Role Responsibilities of a Scrum Master

The Scrum Guide mentions that the Scrum Master (SM) is the one who promotes and supports Scrum in an enterprise. It is his/her responsibility to ensure that the team and every Stakeholder understand the methodologies, practices, theories, values, and rules of Scrum. A Scrum Master serves as the servant-leader of the team. The ultimate goal of Scrum Master is to drive and maximize value for the end-user while ensuring that people outside the Scrum Team understand which interactions are useful and not. He also coaches others on Scrum and is responsible for ensuring that Scrum Events like Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective, etc., are held.

As is evident, the Scrum Master has a crucial role in a Scrum environment.  The Scrum Master facilitates everyone else to function within the Scrum framework. As per the ‘The State of Scrum,’ a Scrum Alliance report, about 89% of Agile users use the Scrum framework today. Of these, as many as 62% of the respondents mentioned that they have an in-house coach, while 86% said they followed the Scrum Events like Daily Scrum meetings with sincerity. All this shows how relevant and important the role of a Scrum Master is in an Agile enterprise.

What are the Scrum Master's Responsibilities?

1. Ensure Scrum events are held as per the Scrum Guide

One of the main job responsibilities is to ensure that the main Scrum Events are held as required. 

Sprint Planning is where the Sprint plan happens. The Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring that the team does not overcommit or undercommit to the Sprint Goals. They also help the Product Owner create sub-tasks and estimates. 

Facilitate the Daily Scrum, a stand-up time-boxed meeting. The Scrum Master needs to ensure that it is to the point and effective. 

Sprint Review: The SM’s main role, in this case, is to take and give feedback to the team at the end of the Sprint.

Sprint Retrospective is also held at the end of a Sprint and offers an opportunity to improvise to everyone concerned.

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2. As a Scrum coach:

As a coach, the Scrum Master ensures that the team can improve its performance and delivery standards. To make it happen, one becomes an impediment remover, ensuring that every possible blockage on the way is removed and that their team is protected. They are also responsible for ensuring that the team is equipped with tools and resources to perform its job optimally. However, when it comes to resolving issues and problems on a day-to-day basis, the Scrum Master acts as a mere facilitator and only helps find the solution when the team is unable to do so.

Also Read: Top Scrum Master Interview Questions and Answers

3. Servant-Leader role

The Scrum Master acts as a facilitator and a servant leader. They ensure that they listen to the team, empathize with them, and encourage teamwork better. They are also the ones who keep the team focused, work according to the goals, agree on rules, empower the team, and progressively lead them.

4. Protects the team from interferences from the outside

It is another critical role that the Scrum Master has to fulfil. The Scrum Master wards off any external interference, be it from management, the Product Owner, the Project Manager, or other Stakeholders. They should be able to intercept and resolve issues before they flare up. 

5. Resolving internal conflicts

Any disagreements or conflicts within the team are handled and addressed by the Scrum Master. Their job is to ensure that the team members are compatible with one another, that they collaborate and work as a team, not in disputes. If there are such clashes, Scrum Master needs to step in and sort out the issue to the best of their capabilities.

Also Check : Best ScrumMaster Certification

Conclusion

A Scrum Master’s responsibilities consist of many said and unsaid tasks and activities that they need to do the entire day. They have to do every other work that helps the Scrum team function optimally and perform their best. These are the people who have the ultimate responsibility for implementing Agile methods, and therefore, they play a big role in a Scrum environment. Simpliaxis offers Certified Scrum Master ®(CSM®) Certification Training