By the nature of the work that Project Managers and
Scrum Masters do, the two are not particularly closely aligned, even if it
seems at first glance that they are. Managing a project is not the same as
being a Scrum Master. Scrum Masters have the role of mentoring, teaching,
coaching and facilitating, while the role of the Project Manager is to ensure
that the project runs to time and budget. This means that the Scrum Master
relies on more of the so-called “soft skills” involved with helping people to
move forward, while the Project Manager takes a more methodical, and arguably
more of a “hard skills” approach. While both roles have an interest in ensuring
a high level of team performance and driving efficiency within the team, the
ways in which they go about this are very different. The Scrum Master
facilitates and coaches, while the Project Manager assesses risk and manages
issues and conflicts.
Looking closer at what Project Managers and Scrum
Masters do in terms of activities, differences can be seen here too. Project
Managers manage projects, while the role of the Scrum Master is to make sure
the rules of the Scrum are followed and that the Scrum Framework is adhered to.
Project Managers work across all areas of the project spectrum, while Scrum
Masters will largely only focus on the three areas of scope management, quality
management and resource management. The Project Manager can commonly be
responsible for a very large team, while Scrum Masters work within scrum teams
which can be quite a lot smaller.
Project Managers also plan regular project meetings
as needed, but the Scrum Master will hold a meeting every day for the scrum.
Even the emphasis of the work is different, since Project Managers schedule and
plan, and narrow in on costs, while Scrum Masters are concerned with the value
of the product. Importantly, Project Managers can serve in any industry,
delivering projects. However, Scrum Masters only work in the IT industry, or
similar related field. As can be seen therefore, there are both subtle and
not-so-subtle differences between the skills and activities of Project Managers
and Scrum Masters.
Ultimately, the Project Manager has a role that is
focused on control. Project Managers are responsible for project costs, time
spent, and scope, quality of the end result, stakeholder management, risk and
more. If the Project Manager is unsuccessful, they are accountable for this,
and they will usually be blamed for issues. This means that the role of the
Project Manager has to be based on control. This is achieved through each of
the different stages of the project, such as its initiation, planning, design,
running, monitoring, change control and even the final evaluation. On the other
hand, the Scrum Master does not have an emphasis on control at all. Their role
is ensuring everyone understands what their role is in the Scrum, getting rid
of impediments, coaching people and ensuring that Scrum events occur.
Importantly, they encourage the team to self organise. This is not the same at
all as the level of control that is involved with ensuring that project is
managed effectively.
As a Project Manager, being controlling is a good
thing. It means that projects get delivered to time and to budget. But being
controlling by nature is hard to change, and Scrum Masters are not controlling.
It is very difficult for a person that is used to leading in a command and
control style to adopt the very different, softer leadership style of the Scrum
Master.
If, having considered the evidence above, and there
is still believe that a Project Manager is the right person to be the Scrum
Master, then there are some important steps to be taken. Review the experience
they have working in the Scrum, and additionally provide some Scrum training.
Perhaps most critical of all, determine if the Project Manager has energy,
enthusiasm and interest for putting the Scrum in place. If they do not, then
the initiative will be likely to fail, because any effective Scrum needs a
great Scrum Master who is interested in and committed to making it work. The
good news is, it is possible to learn how to be a great Scrum Master, ensure
that the passion to do so is there in the first place for this to succeed.
As has been seen, despite common misconceptions,
the Project Manager is not the Scrum Master. The roles are different and
require skill sets and activities that might be considered conflicting in
nature. This is perhaps why less than a third of organizations assign the
Project Manager to be Scrum Master. This is not to say that a Project Manager
cannot be Scrum Master under any circumstances – they can – but the
circumstances and level of interest have to be just right to get it to
work.
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