The 9-word test for every resume bullet
Why "facilitated" is quietly costing Scrum Masters the offer — and a 9-word test that fixes it.
A coaching client asked me last week why his interviews keep stalling at round two. Nine years of experience. Three certifications. Calm, fluent answers.
I asked him to read me five bullets from his resume.
Every one started with the same word. Facilitated.
Facilitated planning. Facilitated retros. Facilitated alignment.
Each line was true. Together, they described someone who had been present for important things — but never quite the person who moved them.
That’s the gap the market is filtering on right now.
Hiring managers aren’t looking for the chair you sat in. They’re looking for the decision you made.
Same sprint. Same team. Same room. Two completely different stories:
Facilitated sprint planning and retrospectives for a team of 8 across two time zones.
vs.
Cut sprint spillover from 40% to under 10% in one quarter — by pushing back on a stakeholder commitment the team couldn’t meet, and rebuilding planning around capacity instead of optimism.
The first is a chair. The second is a decision.
The work was identical. The story wasn’t.
The 9-word test
Pick one bullet on your resume that starts with facilitated, supported, coordinated, ensured, or helped.
Now ask it this question:
What would have gone wrong if I hadn’t been there?
Nine words. That’s the whole test.
If you can answer it — concretely, with a risk that was real and an action that was yours — rewrite the bullet around that answer. That’s a decision, not a chair.
If you can’t answer it — that’s not a writing problem. That’s the signal the market is filtering on.
If this is the work you’re trying to do before your next interview, my June cohort is built for it. Reply with “cohort” and I’ll send details before it opens publicly.
What chair have you been describing as a decision?
— Anand