About ScrumMasters and Drummers

I’m both a ScrumMaster on weekdays and a Drummer on weekends. I enjoy both roles very much. Although they seem to be quite different at first glance, they share a few similar attributes:

  • Both make sure their team is keeping the rhythm.
  • Both are servant leaders to the team. A good drummer knows when to step back and when to step in – when to bridge a pause with a drum fill and when to let silence fill the pause.
  • Both are creating an environment of trust where the team can perform at their best. A good drummer is keeping the time and the band can lean back into the groove and improvise and experiment
  • Both are responsible for “closing the loop”.
    It doesn’t matter how well you play a song live on stage. If you screw up the end, you leave a bad aftertaste behind. Same for meetings – If you don’t bring a meeting to a proper close, participants are not able to absorb the full impact of the meeting before disbanding and whatever has been collaboratively created during the meeting has a chance to get lost on the way back to the person’s desk.
  • Both are working “from the back of the room” and are not in the “centre of discussions”. A great drummer doesn’t play a drum solo because drum solos suck 99% of the time 🙂

What other similarities come to your mind?