This is a typical question which arises not just when agile teams are formulated but even as teams mature.
While debating whether it is a full-time role, I am certainly not suggesting or for that matter, even considering a situation where Scrum Master is shared between teams. That is a certain No.
The question is should a Scrum Master should do his role full-time or should take other tasks within the Sprint commensurate to his/her skill areas.
One can certainly argue that core tasks within the role - like conducting the agile ceremonies, removing impediments, facilitation & enabling, conflict resolution, promoting cross-functional and self-organizing behaviors and so on in that direction - demand a full-time role. Like how this scrum alliance article argues.
In my experience working in & coaching scrum teams, I have observed that in the initial days of agile and scrumming, there is a lot of work - setting up the agile ceremonies, sorting out bottlenecks, stakeholder coordination, improving team collaboration and helping the teams to get cleared of any "starting troubles".
As things start settling down, typically teams start displaying more cross-functional and self-organizing behavior. Sprint moves on its own, with the Scrum Master as a care-taker, intervening when needed.
In this situation, I suppose the Scrum Master should be free to take up delivery related tasks. May be for a limited fraction of his time. Thus a contributing Scrum Master remains in touch with his core skill, enabling him to pitch in for the team when needed and understands - on the ground, how user stories get done. Through this, Scrum Master in a very subtle way displays that he is also another team member taking up team's tasks, when there is an opportunity to do so.
I am against this idea of having a person dedicated for a leadership / management function - especially when adopting a methodology which emphasizes on delegation, team work and collaboration. That too when the team size is around 7-8 people.
Mike Cohn, in this article, though did not explicitly rule this option out, said that Scrum Master should be readily available for supporting the team. Should a Scrum Master just be waiting for situations where he needs to intervene? I would rather prefer he/she takes up some tasks in the meanwhile.
While debating whether it is a full-time role, I am certainly not suggesting or for that matter, even considering a situation where Scrum Master is shared between teams. That is a certain No.
The question is should a Scrum Master should do his role full-time or should take other tasks within the Sprint commensurate to his/her skill areas.
One can certainly argue that core tasks within the role - like conducting the agile ceremonies, removing impediments, facilitation & enabling, conflict resolution, promoting cross-functional and self-organizing behaviors and so on in that direction - demand a full-time role. Like how this scrum alliance article argues.
In my experience working in & coaching scrum teams, I have observed that in the initial days of agile and scrumming, there is a lot of work - setting up the agile ceremonies, sorting out bottlenecks, stakeholder coordination, improving team collaboration and helping the teams to get cleared of any "starting troubles".
As things start settling down, typically teams start displaying more cross-functional and self-organizing behavior. Sprint moves on its own, with the Scrum Master as a care-taker, intervening when needed.
In this situation, I suppose the Scrum Master should be free to take up delivery related tasks. May be for a limited fraction of his time. Thus a contributing Scrum Master remains in touch with his core skill, enabling him to pitch in for the team when needed and understands - on the ground, how user stories get done. Through this, Scrum Master in a very subtle way displays that he is also another team member taking up team's tasks, when there is an opportunity to do so.
I am against this idea of having a person dedicated for a leadership / management function - especially when adopting a methodology which emphasizes on delegation, team work and collaboration. That too when the team size is around 7-8 people.
Mike Cohn, in this article, though did not explicitly rule this option out, said that Scrum Master should be readily available for supporting the team. Should a Scrum Master just be waiting for situations where he needs to intervene? I would rather prefer he/she takes up some tasks in the meanwhile.
