Three tips for new Scrum Masters

First, remember the values and principles, the why-we-do-what-we-do:

• The team holding weekly "standup" meetings
• Teams not updating their task status on a Scrum board or tool
• Burndowns that are flat and suddenly drop to finish on time
• Not holding grooming meetings

For a refresher on the values and principles, watch my Scrum for Managers video - about the first 20 minutes - and reacquaint yourself with the why of Scrum and agile.

Another common issue has to do with architecture and design. 

In CSM classes, I discuss design and architecture but I don't go very deep on it. What I do say, however, is...

• Build incrementally
• Grow features over time
• Do the simplest thing possible
• Value feedback over "getting it right the first time"
•  Check out this talk from Microsoft TechDays in Sweden in 2011 for more information.

Lastly, many teams lack a clear definition of done. 

The DoD is a list of sorts that includes the product owner’s and team’s criteria for declaring a product backlog item as potentially shippable, or done. It's important for several reasons.