[Traditionally Maps to in Agile] - Business Analyst - Product Manager: Collects, groups and prioritize requirements in the form of user stories and epics, keeps the backlog up-to-date, manages relations with different all users. - Team Leader, Engineering/Technical Lead, and even Project Manager - Scrum Master: Manages/mentors the team, manages the work of the team, ensures activities are tracked (and updated in tools like Jira), provides technical guidance. - Engineering and even Operations team - Agile team(s) - Project Manager - Either remains or goes totally away
[Role of the Project Manager in Agile] Imagine a small company that develops only one product (or a set of isolated products). In this case, a Project Manager might not even be required, the Scrum Master will organize and manage the work and the Product Manager will typically liaise with the different stakeholders. Other Project Manager-related activities might be performed by other parts of the Organization (e.g. Procurement) or be outsourced. Imagine a large company with an ecosystem of products deeply integrated (or integrated with third party products), with large and spread customer portfolio, with complex infrastructure, with regulatory requirements... In this Organization you will likely have multiple Engineering and Operations Agile teams dedicated each to one single product (that might be part of other projects), each of them with their own Product Manager and SCRUM Master, with their own backlog. From my point of view, the key value a Project Manager delivers in this case is in the knowledge area of Integration Management to ensure that all the products delivered by each of these Agile teams are integrated to realize the full value intended.
From my working experience, I was working with about 5 core Engineering and Operations teams, all Agile teams, all with their own Product Manager and SCRUM Master, each of them focusing on one single product (but Operations teams that shared their support among many). My responsibilities: - Integration Management: Each team would have their own prioritized Product Backlog, one key task was to review it regularly to ensure all the needs for my project were included (e.g. API to integrate with another product which is something that users would not raise to their Product Manager) and given the right priority. Another key task was integrated change management for all the products in the scope of my project. - Scope Management: Derive the scope for each Product from the Project Scope. Create a WBS that will not only include the work required by all the Agile teams but also from another parts of the Organization (Legal, HR, Procurement, Security). - Time Management: Deriving the activities for each team by liaising with all and each Product Managers and SCRUM Masters (punctually also directly with the Agile team), finding the dependencies and constraints, and coordinating the work of all the teams and individuals. - Cost: Same as with time, for each and all the teams and individual work, and additional costs (HW, licenses...). - Quality Management: Leveraging the quality delivered by each team and individual, and ensuring it was fit to the requirements of the project. Also, continuously learning, holding sessions, sharing best practices (not every team was at the same speed on Quality). - Human Resource: The develop and manage project teams in case of Agile teams was mostly done by SCRUM Masters. The acquire and release (and the accounting on the project) by me as the project manager. - Project Communications Management: Mostly by me, specially to Senior Stakeholders, Project Steering Committee. - Project Risk Management: Only me, gathering input from everyone involved. - Project Procurement Management: Only me. Also, since the product of each Agile team where part of other projects or even programs, I was coordinating with Project Managers and Sponsors, and Program Managers, PMO to decide the priority of my project (and the implications of timelines, resources, budget) and manage it accordingly, to provide updates, to manage risks/issues/assumptions/constraints... In summary: - SCRUM Masters were providing technical leadership and managing their Agile team. - Product Managers were managing the needs for my projects, prioritizing them accordingly, communicating with their users. - As Project Manager, I was doing anything else. Mainly coordinating with other parts of the Organization, my stakeholders, Sponsor and Senior Management, Vendors. Key was Integration Management.
Sorry for the lengthy explanation. Hope it helps, Marisa Saving Changes...
Aejaz ShaikhPM I| Alyx Technologies India Pvt LtdPune, Maharshatra, India
Thanks Marisa on the detailed explanation, this is helpful. Saving Changes...
Wade HarshmanScrum Master| GDITIndianapolis, In, United States
No, they are not at all the same. I don't know why they constantly get confused.
A Scrum Master is basically a scrum coach. She's there to ensure everyone understands and follows the scrum framework. She serves the development team by removing impediments to their work. She facilitates the scrum meetings (planning, daily scrum, review, and retrospective). She adds value to the organization by teaching the development team how to work together and by maximizing the value of the scrum meetings. Ideally, she works herself out of a job as the organization becomes more efficient.
A scrum master does not manage the team. She does not establish timelines, procure resources, create a WBS, estimate costs, control quality, plan risk responses, direct and manage work, or any of the other processes that project managers routinely perform to ensure project success.
Far too many decent project managers have failed as scrum masters because they (or someone in the organization) did not understand that the two jobs are not related. I wish I knew how to spread the word that they are different.
The closest thing to a project manager in Scrum is the product owner. This is the person who links the product team to the organization, and is the lone person responsible for ensuring that a product remains viable and valuable. But don't misunderstand what I'm saying, a product owner is not a "project manager" either, but I think more project managers would successfully transition to the product owner role than they would the scrum master, as long as they took the time to understand the Scrum framework. Saving Changes...
Marisa give us a good example, thanks Maria! and wade is right too, they are not the same.
In short words, from my point of view scrum master is an agile metodology that is focused on team and get the final product, this is part of project manager tasks too, but in adition the PM has to do another task related to plan, quality ensure, adquisition, and close phases and project Saving Changes...
Totally different roles but when explaining a Scrum Master to a group who is new to Agile the most similar-ish role is a project manager, that is usually why they can get confused. Also, while performing Scrum Master duties, I've also done Project Management and Program Management because the organization wasn't yet ready to get a dedicated Scrum Master. So be prepared for those lines to blur :-) Maria's explanation was terrific. Good luck! Saving Changes...
Aejaz ShaikhPM I| Alyx Technologies India Pvt LtdPune, Maharshatra, India
Maria thanks and rest of all for putting thoughts for the clarification on the roles and responsibilities of a Scrum Master vis-à-vis Project Manager. Saving Changes...
