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Are they project managers with a fancy title? Why are they called masters? Isn’t Scrum a rugby thing?
So what is a Scrum Master?
You may have heard someone say they are a Scrum Master but have wondered what that is. That’s what this article is all about, so let’s get started.
The Scrum Master must be a master of the Scrum framework, its theory, rules, practices, and values. But the role of the Scrum Master resembles more that of a coach, and they ensure the team understands and practices Scrum effectively.
When I think about what a Scrum Master is, three words come to mind:
In this guide I'll also cover:
- The responsibilities of a scrum master
- Next steps to becoming a scrum master
Coaching
While the product owner focuses on maximizing the value delivered to the product, the Scrum Master focuses on maximizing the impact of the development team.
I have kids who play basketball. Over the course of a few years, we went from “how to dribble” to “how to attack a 2-3 zone.” In the beginning, there was a lot of specific hands-on instruction, then supervision with more instruction, and finally encouragement with the occasional correction or instruction. The role of a Scrum Master isn’t that different.
If you’re onboarding a team where everyone is new to Scrum, you will need to provide some training and be more hands-on for a while as the team finds its rhythm. Over time though, they become more autonomous, able to run the process on their own.
While the product owner focuses on maximizing the value delivered to the product, the Scrum Master focuses on maximizing the impact of the development team.
In many ways, the Scrum Master acts as a mirror helping the team see where they are and how things are going. They also cultivate a space for the team to adjust based on what they see.
Clarity
The Scrum Master is always working toward clarity. It may be clarifying the purpose of a Scrum event or aiding the product owner to curate and refine the backlog.
The Scrum Master acts as a mirror helping the team see where they are and how things are going.
They not only help the team understand Scrum processes and principles but others in the larger organization who interface with the team. This awareness and understanding work to cultivate an organization friendly to Scrum teams.
Related Guides
Servant Leader
A servant leader puts others’ needs first. The Scrum Master provides the team with guidance and direction (where and why, but not what and how). This approach allows the team to work with a healthy level of autonomy and agency, and it also ensures the team has the mastery and purpose needed to do their work.
The Scrum Master protects the team’s health by balancing the product owner’s drive to complete the product with the team's long-term effectiveness. They help the team remove obstacles such as unclear requirements, interpersonal conflict, organizational impediments, and dependencies on other teams.
While the product owner focuses on maximizing the value delivered to the product, the Scrum Master focuses on maximizing the impact of the development team.
The Scrum Master is responsible for promoting and supporting Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide. Scrum Masters do this by helping everyone understand Scrum theory, practices, rules, and values.
- The Scrum Guide
Leaning Scrum for the first time can be a bit overwhelming. There are many new terms and concepts in Scrum.
Well we’re here to help.
What are the responsibilities of a Scrum Master?
Coach team toward creating solutions
The Scrum Master doesn’t tell the team what to do. Nor do they solve the problems assigned to the Scrum team. But they do play a critical role in helping the team identify the problem and create solutions. Two ways the Scrum Master does this are through facilitation and practices.
The Scrum Master protects the team’s health by balancing the product owner’s drive to complete the product with the team's long-term effectiveness.
A Scrum Master as a facilitator.
To facilitate is to guide others toward a shared destination. The Scrum Master makes problem identification and solution generation easier by providing various facilitation exercises. These activities invite the whole team to engage, look at the problem differently, and collaborate to create solutions.
Here are five facilitation exercises for you to explore:
- 5 Why’s
- Crazy 8s
- Pruning the product tree
A Scrum Master as a protector of practices.
Like many legendary coaches, you might hear a Scrum Master telling the team to “trust the process.”
Practices are activities the Scrum team performs at a regular cadence. Most of them are events, such as the Daily Standup, Sprint Retrospective, or Sprint Planning. The Scrum Master doesn’t necessarily run these meetings, but they ensure they happen and are effective for their intended purposes.
Like many legendary coaches, you might hear a Scrum Master telling the team to “trust the process.” Scrum doesn’t have a ton of processes, but what it has is there for a reason. It’s to support the team in building the best products together. The Scrum Master ensures that the Scrum Team has that support.
Remove obstacles for the Scrum team.
Every team faces obstacles. On a Scrum team, the Scrum Master's role is to help remove those obstacles. Obstacles could include issues such as:
- The team does not have the tools or resources to do the necessary work.
- Functional managers are trying to assign extra responsibilities.
- Mix messages or a lack of clarity about a user story in the backlog.
- A lack of responsiveness from the Product Owner.
- Unrealistic expectations about how long the required work takes.
The Scrum Master advocates for the team's needs and works to resolve the obstacles so the team can stay focused on producing the highest value possible.
Champion Scrum across the organization
If you don’t know the rules, it’s hard to play the same game. Having coached six-year-olds playing basketball, it’s tough to play a successful game when two kids on the team still think they’re playing soccer.
