Agile Know-How Magazine • Fall 2017
Coachs’ corner
We are having difficulty defining the roles and responsi-
bilities in our Scrum teams, which include the following:
Product Owner, Project Manager, Business Analyst, Systems
Analyst, and Developer. Do you think the Systems Analyst is
the best person to take on the role of Scrum Master?
Christian Lapointe, Agile Coach
I
t’s true that the definition and distribution of the new roles
introduced by Agility are major challenges that arise at the
beginning of an Agile transition. We cannot deny the importance of having an experienced
Scrum Master for the first months of the transition. Even if it
adds another resource to your project, the investment is worth it.
First of all, you need to know that each organization has its
own strengths and weaknesses and that the context, culture,
and urgency of transitioning toward Agile will lead us to choose
different trajectories for each enterprise. Becoming Agile is ac-
cepting that complexity is an inherent part of your projects and
that empiricism (trial and error) is the best way to find the most
effective processes. A framework like Scrum helps us achieve
a first implementation, but the continuous improvement loop
(retrospective) is what is our best ally in the transition. A Product Owner that comes from the business domain is
certainly a good choice in the long run. But at the beginning
of a transition, it’s often more useful to have only one PO that
represents the stakeholders and that is able to focus on the
project. Remember that what we are looking to do is learn and
experience the new practices to improve ourselves. Having three
different POs that are scarcely present will not help the rest of
the Scrum team learn to work efficiently. After a certain time,
when you better understand the ins and outs of the PO’s role,
it will be easier to involve people from the business domain. For
now, they can act as stakeholders and be represented within
the team by a “proxy PO.” We suggest you consult the Scrum :
Guide 1 to better understand the different roles.
Regarding the different roles, it’s not uncommon to see the
Project Managers become Scrum Masters and the Business
Analysts become Product Owners. There’s no perfect recipe to
carry out this transition. What’s essential is understanding what
each role is intended for and seeing who can best assume these
roles. Then, try something out, see how things go, give your-
selves the right to make mistakes, and adjust.
Here are a few suggestions, limited by the little information we
have of the situation:
A good Scrum Master is the person that will ensure trans-
parency through questions he or she asks, and who will listen
to the complaints and difficulties of the different players (from
the development team to managers) and make sure that the
continuous improvement loop is oriented toward the right
elements.
Hence, we do not assign roles based on the model “former role/
new role” (e.g. Analyst—Scrum Master), but rather based on the
model “competence/new role.” We want a Scrum Master with
good facilitator skills, a team player that loves team dynamics,
who is interested in Scrum, and who takes on some kind of
leadership role in the team.
As for the documentation, what’s important is to have a dis-
cussion on its value. Who will use it? What are the risks if we
don’t have it? What’s the minimum documentation required?
It’s always possible to be assisted by an experienced coach who
will detect pitfalls more rapidly and suggest improvements
based on his or her experience. You can also consult
agileknowhow.com for more information on the subject.
Read other articles to better understand the
Scrum Master’s role on Agile Know-How
agileknowhow.com/scrummaster/ :
Acquire the Scrum Master’s skills and knowledge
to maximize the value and productivity of your
team. Discover our Professional Scrum Master
course. pyxis-tech.com/psm-en/ :
1 https://www.scrum.org/resources/scrum-guide
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