Scrum Master

What is a Scrum Master responsible for?Support the

The Scrum Master is not responsible for overseeing project development, that’s still the role of the project managerproject manager when closing projects; or Ensure there are no overlaps with other projects which are part of the same programme;agile project managerIdentify dependencies between projects;. Instead, the Scrum Master works with the Product Owner and developers to refine and improve Scrum processes. The Scrum processes help facilitate project development through communication, planning and group discussion.Provide an ongoing health check of projects by reassuring whether they will continue to meet their objectives;

We’ve already outlined some duties of the Scrum Master above, but here’s what a Scrum Master can expect to do on a day-to-day basis.Report progress to the project manager and project board using management dashboards;

Coaching and MentoringInforming projects when strategy changes;

The Scrum Master’s primary focus is to ensure that all team members are well trained in Agile processes and understand what is expected of them. This helps the development team and managers understand each part’s respective roles, imparts a sense of shared project ownership, and helps teams self-manage without excessive oversight.Be responsible for the continual improvement of the PMO;

Host daily stand-up meetingsManage the PMO staff.

Daily Scrum meetings last no longer than 15 minutes. Those involved simply answer the following questions as concisely as possible:Project specialist

• What did you do yesterday?The purpose is to provide hands-on specialist support to the project manager(s).
• What will you do today?The role provides consultancy to the project board(s) or project manager(s) in the form of advice and guidance or facilitated workshops. Workshops might include start up advice, risk analysis, scoping, planning and tailoring of methods.
• What is impeding your progress?At the start of a project this role works with the

It may seem simple, but this meeting helps individual team members understand where they fit into the big picture and helps break down traditional siloed work structures. Importantly, the Scrum Master can note any obstacles that may keep the team from completing tasks and use their own intuition to devise newer, better ways of working using the information given.project manager

For example, if team members are being pulled into too many unimportant meetings, the Scrum Master can work with organisers to determine who needs to attend the meetings. Or, if a team member is being assigned tasks on multiple teams, the Scrum Master can work with stakeholders to redistribute the workload. to define an appropriate level of project governance and structured project management.

Product backlog managementResponsibilities

The Scrum Master helps the Product Owner refine and maintain the product backlog using the information gathered from the daily stand-up meetings.Provide a centre of expertise and develop consistent standards and procedures, templates and tailoring guidance. These should cover

The product backlog is a live document that changes based on the current status and development needs. The Scrum Master can assist with the product backlog by scheduling meetings and writing Project initiation;user storiesRisk analysis;.Issue and change control analysis;

Agile Scrum MastersConfiguration management;

My team uses agile to organise their day-to-day work, do I need a Scrum Master?Planning techniques;

A Scrum team must have a Scrum Master. Without one, you are doing something just shy of true Scrum, often called ‘Scrum-but.’Methods and tools;

A general misunderstanding of the Scrum Master role often leads existing agile managers to assume it is their role. To better understand why this can be a problem, let’s compare the Scrum Master to non-Scrum agile roles you may already have in your organisation, and why it’s important to keep the role separate.Quality assurance;

Scrum master vs. product managerProject organisation structures.

It is generally encouraged for the product manager to involve themselves as much as possible in the Brief project board and project assurance members on their roles and responsibilities;Scrum DevelopmentProvide a fast-track project support service; Team’s activities. A Product Owner should champion customer needs.Design and support project reporting;

Whereas a Product Owner answers the question of ‘why?’, Scrum Masters are tasked with answering the question of ‘how?’Build and maintain a register of approved training courses;

When the involvement blurs into tasking the Product Owner to solve questions of ‘how’ for a team, it tends to result in defects, hand-offs, and unknowns. When impediments to development are discovered or changes arise, a clear division between process management and product direction is required.Build and maintain a repository of good project documentation.

A good Scrum Master empowers the team to decide how to best accomplish goals through self-organisation.Project officer/coordinator/administrator

Scrum Master vs. agile project managerThe purpose is to improve the planning and delivery process by collecting and maintaining data in a consistent form.

The Scrum Master’s non-technical counterpart is the Responsibilitiesproject managerImplement guidelines, procedures and templates to collect and maintain consistent data;. Both these roles focus on the ‘how’ of development. So, do you need both? Opinions differ, with some camps insisting on the need for agile project managers. Others see the roles as interchangeable. As with all things agile, there are ‘increments of agility’, and each organisation must decide how agile they should be.Facilitate the creation and update of

Both the project manager and Scrum Master are responsible for helping their teams get work done, but their approaches are vastly different. The project manager sets timeframes and milestones, progress reports, and coordinates team communication. However, they work in a more traditional management role. Project managers sit above the development teams and act as oversight.project plans

The Scrum Master, on the other hand, works as another member of a Scrum team. The best Scrum teams are self-organising and don’t react well to top-down management. However, this is not universally applicable, and different ;projectsImplement regular progress reporting and monitor project progress; Assist the project manager in the collation of highlight reports;canEstablish and maintain an information management system; benefit from both. In cases where both an Establish risk, issue and change control processes and templates, and assist project staff in their delivery;agile project managerManage or facilitate the quality review process; and Scrum Master work in collaboration to achieve a goal, clearly delineated roles and open communication are a Provide a coordination service for the project.mustFunctional roles.In addition to the role above, there are several functional roles which may be performed by either the project specialist or project officer roles. These are:

Must-have skills for any aspiring Scrum Master processes in place;

A successful Scrum Master is expected to motivate the team members and streamline development. For this, the Scrum Master requires certain soft-skills in addition to whichever hard-skills are required by the industry, project, or organisation:Reporting – collect data and generate reports to different stakeholders;

Intuition and observationSecretariat/administrator – provide project administrative support;

Scrum Masters observe the activities of team members daily. They must use their skills of observation and a little rational thinking to figure out how development can be improved and share this information via workshops, and meetings.Tools expert – provide expertise in software tools which can support the change environment.

Communication and listening skillsEnhance your skills with our expert-led courses

On a closely related note, Scrum Masters must be experts in communication in order to provide clear and concise instructions to stakeholders and developers. Because sharing ideas is an important part of a Scrum Masters’ role, it’s important to listen to other points of view too!

Flexibility

A great Scrum Master know when they are needed and when they are not. Scrum Masters support the growth team members in such a way that, as time goes on, the input of a Scrum Master should be needed less and less. The role of the Scrum Master usually progresses from a daily mentor to a periodical advisor. Knowing how and when to take a step back is an important skill!