A servant leader or a servant who serves?
The idea is the same. The only difference is in the wording between the old and the current Scrum Guide. Whether it’s the Product Owner or the Scrum Master, this role is about more than just helping out.

This role is key. It’s not an assistant, not an “ops” person. It’s someone who sets direction while staying flexible enough to listen, who builds confidence in their team by trusting them to lead the way — while reminding them of the shared goal: delivering a high-value product.

Leading here means handling complexity with less control and more empathy, trusting that the team you chose has the experience to deliver real outcomes. It’s about showing up when needed, and stepping back when space is what the team needs most.

What if you don’t have a team?

Some people might dismiss your background, your certification, or the months you invested in self-training and practice with your own projects — just because you don’t have a team yet. But Scrum isn’t invalid without a team. It’s designed for collaboration, yes, but you can adapt it when you’re working solo.

Here’s how it still works:

• Timeboxing & cadence – Run sprints, plan them, and even do quick daily check-ins with yourself. (It may sound odd, but it keeps you focused.)
• Incremental delivery – Deliver small, usable results often, instead of one big, delayed launch.
• Transparency – Keep a visible backlog, track progress, review against goals.
• Adaptation – Do personal retrospectives to learn and adjust your process.

What you’ll miss without a team:

• Cross-functional collaboration (it’s all you).
• Built-in accountability and idea diversity.
• Natural feedback loops across roles.

But that doesn’t mean servant leadership is off the table. Without a team, your “service” shifts:

• Serving customers – Base decisions on what creates value for them, not just convenience for you.
• Serving collaborators – Even solo, you’ll interact with clients, suppliers, freelancers. Lead through empathy, clear communication, and enabling their success.
• Serving your future self – Build sustainable practices to avoid burnout.

In this context, you’re both the leader and the one being led. That means self-awareness, discipline, and self-care aren’t optional — they’re part of the job.

So, what’s the takeaway?

• Scrum still gives you structure and inspect/adapt loops.
• Servant leadership still applies — but the “team” you serve is now your customers, stakeholders, and even your future self.
• You’ll likely strip Scrum down to its core principles, rather than follow it strictly by the book.

At the end of the day, Agile and Scrum are mindsets, yes I will stick with it. Putting people over process, serving others, fostering self-management, removing impediments, and promoting transparency — these show up in every action you take when you are a leader.

Your team or whoever doesn’t need to read your mind. They’ll see your ethical use of power in how you act. But it starts with you believing it first — because leadership isn’t just about what you do, it’s about who you are when you serve.