When converting to Scrum, the role of ScrumMaster is most commonly transferred to someone previously in the role of Project Manager.

Conflicting personalities of a Project Manager and ScrumMaster

In many ways, this makes a lot of sense – the project manager is used to working with people with a diverse set of functional and technical skills, they are typically people with strong communication skills and if they’re worth their salt, they should have a solid understanding of the value each project brings to the organization. These are all important attributes of a ScrumMaster as well – all well and good.

But the ScrumMaster role is radically different from the traditional PMP-trained Project Manager. In Scrum, teams are self organizing, and there is no PM to assign tasks to a resource based on clearly defined roles. Instead, team members (pigs) assign work among themselves and the ScrumMaster ‘facilitates’ this process, rather than dictating who does what — and when.

Can this be scary, downright frightening to a classically trained PMP?

You bet it is. How will the work ever get done? Who ensures that each person works the amount of time necessary? Who’s handling all the quality/scope/budget/resource constraints of the project – and who’s holding people accountable?

The simple answer to these questions is that in an agile environment the team handles these topics as a group of self-directing, responsible team members. As each sprint is planned, scoped and prioritized by the team, they will identify and do the work necessary for each sprint. If an issue occurs, the nature of the time-boxed sprints will quickly identify something is amiss rather than several months into a project.

Scrum is very much a ‘show me’ type of methodology; instead of describing a feature in intricate detail and impressive charts, Scrum prefers a simple, end-to-end working demonstration of the deliverable. This ensures that everyone on the team is on the same page, that the Product Owner knows what to expect and that technical road blocks and dependencies are identified at an early stage.

So if the team handles these responsibilities that are traditionally associated with the responsibilities of the project manager, what does a ScrumMaster really do? This answer is not as simple and will depend very much on any given project. At the core, a ScrumMaster is a protector of the team; someone who ensures that the team has what it needs to do its job without interference from  external sources. The ScrumMaster is more like a coach than a manager – helping the team continuously improve by facilitating effective collaboration, rather than telling members what to do.

Since the ScrumMaster role is such an integral role of a successful Scrum team, what are some of the characteristics you should look for in a good ScrumMaster? Share your ideas with us here.

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