Scrum Master Checklist to Get Started With a New Team
🎁 Notion Template: Checklist for Scrum Master’s First 30-60-90 days
Hello 👋, It’s Vibhor. Welcome to the 🔥 paid member only🔥 edition of Winning Strategy: A newsletter focused on enhancing product, process, team, and career performance. Many subscribers expense this newsletter to their Learning & Development budget. Here’s an expense template to send to your manager.
In my first role as a Scrum Master, my mentor reviewed my initial week with the team and gave me this feedback:
"You need to be more structured in your approach."
I said, "Yes, this totally makes sense. Thank you for this feedback."
Internally, I was freaking out.
I thought I was being structured. I mentally ran through all the events I'd organized and the team agreements I'd reviewed and wondered how I could be more structured than that.
In the middle of this internal debate, another Scrum Master came by my desk.
"How did the feedback session go?"
"It was good. She told me to be more structured with my approach."
"Oh, that's just what she says when she sees a new Scrum Master trying to figure things out without a proper checklist."
That was years ago.
Since then, I've made it a point to prepare a checklist for every new initiative, whether for starting a new project, kicking off a new Product or helping Executives navigate the organizational mess.
I have a checklist for every occasion.
Now, many “Agilists” would come to me and say, “Checklists are anti-Agile,” to which my reply would be, “Only if you stick with the checklist blindly.”
Checklists are not anti-Agile. They are a tool. Just like Scrum is a tool.
They give us a “starting point.” They are especially helpful when you begin with a new team as a Scrum Master.
For a Scrum Master role that demands structure, what specific steps you should take in your first few weeks is surprisingly vague. If you're fortunate, someone in your organization may share their proven checklist with you.
For those left wondering, "What should I do first, second, and third when starting with a new team?” I have a checklist for you.
Let’s get started.
Before You Start Using the Checklist
Before diving into the structured approach I'm about to share, there's an important prerequisite to ensure you get the most value from this checklist.
I highly recommend reading my earlier post, "First 30-60-90 days as a Scrum Master," before proceeding.
This post forms the foundation for the checklist we're about to explore and provides the essential context for why each item matters.
The checklist you're about to see is organized in Notion (which makes it easy to customize for your specific situation), but the principles behind it come from that broader TiPS framework of how to approach your first three months in the role.
So here's what I want you to do:
read that post first
then come back here
The checklist will make much more sense once you understand the bigger picture.
Are you ready?