What Is A Scrum Master?

The scrum master is the team lead of a scrum team responsible for establishing scrum. This means that the scrum master has to ensure the smooth flow of product development and guidance provision to the product owner and the scrum team.

Their primary focus is to ensure the scrum team follows all the Agile practices. A scrum master is also responsible for the collaboration and proper work division according to the scrum team’s skills and efficiency.

Importance of a Scrum Master

1.  To the Scrum Team

For the team, the scrum master:

●    Acts as a guide to the scrum team by helping the team understand all the best scrum practices. A scrum master mentors the scrum team and educates them about Scrum practices properly before and during the project.

●    Resolves conflicts among the scrum team and facilitates the development process.

●    Responsible for building a self-managing and cross-functional team.

●    Verifies the work done by the developers and ensures that it's done correctly.

●    Has the shared responsibility with the developers and the Product Owner to deliver a quality product.

●    Is responsible for the overall productivity and effectiveness of the scrum team and how the team handles the work from planning to execution.

●    Brings out the potential of every scrum team member and makes them self-sufficient so they can manage themselves while possessing extraordinary decision-making skills.

2.  To the Product Owner

The Scrum Master has various duties to facilitate the Product Owner. This helps the Product Owner to map out the product development process. The Scrum Master has the following responsibilities:

●    Helps in effective communication between the Scrum team and the stakeholders whenever required or requested.

●    Finding and planning effective product goals and backlog items which work according to the product vision.

●    A scrum master is the communication medium between the Product Owner and the Developers to ensure that the product backlog items and objectives are clear to the scrum team.

The product owner is responsible for communicating the product requirements to the Developers directly from the stakeholders. They may require a helping hand (the Scrum Master) to deliver the right requirements and help developers understand these visions and requirements of the product.

Moreover, the product owner must also understand the developers’ perspective - how much time and effort it would take to get the desired results. With the help of a Scrum Master, all these concerns and expectations can be well communicated.

In short, with the help of a Scrum Master, proper communication and collaboration can be achieved in the Scrum Team for smooth workflow while ensuring that the product’s upgrades and the final product are delivered on time.

3.  To the Organization

A few of the ways a Scrum Master serves an organization are:

●    Scrum Master is the main person that establishes and implements the Scrum framework in any company.

●    The Scrum Master helps remove the barriers between the Scrum team and the stakeholders.

●    The Scrum Master’s responsibility is to lead, train, and coach the company members to ensure that the Scrum framework is applied effectively.

●    Planning and advising the integration and implementation of the Scrum framework in the organization is another vital responsibility of a Scrum Master.

●    Scrum adopts an empirical approach to tackling complex projects. People new to this framework may find this approach difficult to understand. A Scrum Master has the experience and expertise in this area to coach the stakeholders and employees about Scrum.

5 Reasons Why A Developer Can’t Be A Scrum Master?

1.  A Developer Has More Technical Skills

A developer has more experience in technical work with more focus on technical skills. To be a scrum master, the developer needs to deeply understand how the Scrum framework works.

A Scrum Master must also be proficient in understanding and deploying other Agile processes like Lean, Kanban, Safe, and more. However, since a developer doesn’t have these additional skills, becoming a Scrum Master for them isn’t possible.

2.  A Developer Doesn’t Have The Right Managerial Skills

Contrary to popular belief, a developer works as a part of a team or as a solo player. On the other hand, a Scrum Master is a team lead that connects multiple parties, like the Product Owner, Scrum Teams, and stakeholders.

The Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring smooth communication and process understanding between all parties. Moreover, a person without technical skills can become a Scrum Master if they have the proper Scrum experience and understanding.

However, a developer without managerial skills and experience can never become a Scrum Master. In short, scrum expertise is necessary to become a Scrum Master, which developers generally don’t have.

3.  A Developer’s Main Focus Is On The Technical Work

Again, a Scrum Master’s main concern is the management and alignment of all the parties involved in a project. On the other hand, a developer’s main focus is their work and delivering the work on the due time.

4.  A Scrum Master Should Have Years Of Scrum Experience

Deploying scrum methodology is a challenging task. It requires proper planning and execution, training, and coaching to ensure the developers, product owners, and stakeholders remain on the same page.

Only a Scrum Master can deploy the Scrum framework effectively and ensure success. For this, they must have an expansive portfolio and a few years of experience. In contrast, a developer stays in a single field and advances slowly over time. This means they have no managerial experience or Scrum experience to become a Scrum Master.

5.  A Scrum Master Has To Be A People Person

Developers like to stay within their work bubble. They can go without interaction with the team for days. In contrast, a Scrum Master has to ensure regular communication between the developers, teams, product owners, and stakeholders.