Scrum Master

The Scrum Master is one of the three accountabilities in Scrum, alongside the Product Owner and the Developers. The Scrum Master is responsible for helping the Scrum team use Scrum effectively so it can deliver value and keep improving. Instead of managing people or assigning tasks, the Scrum Master coaches the team, the Product Owner, and the wider organization; the 2020 Scrum Guide describes the role as true leaders who serve the team and the organization, replacing the older phrase servant leader.

Typical work includes removing impediments, the obstacles the team can't clear by itself, such as waiting on another department; making sure Scrum events take place, stay productive, and stay within their timebox; and facilitating when the team asks. The Scrum Master also helps the Product Owner with backlog techniques, coaches the team in self-management and cross-functional skills, and works with the organization to change structures that slow teams down, such as long approval chains. Some Scrum Masters serve two or three teams, and in smaller companies a Developer may take on the role part-time.

A Scrum Master is like a sports coach: they don't play in the game, but they help the players improve, notice patterns the team can't see from the field, and clear obstacles out of the way. Their success shows in how effective and self-managing the team becomes, not in how busy they look.

A Scrum Master is often confused with a project manager. A project manager traditionally plans the schedule, assigns tasks, tracks the budget, and is accountable for delivery, while in Scrum planning and task decisions belong to the team and scope decisions belong to the Product Owner. The Scrum Master is also not the team's secretary or the only person allowed to run meetings, and unlike the Product Owner, the role focuses on how the team works rather than on what it builds.