Project Management

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Scrum Master vs Project Manager. Are they the same roles?

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Christopher Martin Head PMO | Master Scrum Master| CIMB Bank Berhad Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Now with more and more projects being run in an Agile manner, there is a need to have a Scrum Master to facilitate the Agile process. Several questions come to mind:

1. Is the Scrum Master the Project Manager?
2. Will the project need a Scrum Master and a Project Manager?
3. Who reports to who?

Typically, a Project Manager may be involved in multiple projects where some are traditional SDLC Waterfall and some are Agile projects hence they need to switch roles in between the projects and i feel that they need a Scrum Master to assist as a checker mechanism for the PM.

A Scrum Master should also report to the Project Manager as the PM ideally initiates a Project from Business Case, Budget, Tender stage prior to Implementation of the project.

Let me know your thoughts and experiences dealing with a Scrum Master (vice-versa)

-Chris Martin-
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Gopinath Venu San Diego, Ca, United States
Please find the answers to your questions

1.Scrum Master is not a Project Manager. Each carry different roles
2. It depends on the needs of the project
3. Scrum Master may report to a Project Manager but not vice versa

Scrum master facilitates the team and helps remove impediments of the team whereas the project manager actively tracks and manages the project and unblocks any roadblocks that may occur in a team. PM is more directional whereas SM is a facilitator
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Dr Satya Narayana Vakkapatla Sr Fintech Strategic Advisor| UAE Govt Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
A project manager may be a Scrum master same time

An Agile project is defined by the product owner and developed by the team. The Scrum Master is there to facilitate, make sure that Agile processes are being followed, and support the product owner and the team.

scream master is may not be a project manager
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Paras Dua Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
being a scrum master is a part of being a project manager.. Project Manager is a much bigger responsibility..
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Mikel Steadman PMO Leader| Development Dimensions International Troy, Nh, United States
PMO.
Program Manager.
Project Manager.
Scrum Master.
Contributing Scrum Team or Project Team Members.
These are all very different roles.
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Adrian Carlogea Australia
While Agile for me is still not a very clear concept I did work on a few projects that used Scrum and I have also read some materials about it (including discussion forums).

What is funny for me is that Scrum is supposed to rely on self-managed teams but in reality additional leadership roles are needed. In an "ordinary" (waterfall) project you only have a project manager but in Scrum this is is not enough you also need a Scrum Master and a Product Owner.

To makes things even funnier in many if not in most scrum teams nobody reports to nobody. Neither the project manager nor the scrum master nor the product owner have any real authority over the other team members. Each team member (including the PM, the Scrum Master and the PO) reports to his/her line manager. Line managers usually are not part of the scrum team although they take all the final decisions about everything.

And as this was not enough Scrum teams in reality also have one or even several technical leads which in Scrum theory don't exist or shouldn't exist ( actually the PM shouldn't exist either). These technical leads usually have much more authority over the team members than the PM, PO or the Scrum Master.

If you ask me all these 3 roles (PM, PO and Scrum Master) should be merged and performed by a single person. In fact a PM in an "ordinary" project does the things that the PO and the SM are doing in Agile.
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1 reply by Mikel Steadman
Jul 10, 2017 7:40 AM
Mikel Steadman
...
"If you ask me all these 3 roles (PM, PO and Scrum Master) should be merged and performed by a single person. In fact a PM in an "ordinary" project does the things that the PO and the SM are doing in Agile."

Some days I absolutely disagree with your statement. Other days, I absolutely agree!
The reality is; in many companies, they make one individual manage all three roles. The positive of that is; experience for the PM and less communication and translation noise. The negative, the PM can really only handle 1 large project and maybe 1 medium or small project as performing all three functions with world-class precision are quite difficult.
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Paras Dua Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
Please correct me if I am wrong but what I have observed is that the concept of quick stand up meetings and team huddles is labeled as scrum. A scrum master is the one who helps the team plan the tasks for the day to be able to meet the sprint. Picking the tasks which team can finish quickly so that least number of tasks are in progress and there is visible progress on the sprint. Scrum master helps avoid task slippage to next sprint. Project manager adopts scrum master role and much more to be able to take overall responsibility of the project. Scrum master as the name suggests is a specialised role for holding the team tight in an agile environment. Since there is a lose reporting structure in agile due to rapid activity focus scrum master helps hold the team together. Hope this makes sense. Cheers.
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Seema Sonkiya Head Business Analysis Practices, PMI-PBA trainer| iZenBridge Consultancy Private Limited Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
Just to add, following video can support you to know what all need for transformation of Project Manager to leaders in Agile?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPegxR-66Tc
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Mikel Steadman PMO Leader| Development Dimensions International Troy, Nh, United States
Jul 09, 2017 9:11 PM
Replying to Adrian Carlogea
...
While Agile for me is still not a very clear concept I did work on a few projects that used Scrum and I have also read some materials about it (including discussion forums).

What is funny for me is that Scrum is supposed to rely on self-managed teams but in reality additional leadership roles are needed. In an "ordinary" (waterfall) project you only have a project manager but in Scrum this is is not enough you also need a Scrum Master and a Product Owner.

To makes things even funnier in many if not in most scrum teams nobody reports to nobody. Neither the project manager nor the scrum master nor the product owner have any real authority over the other team members. Each team member (including the PM, the Scrum Master and the PO) reports to his/her line manager. Line managers usually are not part of the scrum team although they take all the final decisions about everything.

And as this was not enough Scrum teams in reality also have one or even several technical leads which in Scrum theory don't exist or shouldn't exist ( actually the PM shouldn't exist either). These technical leads usually have much more authority over the team members than the PM, PO or the Scrum Master.

If you ask me all these 3 roles (PM, PO and Scrum Master) should be merged and performed by a single person. In fact a PM in an "ordinary" project does the things that the PO and the SM are doing in Agile.
"If you ask me all these 3 roles (PM, PO and Scrum Master) should be merged and performed by a single person. In fact a PM in an "ordinary" project does the things that the PO and the SM are doing in Agile."

Some days I absolutely disagree with your statement. Other days, I absolutely agree!
The reality is; in many companies, they make one individual manage all three roles. The positive of that is; experience for the PM and less communication and translation noise. The negative, the PM can really only handle 1 large project and maybe 1 medium or small project as performing all three functions with world-class precision are quite difficult.
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Christopher Martin Head PMO | Master Scrum Master| CIMB Bank Berhad Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
It will be ideal if the Scrum Master and Project Manager can be delivered by the same person or role but for mega projects especially where integration with other systems are involved (legacy systems etc), there will be involvement from other system implementor vendors who may not adapt to Agile hence the overall imementation of the project will still need to accustom a hybrid model of waterfall plus agile process.

Hence the Project Manager managing this mega project which involves multiple vendor project managers will need to have Scrum Master experience else he or she will need another Scrum Master role to be played by another individual.
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Wade Harshman Scrum Master| GDIT Indianapolis, In, United States
The Scrum Master and Project Manager roles are not related.

Scrum is a very well-defined framework for product development and support. There is no project manager in the Scrum framework. If you have a Scrum Master and a Project Manager on the same product, your organization is doing something different.

That said, your organization can do whatever it wants to achieve its goals. But if it's not going to actually use Scrum, then it seems like a huge waste to pay a Scrum Master.
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