Agile Scrum Roles and Responsibilities

Agile Scrum Roles and
Responsibilities
Agile techniques have become very popular and effective approaches to delivering
benefit on a project. For this reason, we will focus on Agile frameworks, techniques,
principles and ideas as well.
Agile SCRUM is one of many Agile frameworks. SCRUM is a very specific framework
that focuses on the following roles.
1. ScrumMaster
2. Product Owner
3. Team
4. Stakeholders
The following graphic depicts each role and the relationship of the role with the other
SCRUM roles.
The ScrumMaster Role
The ScrumMaster, despite popular belief, is not the Agile term for a project manager. In
fact, the ScrumMaster serves a very different purpose. The ScrumMaster does not have
responsibility for delivering the project. Rather, the ScrumMaster is a facilitator, coach
and champion of the Scrum framework and process.
The biggest challenge to applying Scrum within an organization is not the actual Scrum
process. It is the cultural change and acceptance of the new roles that an organization
finds most difficult (e.g., the enhanced power of the Team to commit to a Sprint goal,
and to deliver it with little interference from management). More on the differences
later, but because the organization does need to accept a significant change in
philosophy, there is a need for a ScrumMaster, who serves as the coach, mentor,
facilitator, champion, and cheerleader.
Adopting Agile Scrum framework is as much about a change in philosophy as it is a

change in processes. This is because Agile Scrum places distinct responsibilities on each
of the roles. Agile Scrum does not allow anyone to play more than one role. And the
tension among the roles is there for a reason almost like a balance of power among the
roles so that no one role has an unfair authority over the other roles.
It is for the above stated reasons that a full-time ScrumMaster is recognized as the
authority on Scrum and needed to continue to facilitate and champion the process, to
ensure that the process is followed as intended, and to coach members as needed.
Specific ScrumMaster responsibilities include the following:

Communicate the value of Scrum
Teach the organization on Scrum to maximize business value
Facilitate Sprint Planning, Daily Scrums, Sprint Reviews and Retrospective Meetings
Create the Task Board and Sprint Burndown Chart at the start of every Sprint
Attend all Scrum meetings
Preserve the integrity and spirit of the Scrum framework
Maintain the focus of the Team
Make the Team aware of impediments and facilitate efforts to resolve them
Serve as a coach and mentor to members of the Team
Respectfully hold the Team, Product Owner and Stakeholders accountable for their
commitments
Continually work with the Team and business to find and implement improvements
The Scrum Team (Team) Role
The Team is ultimately responsible for committing to a Sprint goal and promising to
deliver it within the timeboxed Sprint. The Team is self-managing and self-
organized. The Team works with the Product Manager to determine what items from the
Product Backlog they can deliver in a Sprint. They Team decomposes the Product
Backlog into a series of activities that must be accomplished as part of the Sprint. Since
the Team commits to the Sprint, they must ensure that they can deliver on what they
promised. Sprints cannot be extended or delayed. So the Team wields great power, but
the Team is also held accountable for delivering on their commitment.
Specific Team responsibilities include the following:

Commit to, and self-organize, around a Sprint Goal (A Sprint Goal is different from
the Sprint activities. The Sprint Goal is the intended spirit and purpose of the
Sprint. So if the Team realizes in mid Sprint that a required activity for the Sprint
is missing, the Team should add the activity to the Sprint so that they can deliver
the Sprint Goal)
Work with the Product Owner to analyze and decompose the Product Backlog items
Help create and maintain the Sprint Backlog, Sprint Burndown Chart and Task
Board
Demonstrate the product at the end of each Sprint during the Sprint Review
Implement action items that come out of Retrospectives (essentially lessons
learned)
Facilitate Sprint Planning, Daily Scrums and Retrospectives if the ScrumMaster is
not able to do so for any reason
Attend all Scrum meetings
Collaborate and share knowledge and experience among the Team, Product
Owner, ScrumMaster and Stakeholders
Help other members of the Team
Look for ways to continually improve
The Product Owner Role
The Product Owner is responsible for delivering product value. This means working
with the Stakeholders to understand their needs and developing a Vision and a Product
Backlog that aims to achieve the Vision. This role might be the closest role to a classic
Project Manager role. However, there are still significant differences. For example, the
Product Owner does not control what the Team commits to completing. The Product
Owner prioritizes the list of items on the Product Backlog in sequential order (from 1 to
n). But the Product Owner cannot force the Team to commit to delivering beyond what
the Team feels comfortable. Since the Sprints are timeboxed (usually 2 weeks to 30 day
Sprints), the Team is ultimately responsible for defining what they can deliver.
Specific Product Owner responsibilities include the following:

Maximize business value by the Team
Maintain and prioritize the Product Backlog sequentially (1 to n)
Create and maintain the Release Burndown Chart
Help the ScrumMaster organize Sprint Review Meetings
Attend Scrum Meetings
Clearly communicate the business case to the Team and Stakeholders
Build and maintain a relationship with the Stakeholders
Support the ScrumMaster to help the Team become self-organizing
Report progress to the Stakeholders regularly
Ensure the proper use of corporate resources and assist the Team to obtain resources
as needed
The Stakeholder Role
The Stakeholder is anyone who has an interest or stake in the project. This can be the
direct managers of the Team members, the persons providing funding for the project, the
Project Manager yes I said Project Manager. Combining Agile Scrum with traditional
project management is not unusual. In fact, Scrum does not account for many of the
things often required for a project such as project management documents and
artifacts. This might be because of organizational policies and procedures that require a
level of oversight that requires specific documents be created (e.g., Risk Management
Plan, Quality Assurance Plan, Project Management Plan, Procurement Management
Plan, etc.). These responsibilities still fall under a Project Manager role.
Within the Scrum framework, Stakeholders are responsible for communicating their
needs, and providing feedback on the product.
Specific Stakeholder responsibilities include:

Work with the Product Owner to develop and maintain the Product Backlog
Attend Sprint Planning meetings as needed to provide feedback and expertise
Provide direct feedback to the Team during Sprint Reviews
Remove roadblocks and impediments for the Team, Product Owner and
ScrumMaster
Avoid distracting the Team during a Sprint after the Team has committed to the
Sprint
Support the Scrum Framework
Responsibilities of the Scrum Team
The Scrum Team and each of the team members has certain responsibilities which have
to be fulfilled:
They have to breakdown the requirements, create task, estimate and distribute
them. In other words this means that they have to create the Sprint Backlog.
They have to perform the short Daily Sprint Meeting.
They have to ensure that at the end of the Sprint potentially shippable
functionality is delivered.
They have to update the status and the remaining efforts for their tasks to allow
creation of a Sprint Burndown Diagram.

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Agile Scrum Roles and

Adopting Agile Scrum framework is as much about a change in philosophy as it is a

Specific ScrumMaster responsibilities include the following:

Specific Team responsibilities include the following:

Specific Product Owner responsibilities include the following:

Specific Stakeholder responsibilities include:

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