Diana, you are not only a working student, but you also support the team as a Scrum Master. What does this role entail and what are your day-to-day responsibilities?

My role as a Scrum Master is to support and guide the team in the implementation and use of the Agile Scrum methodology. My objective is to facilitate the team’s self-organisation and rapid decision-making. I am not a manager, but rather a servant-leader of the team. My responsibility is to help them become highly effective and to facilitate communication among team members. Every day I moderate the daily stand-up meeting and observe how the team members communicate, ensuring that they adhere to the Scrum values. Additionally, I am currently preparing to lead a new team by creating a workflow and selecting tools for the project. I am honestly looking forward to it.

Next to your work, you are also doing your bachelor’s degree in psychology. How do your studies relate to your role as a Scrum Master?

It may not be obvious to everyone, but there is a connection between IT workflows and psychology. As someone who is interested in both these topics, I see my work as a valuable opportunity to study how connections in teams are made and remade during working hours.

To effectively fulfil my role as a Scrum Master, I need to be empathetic, careful, and non-judgmental, similar to the qualities of a psychologist. The job also requires a lot of self-reflection, in particular when coaching people. You can’t help others until you fully understand the problem and yourself in the context of the problem. Again, like a psychologist.

Right from the start, you have worked in a hybrid setting – sometimes from home, sometimes on site in the office. What were the benefits and challenges you experienced with this working model, and how did you tackle the latter?

I like this hybrid setting. Working from home allows me to save time on commuting, which gives me more time to study. I can also mix my work and study tasks during the day, which helps me to have a fresh perspective on problems. However, sometimes at home, I get distracted or have to deal with connection issues. Working in the office, I am more focused. I appreciate the well-equipped open space, where everyone has two monitors, which makes the workflow much smoother. It is also a great opportunity to meet my colleagues in person and I feel more connected to the team when I am in the office.

What’s your favourite part about working at Deutsche Börse Group?

Although I have only been working here for two months, I feel a lot of support and respect from management and colleagues. I am not afraid to make mistakes, because I know I’m more likely to receive understanding and help than get a negative reaction. I also heard on our introduction day, that some people have been working here for over 10 years, and now I understand why. The work environment is pleasant and I am surrounded by a community of nice people.