From Scrum Master to Show Master

When I was hired by Eficode about five months ago I was very happy with the position. Some people like me just need to work with people and Scrum Master and Agile Coach are definitely that kind of position.

Strange to think that long time ago I was told to quit the program in university because working with others in a team would not be my thing. He was partially right. I thought my ideas were the best. Well obviously they are mine right?!

Ever since that moment I’ve proven this mentor wrong and I hope he was using reversed psychology on me because if not, boy was he wrong.

I did learn that one vital lesson. Accept the ideas of others even if I feel they are not the best because even if the Product Owner pays for the product the product needs to be emotionally owned by the team.

Teamwork is what it has all been about in my life. From school and the side jobs in stores to the positions as IT Architect, steward and finally Scrum Master. Never have I worked on my own without a team to back me and to support. At Eficode this has been no different, I am happy to say.

At Eficode however things have changed for me in one regard. I’ve learned within a few short months that anything is possible. If I see that something is missing I can figure out how to complete the organisational puzzle and, at first to my surprise, I will be asked to take that responsibility.

That is what Eficode is all about. Take responsibility, fix what needs fixing and help each other out that way. More recently my team found that they would have liked to have more guidance during their first weeks at work. They brought it up during one of our team’s retrospectives and so I decided to see what possibilities we had for such guidance at the start. Promptly I was asked to research Mentorship and Mentorship programs and come up with a organisation wide solution.

No ifs or buts, just go for it and improve our organisation where possible! After some time I came up with a plan and I am now ready to start implementing it. That is the kind of environment that inspires me to perform, to be given that trust and responsibility without bureaucracy or a power struggle.

Eficode is like that and if you are up for that kind of environment I would tell you now, don’t listen to the “don’t apply” recruitment video. Apply! 

This however is not the end of the story as the title suggest because sometimes things just fly your way if you are willing to take the leap and jump onto the invisible bridge. Such a thing happened to me a week or so ago. A simple message stated that one of my fellow Eficodeans wanted to talk to me about something. The next monday I got a message. Would you be our host at Eficode’s Digital Product Builders 2017 Event?

I said YES before thinking it over because that is the attitude I’ve been having at Eficode lately and only then realised I would be on stage in front of a large crowd of non-Eficodeans. CEO’s, CIO’s, CTO’s and whatever kind of CxO you can imagine would be in the audience and I would be the only non subject matter expert on the stage.

Just casually pasting everything together into one big whole. Nerves seeped in but I had already said YES and my fellow Eficodeans needed me so there was no way out. Although the audience rarely notices something, something always goes wrong during an Event and so it did during ours. The thing that makes the audience unaware is what I would call the inflight attitude.

When you are in the air, the only thing that matters is that you arrive at your destination safely. No one quits because that is how a plane crashes and people get hurt. You don’t just do your tasks but if necessary you will take on any task you can perform that will help this show to come to a good conclusion. This is what I’ve noticed during our show. We worked together to fix and patch those things that needed patching during a first event of it’s kind.

And we made it to the end to the satisfaction of our audience and thanks to all who participated in the creation and delivery of this event. That is how a Scrum Master became a Show Master from one day to the next. Something like this doesn’t happen every day but it does happen. It happens at Eficode and I am proud that my colleagues trust me this much. 

I am still a Scrum Master but now I know what it means to be a servant leader.

Alexander signing off, thanks for reading!