The purpose of this entry is not to define agile development methods, but rather to discuss the roles and duties for the traditional project manager and how these responsibilities split to more than one person when the organization properly implementing or start to adopt agile development approach “Scrum” for example.
“Scrum is an agile project management approach that combines an empirical process model with clearly defined roles for the management and execution of that process.”
In order to discuss how project management responsibilities align with the roles in Scrum, we first need to review the definition of those responsibilities as found in PMI’s A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide).
According to the PMBOK Guide, the project manager is “assigned by the performing organization to achieve project objectives.” To do that, the PMBOK Guide prescribes a collection of processes and practices in nine “knowledge areas.” The heart of project management lies in the first four: scope, time (schedule), and cost (budget)--the so called “triple constraint,”--plus integration management to tie it all together. Nearly all PMs are responsible for managing the triple constraint.
In addition, many PMs are responsible for managing other aspects of their projects described in the other knowledge areas (e.g. Quality, Human “Resources,” Communication, Risk and Procurement). Ultimately, which of these the PM is actually responsible for depends on the organization and the judgment of the PM and team. In practice, the application of these knowledge area processes often includes responsibility for assigning tasks to the development team, various methods of monitoring and controlling the team’s execution, reporting progress to stakeholders, managing conflict, etc. As if all that wasn’t enough, the PM is usually responsible for myriad other factors including acting as the de facto business analyst to help the stakeholders define the features of the product, gathering product requirements, and so forth. Furthermore, the PM often shoulders all this responsibility in absence of any real authority.
PM Responsibilities and Scrum
When Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, the creators of the Scrum framework, developed the disciplines roles, they intentionally divided the multifarious responsibilities of project management across multiple roles and endowed those roles with the authority to accomplish their objectives. According to Ken Schwaber Scrum roles consists of:
ScrumMaster (or Facilitator)
Scrum is facilitated by a ScrumMaster, whose primary job is to remove impediments to the ability of the team to deliver the sprint goal. The ScrumMaster is not the leader of the team (as the team is self-organizing) but acts as a buffer between the team and any distracting influences. The ScrumMaster ensures that the Scrum process is used as intended. The ScrumMaster is the enforcer of rules. A key part of the ScrumMaster’s role is to protect the team and keep them focused on the tasks in hand.
Product Owner
The Product Owner represents the voice of the customer. He/she ensures that the Scrum Team works with the “right things” from a business perspective. The Product Owner writes customer-centric items (typically user stories), prioritizes them and then places them in the product backlog. A Product Owner can be a member of the Scrum Team but cannot be a ScrumMaster.
Team
The team has the responsibility to deliver the product. A team is typically made up of 5–9 people with cross-functional skills who do the actual work (design, develop, test, technical communication, etc.).
According to original Scrum, Product Owner is in a "pig" role. However, if the Product Owner does not have involvement regularly, he/she may be considered as a "chicken".
The Project Manager and Scrum
It should be clear from this discussion of project management responsibilities and the Scrum Roles that there is no single person in Scrum with all the responsibilities traditionally associated with project management. It should also be clear that the ScrumMaster role is a new role for which there is no direct analog in traditional project management. With the addition of the ScrumMaster, the responsibilities traditionally accorded to the project manager are now divided mostly between the Product Owner and the Scrum Team with the ScrumMaster, instead, serving as an intermediary between and facilitator of both.
Given that, where does the traditional project manager fit in a Scrum project? The short, if unsatisfying, answer is, “It depends.” According to Schwaber, “We let them go where they think they best fit. Both SM and PO are management positions, one customer facing, the other engineering facing.” In my opinion, the real determining factors are temperament, skill, and interest. Different project managers are, not surprisngly, suited for differed roles.
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Agile
Software Developmet, Agile, Scrum master, traditional PM