Scrum Roles

Scrum Roles allows teams and organizations to iteratively and incrementally deliver valuable products of “Done” working releasable software within a Sprint. Key focus areas are Product Owner, Development Team & Scrum Master in a Scrum Team.

Scrum defines three roles: Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Developers. There are no other roles like project manager, product manager, architect, testers, etc defined for the scrum. But this does not mean testing is not required, if we don’t test during sprint then

The increment is probably not releasable.
Future Sprints will probably be interrupted with bugs that are being found.
The indication of progress on the Product Backlog is not transparent.

The Scrum Team has two essential characteristics:

Self-managed: The Scrum Team manages its own efforts rather than being managed or directed by others. They internally decide who does what, when, and how. However, management and specialist efforts are not separated in Scrum. They delf manage internal conflicts e.g. conflict between developers, scrum team members not following the scrum guidelines, etc. Scrum helps the scrum team to self-manage by
- Time-boxing the events which allow for regular inspection and adaptation creates opportunities to adjust course in any given path.
- Creating an integrated and potentially shippable Increment by the end of each Sprint.
Cross-functional: Cross-functional teams have all expertise and competencies needed to accomplish the work without depending on others not part of the team & create value for each Sprint.

These two characteristics are designed to optimize Flexibility, Creativity, and Productivity, needed for the Agile environment of Scrum.

There can be an individual who will test, code, analyze, do documentation, and so on, so there are no separate roles apart from the above three predefined roles.

Agile is an incremental and iterative approach, specialists can cause problems for such teams. Sometimes, they make it difficult to maintain a balance between the types of work done by the team. Developers with an interest in the required domain step up to take on any specialist work.

Scrum Team

The Scrum Team is small enough to remain nimble and large enough to complete significant work within a Sprint, typically 10 or fewer people.

In a smaller team, the number of interactions happening will be more, and this will naturally result in more productivity. But very small Scrum Teams may often encounter skill constraints during the ongoing Sprint. In such cases, they fail to deliver a potentially releasable Increment. In a larger team, communication becomes complex and cumbersome leading to coordination problems.

The Scrum Team is responsible for all product-related activities from stakeholder collaboration, verification, maintenance, operation, experimentation, research and development, and anything else that might be required. Scrum Teamwork in Sprints at a sustainable pace improves the Scrum Team’s focus and consistency.

Scrum Roles – Product Owner

The Product Owner is called a Value Optimizer, Product Marketplace Expert, and Lead Facilitator of Key Stakeholder Involvement. The Product Owner is responsible for optimizing Return on Investment and Total Cost of Ownership for the Scrum Team’s delivered work. Value is measured by frequent delivery of Increments of the product into the market as market reception is the best measure of value. The sole person is responsible for managing the Product Backlog.

The product owner’s key responsibility is creating, ordering, and sustaining a Product Backlog that maximizes value and represents the needs of the stakeholders. Product Backlog management is an ongoing activity that includes:

Developing and explicitly communicating the Product Goal;
Creating and clearly communicating Product Backlog items;
Ordering Product Backlog items; and,
Ensuring that the Product Backlog is transparent, visible, and understood.

Refinement or Grooming is not a full-time activity, usually consumes a small amount of the capacity of the Product Owner and Developers. However, Product Backlog items can be updated at any time by the Product Owner or at the Product Owner’s discretion. There is no specified time for this activity, it happens as a part-time activity during the sprint involving the Product Owner & Developers. For this activity Scrum Master or Stakeholders are not mandatory.

The items will be sorted based on their value, so less valuable and unclear items are at the bottom of the Product Backlog. The Product Owner may do the above work, or delegate some of his/her responsibilities to others. However, the Product Owner remains accountable.

Product Owner Attributes

Empowered: Has decision-making authority for the product.
Business-savvy: Knows the business, the customer, and the market.
Persuasive: Able to work well with the team and the stakeholders.
Knowledgeable: Knows the market and the product. Grasps production challenges.
Available: Is readily accessible to the team and to the stakeholders.

Product Owner Functions

Customer Voice: Represents the customer’s wants and needs.
Communicator: Knows how to tailor a message to a wide variety of stakeholders
Decider: Sifts through competing priorities to choose the right product features and says no to the rest.

The Product Owner is one person, not a committee. The Product Owner may represent the desires of a committee in the Product Backlog, but those wanting to change a Product Backlog item’s priority must address the Product Owner.

For the Product Owner to succeed, the entire organization must respect his or her decisions. A Product Owner’s decisions might be influenced by others, but he/she must have the final say. The Product Owner’s decisions are visible in the content and ordering of the Product Backlog. No one even the CEO can force the Developers to work from a different set of requirements.

Product Owner does not need to have application area knowledge of the project; they are focused on the business aspect.

