In the previous couple of articles, we covered the basics ofScrum and its history. Though we took a very high level look at the 3 key
participants, we haven’t covered them in great detail yet. In fact, apart from
those 3 key participants, there are also other participants. The purpose of
this article is to cover these roles.
The Key Participants in any Scrum Project are:
- The Scrum Team
- The Product Owner
- The Scrum Master
The Product Owner:
The Scrum Product Owner is the hybrid combination of a
Business Stakeholder and a Business Analyst in regular Project Management
Terminology. The Product Owner is responsible for achieving maximum business
value, by taking all the inputs from the customer or end-user of the product,
as well as from Team Members and stakeholders and translating this into a
prioritized list of business requirements. In some cases, the Product Owner and the customer may be the
same person. In most of the cases, the customer is someone different from the
Product Owner.
- The person responsible for maximising the return on investment of the development effort
- Responsible for the product vision
- Constantly re-prioritizes the product backlog, adjusts the long term expectations like release plans
- Final arbiter of requirement related questions
- Accepts or rejects the product increments
- Decides whether to ship the increment produced by the development team
- Considers Stakeholders interest
- Plays a Leadership and Decision Making Role
The Scrum Team:
The Scrum Team is the team that will be building the product
that the customer is going to use, for ex: The software product or website. The
team in Scrum is “cross-functional” which means that, the team already has all
the expertise necessary to deliver the potentially shippable product during each
development Sprint. On top of this, the team is also “self-managing” which
means that the team has a high level of autonomy and accountability. In the
world of Scrum the team doesn’t need a manager to make sure they work properly.
The team in Scrum is typically five to ten people (In most
cases). However, teams as large 15 are also known to work effectively. For
software projects, this team will include analysts, developers, interface
designers and even testers. The team builds the product, but they also provide
input and ideas to the Product Owner about how to make the product better.
In real life, there may be scenarios where team members
split their time between Scrum Projects and other projects. Though this is very
possible, the team members would be more productive if they are fully dedicated
to the scrum project at hand. Similarly, there may be situations where team
members have to be changed when moving on from one sprint to another. Though
this is inevitable, retaining the same team for subsequent sprints can be
greatly beneficial in retaining the productivity of the team.
Projects with larger teams are organized as multiple Scrum
Teams, each focused on a different aspect of the product development, with
close coordination of their efforts.
- A Cross Functional Team which includes members with different skillsets like development, testing, business analysis etc.
- Self-Organizing and Self Managing (No Project Manager is assigned to manage the work)
- Negotiates on delivery commitments with the Product Owner – one iteration/sprint at a time
- Has autonomy regarding how to reach these commitments
- Very collaborative
- Preferably co-located (in the same room or office) at least for the first few sprints
- Preferably a stable team instead of moving people between teams or splitting peoples time between teams
- Preferable team size 6-8 pax
- Team has decision making authority on their work as well as the product scope being considered for the sprint
The Scrum Master:
The Scrum Master is one of the most important elements of
Scrum Teams success. The Scrum Master does whatever is in their power to help the
team succeed in their attempt at building the product.
The Scrum Master is not the manager of the team; instead,
the Scrum Master serves the team, protects the team from outside interference,
and guides the team’s use of Scrum. The Scrum Master makes sure everyone on the
team understands and follows the practices of Scrum, and they help lead the
organization through the often difficult change required to achieve success
with Agile methods.
Since Scrum makes visible many impediments and threats to
the team’s effectiveness, it’s important to have a strong Scrum Master working
energetically to help resolve those issues, or the team will find it difficult
to succeed. Scrum teams should have someone dedicated full-time playing the
role of Scrum Master. In case of smaller teams, the same scrum master could
play that role for multiple projects.
An Important Point to note here is that - The Scrum Master
and the Product Owner Cannot and Should Not be the same individual. This is
because; there may be times when the Scrum Master may have to push back on the
Product Owner. A classic example would be when the Product Owner wants to
introduce new requirements/deliverables when the Sprint is mid-way through.
- Facilitates the Scrum Process
- Resolves impediments
- Creates an environment conducive to team self-organization
- Captures empirical data to adjust forecasts
- Shields the team from external distractions
- Enforces Timeboxes
- Maintains scrum artifacts
- Does not have any authority over the team or decision making capability reg. the product
The Scrum Master does not tell people what to do or assign
tasks like a traditional project manager. The Scrum Master facilitates the
process as well as supports the team as it organizes and manages itself. If a
Project Manager is taking over the role of a Scrum Master he/she would need to
significantly alter their mindset and style of interaction in order for the
team to be successful with Scrum.
Other Participants in a Scrum Project Environment
Apart from these 3 Key participants in a Scrum Project,
there are other roles in a Scrum Project Environment. They are:
Stakeholders – The term Stakeholder is a blanket term that
includes customers, users, sponsors and everybody else who may be involved or
impacted by the project. Though the Product Owner acts as the liaison between
the scrum team and the business stakeholders in real-life the team may end up
interacting with these stakeholders directly as well.
Scrum Governance Body/Group – Just like we have a PMO’s
office in traditional project management world that sets up the standards and
guidelines for Project Management in the Organization, the Scrum Governance
Group will set up the guidelines and standards in the practice of Scrum in the
organization.