The same is true in organizations, especially when they have recently begun implementing agile practices. If executive leadership is still thinking from a waterfall approach and expects a plan detailing exactly what will be done each week for the next 18 months, their expectations won’t be met. Mismatched expectations can place unattainable requirements on the team or create confusion when reporting progress.
Part of the responsibility of the Scrum Master is to champion Scrum across the organization to create awareness, understanding and cooperation. Here are three ways Scrum Masters can champion Scrum:
- Provide training workshops for leaders in the organization.
- Develop Scrum elevator pitches to effectively communicate whenever given the chance.
- Create sharable decks to explain the basics of Scrum and your organization’s implementation of Scrum.
The other part of this responsibility is a willingness to have numerous conversations to cultivate clarity, shared understanding and empathy.
And if you want a brief comparison of the roles of Scrum Master and Product Owner, check out this video.
Related Guides
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I hope this introduction provides you with a picture of what is the Scrum Master role
Action Plan
To learn more about Scrum, check out my What is Scrum? A Guide for Everyday People to Learn Scrum. If you have more questions, please feel free to reach out on LinkedIn.
Still not sure about your next step with Scrum? I offer a couple of free coaching sessions each month. You can signup for a free 30-minute coaching session, and we can work together to identify a good next step for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Scrum master role
What is a scrum master?
The Scrum Master is a master of process and an empowerer of people as they focus on maximizing the impact of the development team. They support the team by removing obstacles and representing Scrum to the rest of the organization.
Learn more about the roles and responsibilities of a scrum master. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Why is a scrum master called a servant leader?
A servant leader puts others’ needs first. The Scrum Master provides the team with guidance and direction (where and why, but not what and how). This approach allows the team to work with a healthy level of autonomy and agency and ensures they have the mastery and purpose needed to do their work.
Explore what it means to be a scrum master. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Why is a scrum master important?
They act as a mirror helping the team see where they are and how things are going. The scrum master protects the team’s health by balancing the product owner’s drive to complete the product with the team's long-term effectiveness.
Learn more about the role of a scrum master. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Can scrum masters work remotely?
A scrum master can definitely be remote, but with a caveat. This situation works best when the whole team is distributed. The scrum master's effectiveness will decrease if the rest of the group is co-located and they are the only remote member.
Explore what it means to be a scrum master. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Can one person be the Scrum Master for multiple teams?
This combo is possible, depending on the experience of the teams and the frequency of obstacles you need to help remove. I’ve been the scrum master for two brand new scrum teams simultaneously. It was a bit more work at first because so much teaching was going on, though it eventually leveled out once the teams learned their new rhythm.
Learn more about what to do if you don’t have all the roles for a scrum team. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Scrum master responsibilities
What does a scrum master do each day?
If you could look at their calendar, you would probably see things like
- The daily standup, maybe more than one.
- Meeting with other leaders to explain scrum.
Learn more about what it means to be a scrum master. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
How does a scrum master remove impediments?
The scrum master helps remove obstacles, such as
- The team does not have the tools or resources to do the necessary work.
- Functional managers are trying to assign extra responsibilities.
- Mix messages or a lack of clarity about a user story in the backlog.
- A lack of responsiveness from the Product Owner.
- Unrealistic expectations about how long the required work takes.
The Scrum Master advocates for the team's needs and works to resolve the obstacles so the team can focus on producing the highest value possible.
Learn more about how the scrum master removes obstacles. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
How does a scrum master coach the team?
The scrum master doesn’t tell the team what to do. Nor do they solve the problems assigned to the Scrum team. But they play a critical role in helping the team identify the problem and create solutions. A scrum master does this through facilitation and practices.
Find out how a scrum master is a coach. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
How does a scrum master motivate the team?
They act as a mirror helping the team see where they are and how things are going, and they cultivate a space for the team to adjust based on what they see.
They help the team remove obstacles such as unclear requirements, interpersonal conflict, organizational impediments, and dependencies on other teams. This support allows the team to work with a healthy level of autonomy and agency and ensures they have the mastery and purpose needed to do their work.
Learn more about the role of a scrum master. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Scrum master and product owner
Can the scrum master also be the product owner?
The two roles balance each other, thus placing you in tension with yourself. You you hold both roles, you must be mindful of how you communicate with the development team. Holding both positions can also impact how much agency the dev team feels they have.
Learn more about playing both roles of scrum master and product owner. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
How does the scrum master help the product owner?
They help remove obstacles such as unclear requirements, interpersonal conflict, organizational impediments, and dependencies on other teams.
Find out more about how the roles on a scrum team work together. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
How does the product owner help the scrum master?
The product owner works with the scrum master to look ahead to future sprints, evaluating significant milestones to ensure they deliver critical features on time. They also check to see if the work needed to get there matches the capacity or velocity of the team.
