What are the roles in Scrum?

If we see through the hierarchy, a Scrum Master stand next to the Product Owner on almost every agile team. Scrum Master works as a servant leader while being considered to be the coach of the team as he/she ensures that the team follows the rules, values, and principles which regulate Scrum, simultaneously remove obstacles that lead the Agile Team to move in the right direction and perform efficiently. The added advantage is the presence of an experienced and skilled Scrum Master.

In this article, you will get insights on the role and importance of a Scrum Master in Agile.

The name Scrum Master itself suggests that the individual who is an expert at Scrum can fit the role. It can either be a part-time or full-time role depending upon the size of the organization, their agile team and other responsibilities. As we all know, the Scrum Master work very closely with the stakeholder also known as product owner and accountable for the overall performance of the Agile Team. The Scrum Master uses scrum methodology which makes the team manage their assignments and become self-sufficient. However, the role can be more intensive in the real world.

• Scrum master aims to deliver maximum value to the customer and to make sure of it, he/she involves all the required resources.
• Scrum Master strengthen the agile development team, one can use scrum rules and practices or some other rules on which the team has agreed.
• Scrum Master facilitates team meetings, includes daily stand-up, Sprint/Iteration-Planning and Iteration Retrospective which results in improved efficiency of the project overall.
• Scrum Master support the product owner as he/she manages and remove obstacles which help the team to stay focused to achieve Sprint Meeting objective.
• As a part of their role, a Scrum Master understand the importance of other Agile approaches such as XP (Extreme Programming), Lean and Kanban.
• Scrum Master establish and retain relationships with team members, product owners, and stakeholders.
• Set project deadline to complete the projects within the time frame assigned and it also helps to keep the team members focused on the goals.

It is the understanding of all components, processes and critical areas linked with scrum framework which helps the Scrum Master to perform these roles efficiently. Individuals with a knowledge of Agile and Scrum can either be a SAFe Scrum Master or Certified Scrum Master.