As a 20+-year IT consulting veteran, I was tasked with coming in and diagnosing a faltering Scrum team, and getting them on track.

Fortunately, I had the help of an entire organization – excellent Agile Coaches, Scrum Trainers, and an entire organization behind me. But I had one small additional "secret weapon" in my arsenal that helped me tame the overwhelm and stay focused on my highest priorities. If you’re a Scrum Master having challenges with your team, imagine if you had a key to higher levels of team focus, engagement, and achievement?

For me, the difference turned out to be a freely available checklist that may be more instrumental in practicing effective Scrum than the official Scrum Guide itself.

Enter The Scrum Master Checklist

Michael James, of Seattle Scrum, has created and continuously updates the Scrum Master Checklist. The latest edition was just released in February.

James' checklist clearly breaks down a Scrum Master's highest-priority elements of focus:

• Part I – How Is My Product Owner Doing?

• Part II – How Is My Team Doing?

• Part III – How Are Our Engineering Practices Doing?

• Part IV – How Is The Organization Doing?

I'll take you through how I used the checklist and addressed the biggest challenge to the team's success: a new Product Owner.

Part I – How Is My Product Owner Doing?

There's no mystery why Michael James made this the top Scrum Master area of focus, and you'd do well to spend most of your time here.

While successful Scrum software development requires experienced, capable people across every role on the team, many Many Scrum Team's biggest challenges are merely symptoms of having an inexperienced Product Owner take that crucial leadership role. Team unable to move forward due to lack of context? Epics, User Stories not prioritized, or not collaboratively created with the team? Product Owner getting frustrated and trying to control the team?

Create the Scrum Leadership Team

First & foremost, develop a good leader-to-leader collaborative approach with your Product Owner.

The team depends on Servant Leadership from both the Product and Scrum Master roles, and displaying unity across those two key leadership positions.

Going through and following the other bullets in the Scrum Master checklist can further help to support the new Product Owner as they grow into the role.

The updated edition of the Scrum Master Checklist can help guide your journey

By giving you an excellent starting point, and providing an evolved set of heuristics to help guide the Scrum Team's journey from new to experienced team, it can support Scrum Masters stay focused on the things that matter most for Scrum Team success.