Find out more about how the roles on a scrum team work together. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
How is the product owner different from the scrum master?
The product owner products the product vision by balancing the needs of both the business and the customer. The scrum master protects the team’s health by balancing the product owner’s drive to complete the product with the team's long-term effectiveness.
Keep exploring the relationship between the product owner and the scrum master or you can look over the role of the product owner and the role of the scrum master.
Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Are the scrum master and the product owner part of the scrum team?
The scrum team includes the following roles
- scrum master
- product owner
- development team
Either the scrum master or the product owner can also be part of the development team. However, it’s not recommended for the scrum master and product owner to be the same person.
Learn more about the roles and responsibilities of a scrum team. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Scrum master certifications
How to get certified as a scrum master?
The most common certifications for a scrum master are:
- CSM Certified Scrum Master from Scrum Alliance.
- PSM Professional Scrum Master from Scrum.org.
The CSM is more common than the PSM but also more expensive. Both offer multiple levels of certification.
You are required to take a class by a certified instructor for the CSM, which will cost you around $1,000. The CSM course includes the test cost and is comparable in difficulty with the PSM test.
The PSM recommends but doesn’t require a course. So you can take the self-study route and then take a cheaper test ($200). This level of affordability can make the scrum.org certifications a more attractive first step for people exploring scrum certifications.
Here is my experience with certifications as a path to growth.
Also be sure to check out the essential Scrum glossary.
Why become a Certified Scrum Master (CSM)?
The best way to learn to be a scrum master is through practice. However, earning a certificate can provide helpful instruction, and some companies list it as a requirement for scrum master roles.
If you're entering the world of scrum or trying to transfer your skills from one domain to another, having a certification like the CSM can help you get in the door.
Here is my experience with certifications as a path to growth.
Want to learn the essential Scrum terms.
How quickly can I become a scrum master?
Unlike the PMP (Project Management Professional), most scrum certifications don’t require experience. There are pros and cons, though. It makes earning the certifications easier but also makes them a little less valuable.
A typical CSM course will last between 3 and 5 days, depending on how much instruction is done each day. The PSM doesn’t require a course, so if you already have a solid understanding of scrum, you can just take the test today.
To really be a Scrum Master your'e going to need practice.
Here is my experience with certifications as a path to growth.
Also be sure to check out the essential Scrum glossary.
Scrum backlog
What is the backlog in Scrum?
There are actually two backlogs, the product backlog and the sprint backlog. They each contain the definitive list of work to be done. The product owner keeps the backlog ordered by priority.
Learn to use the backlog in Scrum and check out the sprint backlog vs product backlog in Scrum.
How are the product backlog and sprint backlog different?
The product backlog prioritizes the features needed in the product. It is a singular visible source of requirements for the product.
The sprint backlog represents the work to do in a given sprint. It is a definitive list of all the scrum team is being asked to produce for the sprint.
Learn more about the sprint backlog vs product backlog in Scrum.
What is a PBI (product backlog item)?
Each item in the backlog represents precise work and value to deliver. Often these PBIs are written using both user stories and acceptance criteria. The PBIs are what gets refined during the backlog refinement session, and if one is too large, it may be broken down into smaller PBIs.
Learn more about how backlogs are used in scrum, the sprint backlog vs product backlog in Scrum and explore the essential Scrum glossary.
What is the Scrum sprint backlog?
The Scrum sprint backlog is a prioritized list of items from the product backlog that the development team plans to complete during the upcoming sprint.
It is a plan for the Sprint and is created during the Sprint Planning meeting where the Development Team decides on how to build the functionality that meets the Sprint Goal. The Sprint Backlog typically includes user stories, bugs, technical work, and other items that the development team needs to work on during the sprint. Each item in the Sprint Backlog has a clear definition of done, so the team knows when the item is considered complete.
The Development Team is responsible for creating and updating their Sprint Backlog throughout the Sprint, making sure they are on track to meet the Sprint Goal. The Sprint Backlog is a working document that helps the Development Team visualize their progress and make any necessary adjustments to their plan as they go along. The Sprint Backlog is also transparent, allowing stakeholders to see what work is being done during the Sprint.
Learn more about the backlogs of Scrum.
What is the Scrum product backlog?
In Scrum, the product backlog is a prioritized list of features, bugs, technical work, and other product-related items that need to be addressed by the development team.
It serves as a single source of truth for what needs to be done on the product.
The items in the product backlog are ordered based on their importance to the product owner and the value they bring to the end-user. As the project progresses, the product backlog is constantly updated to reflect new priorities, changes in requirements, and feedback from stakeholders.
The product backlog is a living document that evolves throughout the project's lifecycle. It provides transparency and enables collaboration among all members of the Scrum team.
Learn more about the backlogs in Scrum.
