Kristin JonesSocial Media Specialist III| PMINewtown Square, Pa, United States
Which team member do you feel functions best as a Scrum Master? Does it have to be tied to a role? Saving Changes...
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Federico VarchavskyBusiness Development Manager| PM HuntingBuenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Hi Kristin!
Yours is a great question!
Regarding the Scrum Master's role, it's not as it'd be with a PM or project leader... a regular and full time job position necessarily.
In Scrum, the Scrum Master works as a facilitator and makes sure the Scrum Team can perform all the Scrum ceremonies, meetings... well, do Scrum without outside impediments and with the required resources.
The Scrum Master needs to have the team respect and needs to know the Scrum framework... also should know about the project and product... but mostly about Scrum and being a servant leader for the Scrum team.
Therefore, there's not really an ideal team member specific for this. Any team member that has the stated abilities would be a good Scrum Master.
It's very usual in Scrum teams to rotate who is the Scrum Master from time to time. Given that the team member who is the Scrum Master has the necessary facilitating abilities and know the Scrum framework.
There's only one restriction regarding who can not be the Scrum Master... only one: the Scrum Master and the Product Owner must not and can not be the same person. :)
Hope this helps you!
Kind regards,
Fede.
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Kristin JonesSocial Media Specialist III| PMINewtown Square, Pa, United States
Thanks Federico!
I have seen some instances where the Scrum Master happens to be the same person on several project teams (ex. the PM) and other instances where the Scrum Master on each team represents a different role.
This got me thinking and made me curious as to whether or not there was a consensus out there about which role makes 'the best' Scrum Master. Does someone's background better influence the way they approach the role?
I'd agree with you though that it's more about the individual and whether or not they have team respect and the framework down.
I worked on a team where the scrum master role was played by a different person each sprint by a different person on the project team and thought it worked out quite well. Saving Changes...
Kristin JonesSocial Media Specialist III| PMINewtown Square, Pa, United States
Interesting way to utilize project team members, Leonard! Thanks! Saving Changes...
James DamatoTransformation Advisor| Scrum IncWashington, Dc, United States
The ScrumMaster is it's own role, not tied to a legacy waterfall role. There is a little overlap with the PM, but only a little because SM's interpret Agile metrics and PMs are very metrics focused. Otherwise there isn't really overlap.
If you are trying to decide who on your team should go take a CSM class to be the SM, your Agile project will fail. You wouldn't take a PM just because they passed the PMP exam and you wouldn't take a developer because they took a Java class and got certified. You take people because they have experience.
The best SM is someone with actual experience running a for-real scrum team, not someone who just took a CSM class. Saving Changes...
Rajmahendra HegdeAgile Transformation Coach | Freelance ConsultantChennai, India
Swapping the SM role in the Team is good. It gives opportunity to technical "Team" guys to lead and support agile. But instead of each Sprint I suggest each Release is good
Mostly we do Each release in three months (2 week sprints) so its good to have Release based SM swapping. Saving Changes...