Product Owner should communicate effectively with the customers, stakeholders, and asks for their input and expectations to use the information to keep the Product.

The Product Owner is responsible for the monitoring remaining work towards the Sprint Goal and Product Goal/Vision. This can be done by any projective practice based on trends of work completed and upcoming work.

Product Owner and Developers collaborate often so the Product Owner can make informed decisions in balancing effort, scope versus schedule trade-off decisions, and value of Product Backlog items, and Developers can build Increments keeping end-user and stakeholder concerns in mind.

Scrum Roles – Developers

The Developers consist of professionals who do the work of delivering a potentially releasable Increment of “Done” product at the end of each Sprint. Scrum Teams are structured and empowered by the organization to organize and manage their own work. The resulting synergy optimizes the Scrum Team’s overall efficiency and effectiveness.

Pair programming: Work in collaboration with another one at the same workstation. One programmer (the driver) writes the code and the other one (the navigator) reviews each line of the code.

TDD, BDD: Advanced techniques of using automated unit tests to drive the design software and get rid of dependencies in the team.

Developers are always accountable for:

Creating a plan for the Sprint, the Sprint Backlog;
Instilling quality by adhering to a Definition of Done;
Adapting their plan each day toward the Sprint Goal; and,
Holding each other accountable as professionals.

Raising impediments that impact their progress towards the Scrum Goal is critical for the success of scrum e.g. product owner is frequently unavailable or not participating in scrum events that need his/her input.

What is the significance of the Developers in Scrum?

The Developers consist of professionals who do the work of delivering usable Increments of “Done” products at the end or prior to the end of each Sprint. Developers are structured and empowered by the organization to organize and manage their own work. The resulting synergy optimizes the Developer’s overall efficiency and effectiveness.

Developers have the following characteristics:

They are self-managing. No one (not even the Scrum Master) tells the Developers how to turn Product Backlog into Increments of usable functionality;
Developers are cross-functional, with all the skills as a team necessary to create a product Increment;
Scrum recognizes no titles for Developers, regardless of the work being performed by the person;
Scrum recognizes no sub-teams in the Scrum Team, regardless of domains that need to be addressed like testing, architecture, operations, or business analysis; and,
Individual Developers may have specialized skills and areas of focus, but accountability belongs to the Developers as a whole.

Scrum Roles – Scrum Master

The primary accountability of the scrum master is to provide delivery leadership, experience, and expertise by managing the scrum process, improving their organization’s ability to deliver a valuable, relevant product. They help everyone understand Scrum theory and practice, both within the Scrum Team and the organization. Also ensures that the Developers understand and use Scrum correctly, the Scrum Master also tries to remove impediments to the Developers, protect the team from both internal and external distractions, facilitate their events, and train or coach them.

Attributes

Humble: Credits the team, not themselves.
Respectful: Treat others as whole, creative, and purposeful beings with positive intent.
Empathetic: Listens to understand. Is comfortable with silence.
Persuasive: Works to remove impediments throughout the organization.
Collaborative/Connected: Knows who to talk to (or finds out) to solve problems and resolve issues.
Transparent: The Scrum Master also promotes transparent communication outside of the Scrum team. Without transparency, it is difficult for the organization to inspect and adapt to achieve its desired business results using Scrum.

Functions

Coach: Facilitates meetings, conversations, and improvements.
Protector: Runs interference so the team can remain focused.
True Leader: Leads without authority and puts the team first. Key qualities are Listening to skills, Empathy, Cultivating a culture of trust, Acting with humility, Encouraging others.
Agile Advocate: Reinforces agile principles throughout the organization.
Impediment Remover: The Scrum Master holds responsibility for removing impediments, mainly the project blockades that impede progress.
Process Authority: Ensures that the team enacts and adheres to the scrum values, principles, and practices alongside the specific approaches of the Scrum team.

Service to the Product Owner

The Scrum Master serves the Product Owner in several ways, including:

Helping find techniques for effective Product Goal definition and Product Backlog management;
Helping the Scrum Team understand the need for clear and concise Product Backlog items;
Helping establish empirical product planning for a complex environment; and,
Facilitating stakeholder collaboration as requested or needed.

Service to the Scrum Team

The Scrum Master serves the Scrum Team in several ways, including:

Coaching the team members in self-management and cross-functionality;
Helping the Scrum Team focus on creating high-value Increments that meet the Definition of Done;
Causing the removal of impediments to the Scrum Team’s progress; and,
Ensuring that all Scrum events take place and are positive, productive, and kept within the timebox.

Service to the Organization

The Scrum Master serves the organization in several ways, including:

Leading, training, and coaching the organization in its Scrum adoption;
Planning and advising Scrum implementations within the organization;
Helping employees and stakeholders understand and enact an empirical approach for complex work; and,
Removing barriers between stakeholders and Scrum Teams.