Scrum Master vs Project Manager/Supervisor

[Andre Nelson]

Hey,
We have been having a big debate at my company about what is the role of
the Scrum Master and the PM/Supervisor in Scrum. We are uncertain if
they should be the same person or if they should be separate people.
And further, what duties that leaves them to do within V1 in helping to
facilitate the process (creating sprints, managing users, managing the
backlog, etc etc). I'm kinda just throwing out a line and hoping for
some insight from the community about either what they are doing with
this or if there are any other posts or blogs I could read for insight.
Thanks in advance!

- Andre L. N.

[Skip Angel]

Hi Andre,

As a agile coach, I get this question often.

Here's what I usually ask to determine if the person can be effective
as a ScrumMaster:

- Will the team have autonomy so they can truly self-organize?
- Will the team be able to make their own commitments each sprint?
- Does the team trust the ScrumMaster to protect the team so they can
have focus?
- Will the ScrumMaster allow the team to determine the best solution
and approach to work that makes sense for them given their collective
team skills, knowledge, experience?
- Will the ScrumMaster uphold the Scrum process when things get
challenging?
- Is the ScrumMaster somebody the team feels comfortable bringing
impediments and bad news to help resolve?
- Is the ScrumMaster a good facilitator that will help the team get
through meetings but not be a participant in those discussions?
- Does the ScrumMaster have the authority to do whatever is needed to
resolve or escalate impediments the team is having?

If there are more No's than Yes's above, I would seriously consider
looking for another person that is better suited for the role.

I have seen some PMs make a good transition to a ScrumMaster, as long
as they understand that the team is in control of their commitment and
not their PM. If a PM is used to being a "task master", this might be
a bad fit.

Also, I have never seen things go well if the supervisor of most/all
of the team members is the ScrumMaster. Usually, because the team is
not able to deal with tough issues without feeling there may be
repercussions in their next performance review. Best to separate
those roles and let the supervisor focus on career growth, HR
activities and improving the standards of their functional areas.

Hope this helps,

Skip Angel
Agile Coach/Trainer
SolutionsIQ

[Kevin S.]

Skip put out some good thoughts... and there is a lot of conversation
in the community about this (have you searched infoQ.com yet?)

For me, the scrum master is dedicated to a scrum team (or at most
two).... the project manager may not be.
Project managers should focus more on managing dates (setting
expectations) and managing risk; scrum masters should focus on the
team, process, and impediments.
I can envision a person doing both roles if the project is supported
by only one scrum team (or two).

In my last company, we had 8 scrum teams working on 8 modules that
built up to one product (and one release schedule). In this case, we
had a product manager and a separate project/release manager working
across those 8 teams. I was the scrum master for one team. I dealt
with the issues that Skip mentioned, and the project manager dealt
with the scrum of scrums issues. This is one example where both roles
are needed.

Some people argue different viewpoints on this topic, but I believe
the answer differs greatly based on the size of the company, the
alignment of scrum teams to products, and the culture of the company.