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Role of a ScrumMaster in Agile Projects
NK Shrivastava and Phillip George, RefineM Project Management Consulting
In Agile projects using Scrum, the key roles are the team, the product owner, and the ScrumMaster. The
product owner shapes the product's vision and requirements so the team can create something with
high value to the customer. The ScrumMaster shapes the team's adherence to the Scrum process so
they can form self-motivating teams, perform at a high level, and evolve their process execution. While
the product owner aligns the team with the product vision, the ScrumMaster aligns the team with the
Scrum process. How the ScrumMaster achieves this alignment depends on his or her traits, key skills,
and specific roles, each of which we will discuss further in this article.
The critical role of the ScrumMaster is ensuring that the team adheres to the Scrum process. Mike
Griffiths writes, The ScrumMaster is responsible for ensuring that Scrum is understood and used.
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Griffiths describes the ScrumMaster as a servant leader and describes several other key roles under
the umbrella of this critical role, including:
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Removing impediments to progress
Facilitating events as needed
Providing coaching
Assisting the product owner with:
o Backlog management, including maintaining product backlog and release plan
o Communication of vision, goals, and backlog to development team
There are many roles that can be used to draw analogies to what the ScrumMaster does. Mike Cohn
asserts that the ScrumMaster could be thought of as a process owner similar to the product owner
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.

1
Griffiths, Mike (2012). PMI-ACP Exam Prep, Premier Edition. RMC Publications, Inc.
2
Griffiths, Mike (2012). PMI-ACP Exam Prep, Premier Edition. RMC Publications, Inc.
3
Cohn, Mike (2014). Topics in Scrum: ScrumMaster. Web. http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/agile/scrum/scrummaster

www.refineM.com contact@refineM.com 405 N. Jefferson Ave, Springfield, MO 65806 417.414.9886
Other analogies include coach, gatekeeper, or protector. Cohn also argues that ScrumMasters could be
thought of as personal trainers; they motivate the team to stick to their own goal of following Scrum
processes. A personal trainer cannot make someone do an exercise, but can show them the right way to
do it and encourage them to stick with it. Likewise, ScrumMasters cannot force their teams to follow the
process, but can help them follow the Scrum process in the right way to achieve the best result.

It may seem like the ScrumMaster has so much responsibility and so little power. The ScrumMaster
usually does not manage anyone on the team directly, so how does he or she get anything done? The
key difference, Cohn argues, is that the ScrumMaster has authority over the process, not the team
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. A
ScrumMaster cant dismiss a team member for failing to follow the process, but he or she can change
how the process is carried out; for example, changing how retrospectives are run, or changing the length
of sprints.
What traits are required of an effective ScrumMaster and who makes a good candidate? Like the
product owner role, the ScrumMaster role requires strong collaboration and leadership skills. The
nature of the ScrumMasters leadership is different, though. Since the ScrumMaster is more of a
servant-leader, direct power is not as effective; he or she needs strong facilitation and influencing skills.
Facilitation is important to build consensus among the team, and influencing is important to help
ScrumMasters address impediments to the teams progress in areas where they dont have authority.
The ScrumMaster role is also similar to the product owner role in that a lot of other roles can take on
the ScrumMaster role, but some are better than others. Mike Cohn writes, The ScrumMaster role is
commonly filled by a former project manager or a technical team leader but can be anyone. Scrum
Methodologys write-up of the ScrumMaster role offers disagreement on part of Cohns assertion
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:
In Scrum, the ScrumMaster demands a distinct personality type to succeed. The best ScrumMasters
are real team players, who receive as much satisfaction from facilitating others success as their
own. They must also be comfortable surrendering control to the product owner and team. For those
two reasons, traditional project managers dont usually make great ScrumMasters.
Whoever fills the role of ScrumMaster needs to be assertive enough to own the process and advocate
that it be followed properly, but not necessarily so assertive that he or she manages team members as
well. For many project managers, following the framework is as important as managing the project
team, so we feel there is potential for project managers to serve as ScrumMaster as long as they can
demonstrate the other necessary traits.


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Cohn, Mike (2014). Topics in Scrum: ScrumMaster. Web. http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/agile/scrum/scrummaster
5
Scrum Methodology (2014, 30 September). The ScrumMaster Role. Web. http://scrummethodology.com/the-scrummaster-role/

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Specific roles and responsibilities
One way to examine the ScrumMasters role is by relating it to the rest of the team. Michael Jamess
ScrumMaster checklist is organized in this way, describing over fifty roles and responsibilities of the
ScrumMaster as he or she relates to the product owner, team, engineering practices, and organization
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.
To summarize, the ScrumMasters roles are to keep the product owner and team working at the highest
efficiency possible and make sure that the organization and engineering practices are optimized to
achieve goals. Specific questions the ScrumMaster should ask during the project include
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:
How is my product owner doing?
How is the team doing?
How are our engineering practices doing?
How is the organization doing?
For each of these questions, the product owner has specific actions he or she can take to help guide the
project. For example, the ScrumMaster can assist the product owner by maintaining (not owning) the
product backlog and release plan, and can assist the team by radiating information and removing
barriers. Follow this link to see the full checklist.
One of Jamess key points is that a good or adequate ScrumMaster can perform the role part-time for
one project or up to 2-3 at a time. However, a great ScrumMaster will perform the role full-time for only
one project at a time. This idea may seem counterintuitive, but a ScrumMaster focused at full attention
on one project is equipped to perform the role more effectively than a part-time ScrumMaster whose
attention gets divided. The main reason ScrumMasters need full focus is that their roles and
responsibilities are so numerous and are also divided among the product owner, team, and
organizational practices.
Conclusion
The team, the product owner, and the ScrumMaster are all critical to the success of agile projects. The
most visible indicator of agile project success is a satisfied customer, and the project team helps achieve
that satisfaction through a high-quality, high-value product that the customer can use right away. The
Scrum process is largely invisible in this result, but following it closely is critical to achieving customer
satisfaction. Following the Scrum process also helps teams learn and continuously improve their
execution of the process. Because the ScrumMaster is responsible for ensuring the proper execution of
the Scrum process, he or she is a critical piece of the agile project.

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James, Michael (2010, November). An example ScrumMasters checklist. Web.
https://www.scrumalliance.org/community/articles/2010/november/an-example-scrummaster-s-checklist
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James, Michael (2010, November). An example ScrumMasters checklist. Web.
https://www.scrumalliance.org/community/articles/2010/november/an-example-scrummaster-s-checklist