Each one of our team members at DH Leonard Consulting have attended the Scrum Master Credential course through Agile in Nonprofits and became a Scrum Master. Why you might ask? So glad you asked! There are numerous reasons. One of the most important is that each of our Writing Team members helps each client’s grant team focus on improving their efficiency and team happiness, a key focus of a Scrum Master in a team. A second is that our team loves to share what they have learned in service of helping other professionals see how it has helped them and strengthened their work as grant professionals as a team and working with clients. Rather than only hear from us about why each member of our team is a Registered Scrum Master, we want to let you hear directly from THEM.
Becoming a Scrum Master helped me become a more effective leader for not only my team but clients as well. In the work I was doing previously I did not work in a team environment, shortly becoming a member of a Scrum Team I took the Scrum Master training and this helped me gain a deep understanding about the Scrum framework and the importance of collaboration. I look back at way I was working before and can see how much more efficient I could have been with not only understanding the Scrum framework but being a Scrum Master. Now I am not only more adaptable but I can help my team be more adaptable which helps us constantly improve and deliver value to our clients.
– Maggie Perry, GPC, Scrum Master
The benefits of being a scrum master on the team are all the typical things like shared understanding, shared purpose, and goals. And it also creates a sense of knowing and collaboration. I can look at the framework and know what I should be doing. If not, that creates the opportunity for collaboration or just to dive in and help my team. From being a scrum master, I learned how to get things done reasonably and be of service to an awesome team, with the caveat that I’m still learning!
– Chris Johnson, Scrum Master
Becoming a Scrum Master, and being part of a Scrum team, has completely transformed the way I work and I truly believe it transforms the way our team works. In the few short months that I have been part of the DH Leonard Consulting team, I have seen our team become faster and happier and consistently respond well to change. I have found so much value in the level of collaboration we have as a team and our commitment to always improving. Specifically, being part of a team that is compiled of all Scrum Masters, I really see evidence of the Scrum values and believe because of that, we are delivering tremendous value to our clients. Our ability to get faster and stronger and happier each week helps them do the same and I’ve seen how we have been able to make grants less stressful for organizations who are doing amazing work.
– Beth Archer, Scrum Master
The benefits of going through the course as a team, whether at the same time or separately, help us all be on the same page, learning and understanding the framework and how our playbook works. As the Scrum Master, you are helping guide the team to work faster to bring more value and impact to our work. Personally, I really like the aspect of focusing on team happiness. Of course, we know that happier teams are more productive and who doesn’t want to be happier at work. A happier team not only benefits the team but our external clients as well.
– Bethany Planton, GPC, Scrum Master
In the process of learning and implementing the Scrum Framework on a grant team, I have noticed immediate increased efficiency. In other words, we are getting more done in a shorter amount of time. I attribute this to a few foundational elements of team work that have been transformed for me by the framework. One of those is the simple daily practice of coming together for just 15 minutes to go over work that we are focused on and any impediments that may have come up. As a team we work together at that time to remove those so that the team member can move forward, I have found that invaluable. As a grant professional over the years, I see that simple practice of getting those items cleared at that time daily is transforming our work. Secondly what impresses me is the demonstration of how the Scrum Framework increases team efficiency through what I call the Agile elements. The biggest difference for me is that our work is not siloed. Any of us can pick up any piece of the work at any time. All of the work is transparent, ready to start, and prioritized through our Scrum board, so we simply move through the tasks with no loss of time wondering what we should be doing.
Work with clients:
I have seen how the flexibility that is built into the Scrum Framework enables our team to make changes quickly during a Sprint when needed to accommodate the needs of a client, such as a fast turnaround for a grant opportunity that comes up quickly, or a shift in priorities like we have seen during the pandemic. The framework enables and encourages teams to constantly adapt and respond to changes quickly, which means that we are ready to respond when a client need comes up. And that happens all the time in this deadline-driven work.
The client is interacting with our team’s work products right away and frequently throughout the collaborative process, so the end result (the grant proposal) is strengthened all throughout the process, eliminating wasted time going in the wrong direction with the narrative.
The writing process is iterative and driven by regular client feedback. Over time, this creates a shared body of knowledge for our writing team to access. In this way, anyone can work on a project for any client at any time. It’s all there and transparent, not siloed. in one team member’s brain.
– Julie Paynotta, GPC, Scrum Master
View their thoughts on video here:
Are you ready to become a Scrum Master so you can help create a happier team all while creating twice the impact in half the time for your organization?
Join us for our next Scrum Master session!