---
title: "Tip of the week by Scrum Master Ari: Every team is unique"
description: "Scrum Master’s task is to ensure teamwork is as smooth and as easy as possible by supporting teams' self-organization, communication, and, of course, removing obstacles in any sense. We conclude the first season of the Scrum Master Diaries series with our very special universal soldier with 15 years of Scrum Master experience – Ari Ruuska. Instead of sharing one of his tips, we couldn’t but share all the nine he offered – they are too good not to be shared!"
date: "2023-06-13T08:18:42+00:00"
category: "Delivery"
excerpt: "Scrum Master’s task is to ensure teamwork is as smooth and as easy as possible by supporting teams' self-organization, communication, and, of course, removing obstacles in any sense. We conclude the first season of the Scrum Master Diaries series with our very special universal soldier with 15 years of Scrum Master experience – Ari Ruuska. Instead of sharing one of his tips, we couldn’t but share all the nine he offered – they are too good not to be shared!"
reading_time: "2 min 48 sec"
image: "/uploads/images/sites-default-files-2024-06-scrum_master_ari.jpg"
image_alt: "Portrait of Ari Ruuska"
path: "Insights > Tip of the week by Scrum Master Ari: Every team is unique"
---

Hi, my name is Ari, and at Mearra, I fill several roles like Solution Architect, Technical Advisor, Project Manager, and the lead of the Psychological Safety Group, just to name a few. I also have been a Scrum Master since 2007.

For me, the Scrum Master role is really enjoyable. It’s always a pleasure to see how new teams start working together and how teamwork evolves over time. And finally, when the team reaches the point of starting to steer by themselves, I feel honored to witness it. But sometimes, if the teamwork does not develop towards self-steering, it is hard for me to recognize the thin line between just “picking socks from the floor” by myself or asking a team member to do it.

A couple of suggestions from my 15-year-long Scrum Master experience I am happy to share:

-   Create a climate that supports trust and openness in the team. Ensure that all the roles are clear for all team members and also that everyone has a shared knowledge of the goals.
-   Arrange a slot in the very first meeting for teammates to get to know each other.
-   Use some of the already existing templates for DoD (Definition of Done), and there are plenty of good ones available out there, so pick the one that feels the best.
-   In sprint planning, ensure that acceptance criteria exist for EVERY user story/ task. The client accepts tasks based on acceptance criteria.
-   Remember that sprint planning also is the place to ensure that all persons who are responsible for the project implementation understand the acceptance criteria for each ticket,
-   [Scrum poker](https://www.scrumpoker-online.org/en/)(different website, new window) is a good way to manage task evaluation/ estimation,
-   Psychological safety offers excellent tools for improving microclimate and collaboration in a team. There are plenty of tools for openness, framing work as a learning process, admitting mistakes, and so on,
-   Backlog refinement is the place to involve the client in Scrum teamwork. Also, it is important to encourage the Product Owner to be reachable to other team members,
-   Communication is the heartbeat of Scrum. It can happen in multiple ways – mutual ad-hoc meetings, face-to-face, in video calls, or in written form. Encourage your team to use a ticketing system for communication on certain tasks and so on. Whatever works best for the team to succeed.

\## Learn more

If you communicate also in Finnish, subscribe to our webinar recording on this topic!

[Webinar recording](/fi/ajankohtaista/webinaari-psykologi-nen-turvallisuus-tiimityossa "Webinaari: Psykologi­nen turvallisuus tiimityössä")