrum works.
The Scrum Master organises the events.
The Scrum Master facilitates the retrospective.
The Scrum Master makes sure impediments are addressed.
The Scrum Master challenges people.
The Scrum Master keeps an eye on the way the team works.
Before you know it, Scrum is working perfectly.
But mainly because the Scrum Master is making it work.
That’s where the risk lies.
A team should eventually be able to take responsibility for how it works together. Not because Scrum says so, but because a professional team should be able to organise itself and continuously improve.
When a Scrum Master becomes less necessary in the day-to-day work, that doesn’t mean the Scrum Master has added less value.
Quite the opposite.
But what happens next?
Imagine a team organising its own Sprint Planning.
The Daily works perfectly well without the Scrum Master.
Someone from the team facilitates the retrospective.
The team makes its own agreements and holds each other accountable.
It might seem like the Scrum Master is done.
But what happens when things start to get stuck?
A new Product Owner.
A new manager.
A reorganisation.
A new team member.
A new dependency on another team.
Changes in responsibilities.
An organisation suddenly asking something different from the team.
Or simply a team falling back into old patterns after a period of improvement.
The need for a Scrum Master can change again.
The team hasn’t failed, the circumstances have changed.
The only constant is change.
And when the circumstances change, the role of the Scrum Master can change with them.
Maybe you’re never completely done
That’s why I don’t think being “done” as a Scrum Master means that the role has become completely unnecessary.
It means that the team no longer needs the role for everything it can do itself.
The events can happen without the Scrum Master.
The team can manage its own collaboration.
Problems within the team can increasingly be solved by the team itself.
But what happens when a pattern emerges that the team doesn’t see?
When a problem outside the team remains unresolved?
When a retrospective produces the same conversation over and over again?
When good intentions repeatedly fail to turn into actual behaviour?
That’s when there may be work to do again.
And that, to me, is an important part of the craft.
Seeing what is happening.
Recognising patterns.
Asking the right question.
Starting a difficult conversation.
Making an uncomfortable situation discussable.
Or simply holding up a mirror.
Where will the Scrum Master be missed?
The team’s answers actually say quite a lot about where a Scrum Master can add value.
Not just during the events.
Especially in the places where the team depends on things outside its own boundaries.
Where interests collide.
Where communication becomes difficult.
Where someone is needed to look at the situation from a different perspective.
And in those moments when the team isn’t quite able to have the conversation itself.
These aren’t responsibilities that the Scrum Master should necessarily hold on to.
Quite the opposite.
The real skill is continuously asking: Can the team do this themselves now?
If the answer is yes, the Scrum Master can take a step back.
If the answer is no, there is apparently still something to develop.
And sometimes, six months later, the answer may become “no” again.
That’s not necessarily a step backwards.
That’s simply how teams and organisations work.
So, when are you done?
Perhaps the better question isn’t:
“When are you done as a Scrum Master?”
But:
“What does the team no longer need the Scrum Master for?”
That’s where making yourself redundant really starts.
Not disappearing for the sake of disappearing.
But making sure that responsibility increasingly sits where it belongs.
With the team.
And at the same time, continuing to pay attention.
Because a team that can operate without a Scrum Master today may run into something completely different tomorrow.
New circumstances sometimes require a different role.
Sometimes more presence.
Sometimes less.
And sometimes none at all.
That’s what makes the role interesting.
A good Scrum Master works towards a point where the team needs them less and less.
And perhaps the best sign that you’ve done your job well is this:
The team may miss you.
But it no longer needs you to move forward.
