Aliu Adewale: The New Scrum Master Trap—Being In Everyone's Business to Look Busy

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"Sometimes the best architecture and design comes from a self-organizing team." - Aliu Adewale

 

When Aliu first became a Scrum Master, he wanted to be everywhere. New to the role, new to the organization, with a new team relying on him to deliver, he scheduled extra check-ins, sat in on everything, and made sure his manager could see him working. The result wasn't visibility—it was suffocation. The team felt he was in their business, and the deliveries he was trying to protect got worse, not better. Aliu's wake-up call came from his coach, who told him a sentence he still carries: "Stepping back gives your team the space to take ownership and unlock their true potential." The hardest thing a new Scrum Master can do is let things roll on their own for a Sprint or two and adjust through the retrospective. But once Aliu did it, the team started self-organizing, owning their day-to-day, and delivering beyond his expectations. The lesson he names is Agile principle number 5: build projects around motivated individuals, give them the support they need, and trust them to get the job done. The deeper insight from Vasco in this episode: when we want to be in our team's business, it's usually because we don't trust ourselves to know enough—so we try to know everything.

 

In this episode, we refer to Turn the Ship Around! by David Marquet, which Vasco recommends for any Scrum Master learning to step back, and to the Agile Manifesto.

 

Self-reflection Question: What are you doing this week to "be visible" that the team would actually be better off without?

 

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About Aliu Adewale

 

Aliu is an Agile Delivery Lead with over 10 years of experience empowering teams to unlock their potential and deliver meaningful value. As an author, Aliu simplifies Agile principles through real-life experiences, providing practical insights for professionals to apply Agile methodologies effectively in work and everyday life.

 

You can link with Aliu Adewale on LinkedIn.

 

You can also find Aliu and his book on agileinplainsight.com.