“I was telling the team what to do, instead of helping the team to be better on their own. There’s a lot more to being a Scrum Master than Agile—working with people is such a different skillset.” – Karim Harbott
Karim thought he had mastered Scrum. He had read the books, understood the framework, and was getting things done. His team seemed to be moving forward smoothly—until he stepped away for a few weeks.
But, when he returned, everything had fallen apart. The team couldn’t function without him constantly directing their work. That’s when Karim realized he had fallen into one of the most common anti-patterns in Agile: the Scrum Project Manager.
Instead of enabling his team to be more effective, he had become their bottleneck. Every decision flowed through him, every task needed his approval, and the team had learned to wait for his direction rather than taking ownership themselves. The wake-up call was brutal but necessary.
Karim discovered that pushing project management responsibilities to the people doing the work—as David Marquet advocates—was far more powerful than being the hero who solves all problems. The real skill wasn’t in telling people what to do; it was in creating an environment where they could figure it out themselves. Geoff Watts calls this servant leadership, and Karim learned it the hard way: a great Scrum Master makes themselves progressively less necessary, not more indispensable.
Self-reflection Question: Are you enabling your team to be more effective, or have you become the person they can’t function without?
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About Karim Harbott
Karim is a consultant, trainer, and non-executive director. He bridges the gap between strategy, business agility, digital transformation, innovation, AI, and board governance. He is a Certified Scrum Trainer, and is the author of The 6 Enablers of Business Agility.
You can link with Karim Harbott on LinkedIn.
Florian is a seasoned Agile Coach with 10+ years of experience guiding teams across startups to large enterprises. He specializes in tailoring workflows, mentoring Scrum Masters, and fostering collaboration. Passionate about continuous improvement, Florian helps organizations boost agility and align delivery with strategic goals for lasting impact.
Anh Vu is a seasoned Project Manager with 10+ years in software delivery, Agile, DevOps, and PM. As a PMP trainer, he has empowered 200+ professionals. Passionate about continuous learning, Anh explores practical tools and methodologies to help PMs and teams succeed in fast-paced, tech-driven environments.
Anuj is the co-founder & Lead Consultant at Benzne Consulting. With more than a decade of consulting experience & setting up Agile environments. Anuj and his team partner with businesses to unlock their true potential and drive continuous growth. Anuj considers himself framework agnostic, purpose & data driven.