What is Scrum? What is a Scrum Master? The Role and Responsibilities

What is scrum?

Scrum is a framework which fall under the Agile framework. It is use to manage the complex software development and it is usually consists on the team of 3 to 9 persons. Scrum uses iterative manner of development. As scrum belongs to Agile so it provide frequent deliveries.

Some basic point of attraction in scrum are:

1. It is a lightweight framework
2. It urge you to work in the form of a team
3. It is self organizing type of framework

Roles in Scrum

There are three general role in the Scrum

1. Product Owner
2. Scrum Master
3. Team

Product Owner: He is the person who want you to develop a software. Product Owner can be an individual or a group of people but all in all no matter how much people we count them as an entity product owner.

The Team: Because in Scrum framework wo work in a team that is why team is consider as a role in the scrum in which every is performing his duties.

Scrum Master: He is the most responsible person and do lots of work in the scrum frame work. The Scrum master is the facilitator who facilitate the team in every sense. It is his duty to facilitate the team and to product owner.

The facilities the scrum master provide are his responsibilities actually in the Scrum team.

Three Important Question a scrum master may ask to team on daily basis:

1. What did you do yesterday?
2. What will you do today?
3. Are there any kind of obstacles your way?

Don’t get confuse:

Just because scrum master is facilitating team asking them questions doesn’t means at all that a scrum master is the name of a project leader or the project manager in the scrum environment.
Keep it very clear project leader and scrum master are the different persons.

Just like you will have a programmer in the team and the person with good programing skill will be a programmer same for the software designer and some for the software Architect same thing is for the scrum master. scrum master is also a person who have expertise in scrum framework and have experience in a scrum framework. He work as a couch in the team and tell the other team member how to keep themselves in the scrum framework and also perform his responsibilities.

Responsibilities of the Scrum Master:

Scrum master Facilitate the Scrum Team:

• He is responsible for improving the interaction between the team as this thing improve the productivity level.
• He is responsible to arrange the team meeting and planning session according to the schedule of every team member.
• He is responsible for clearing the obstacles from the way of the scrum team or from the way of the project on which scrum team is working.
• He is responsible for ensuring the good relationship between the team and the product owner. These good relationships are the key to achieving quality in the product.
• He is also responsible for protecting the team for any kind of distraction.
• These all things we have just seen are the services which are for the scrum team from the scrum master.

Scrum Master Facilitates the Product owner:

• Helps product owner in the technical way so he can convey his product requirement to the scrum team.
• Facilitate and arrange the meeting session if the product owner want to have some meeting.
• Help the product owner in back log management (this is the most important task.)
• Back log management is process in which the product owner add adjust modify the items he want in product.

Challenges for scrum master:

All the things looks like fun and easy and you will be thinking I can do that what so difficult?

But there are lots of challenges a scrum master face on his way.

Dealing with change: May be the customer suddenly demand a change in the product when it is not possible.

May be the customer ask for what is not possible for team to implement.

All these things and dealing with these things is not a piece of cake.

Misunderstandings: When people are working in the team, and the project are of kind in which your focus is urgent and frequent deliveries in iterative manner.

In this condition there is always room of misunderstandings in the team members or in between the team members and the product owner. These things directly affect the quality of the product, relationship between the people and reputation of the scrum team in the organization keep an eye and keeping things in smooth way is challenge for the scrum master to fulfil.

Link to Download the slides : Scrum Master (mediafire.com)