Agile methodology is all about making the project management process flow smoothly. It is about companies adopting an innovative method that promotes dividing a complex project into small iterations. This methodology helps produce better results at a faster rate.
Adopting agile methodology involves various roles that serve their best to support the SDLC of a company. The roles listed can be the Scrum Master, Project Manager, Product Owner, Product Manager, Program Manager, and other agile professionals in agile teams. If you are someone seeking to pursue a career in the Software Development industry, you must understand that each role mentioned here contains its unique requirements and focus.
In this article, let’s discuss the role of a Scrum Master and Project Manager to understand the difference between a Project Manager and a Scrum Master role in an agile environment.
Set out your Scrum Master Career Path with this: “What are the career prospects available for a Certified Scrum Master?”
Who is a Scrum Master?
The Scrum Master, the Product Owner, and the Development Team form a Scrum Team. This team is accountable for handling every aspect of a Product Backlog. They work closely with agile teams to develop working software by following necessary guidelines and techniques. In the coming paras let’s learn how crucial is the Scrum Master role and how to become one.
The primary roles of a Scrum Master include:
With a thorough knowledge of the Scrum Framework, a Scrum master can facilitate agile teams by designing proper sprints, supporting the Product Owner with prioritizing tasks for the team, maintaining the proper product backlog, monitoring Scrum artifacts, and conducting necessary Scrum events.
The scrum master serves as a consultant who manages standups and retrospective meetings.
They are accountable for encouraging agile teams to maintain transparency among themselves for better collaboration.
The role of a Scrum Master is to make sure that the agile teams follow processes adhering to Scrum guidelines.
They are also responsible for assessing the project's progress to identify the areas that require attention.
These were some important roles of a Scrum Master. However, the success of the project relies on the team member’s contribution.
If you are interested in pursuing your career as a Scrum Master, then you can start by joining a certification course that will help you understand the role better and support you to upskill yourself for the role.
To stand out from the crowd and sharpen your scrum skills join the Scrum Master program today and check out our website for more details and Scrum Master Certification Cost.
Also, check out this: “How Much Can a Scrum Master Earn After Completing the Course Successfully?”
Who is a Project Manager?
A Project Manager in an agile organization works closely with the Scrum Team and other business leaders to align the process with the project and business goals. They are responsible for setting project milestones and preparing reports on project progress. They simply collaborate with Product Owner and Product Manager to achieve business goals.
Here are some important roles of a Project Manager:
As the name suggests, a Project Manager looks after every aspect of a project. They make sure that the nature and requirements of the project are understood by each individual engaged in the process.
Along with other agile professionals, the Project Manager also works on providing necessary resources for the agile team to complete the tasks in a given timeframe.
They also serve as a medium for stakeholders and the agile teams. The project managers are accountable for reporting the project progress to clients. They manage the resources and communicate the necessary changes to the teams. Thus, these were some major roles covered by the Project Manager in an agile enterprise. For more insights on the same keep reading.
Difference between a Project Manager and a Scrum Master
By now you must have understood the primary roles for both the Scrum Master and Project Manager designation. Let’s explore more with this section about Project Manager vs Scrum Master.
Concerning the above-discussed details regarding both the job roles, there is no way they share the same responsibilities. Where the scrum master focuses on coaching the team on Scrum principles, the project manager focuses on fulfilling the requirements for the project to meet the business objectives. The project manager works on preparing project proposals, supporting project initiation, and maintaining proper resources and budgets for upcoming proposals.
Scrum Master vs Project Manager, learn the difference here: “SAFe Scrum Masters vs. Agile Project Managers: A Comparative Analysis for Agile Teams.”
Conclusion
Thus, these were some important roles of a Scrum Master and Project Manager understanding which candidates can pursue their career path in their preferred role. It is common to get confused with the agile roles as they all are intended towards the same goal. To comprehend the requirements candidates can enrol for the certification programs and understand the role better.
For further reading: “SAFe Scrum Master vs. Release Train Engineer: Decoding Agile Roles.”
FAQs
1. Discuss how Scrum Master contributes to continuous improvement.
The Scrum Master assigned for a particular project serves by coaching the agile team members around the agile principles and practices. They are accountable for facilitating the team with Scrum Framework and identifying and removing the impediments for the team members. The Scrum Master also ensures that the team follows the guidelines which leads to continuous improvement of a company.
2. List the misconceptions regarding the Scrum Master role.
Some of the misconceptions are that the Scrum Master is a technical role, they are solely responsible for the project’s success, the Scrum Master and the Project Manager roles are the same, they are the team leader, and they are responsible for assigning tasks for the agile teams.
3. What are the challenges faced by a Project Manager?
The challenges faced by a Project Manager can be managing the scope, cost, and time to deliver a quality product. Other challenges can be involving stakeholders in the planning process, and avoiding scope creep that negatively impacts the project’s growth.
4. Release Train Engineer vs. Project manager. Who plays the major role?
Release Train Engineer vs. Project Manager can be described by their area of focus. The Release Train Engineer is accountable for guiding the Agile Release Trains by providing them with necessary resources. Whereas, a Project Manager’s role revolves around every aspect of the project management process.
5. What are the skills essential for Scrum Masters?
The necessary skills for a Scrum Master are leadership skills, a good understanding of the Scrum framework, agile principles and practices, and other product management tools, better communication skills, and proper soft skills to have a smooth rapport among team members.
About Advance Agility
We, at Advance Agility, are the new-age Agile Coaching, Consulting and IT services company. We enable end-to-end Digital Transformation. Agile execution is integral to our being. We are doing SAFe implementation with small, medium and large organization across the globe. Our vision is to be the leading Agile execution player globally. To keep adding value at every process stage. We are on a mission to empower our clients, move from concept to cash in the shortest sustainable lead time by adopting human centric approach to business agility. Embracing the change is in our DNA. Things that keep us apart are Quicker and Seamless execution with End-to-end gamut of services. Our Global presence and Stellar Track Record give us an edge over our competitor.
Connect with us at advanceagility.com to learn about SAFe and SAFe Implementation. We provide various SAFe certification courses along with DevOps, Scrum, Agile Coaching and more trainings. Write to us at [email protected] for any agile training or consulting needs. We are always looking for competent agile trainers as well. So if you are a good trainer or want to become one, do get in touch with us to that we can learn, grow and achieve together.
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