Project Manager Vs Scrum Master
Please read my last blog on 'Agile' Project Manager if you want to understand this better.
In continuation to what you have understood already, we cannot mix the Scrum Master role with traditional Project Manager role. The project management activities are still being carried out in the agile framework. Let us understand what a Project Manager does [role] and how this task is being carried out in the scrum framework
a) [Project Delivery (Planning and execution)] - In Scrum to deliver a project successfully the entire Scrum team (Scrum Master, Product Owner & Development team) will be equally committed and the ownership shifts from one person ( referring to Project Manager in traditional terms) to the whole team (Scrum team).
b) [Resource planning/allocation] - In Scrum we have a self sustained, cross functional development team who do not need high directive/less supportive (Directive approach) but more supportive/less directive (Supportive approach). The supportive role is played by a Scrum Master.
c) [Estimation in terms of Time/Cost/Schedule] - In Scrum this is where the sprint planning meeting is held which takes care of the time and schedule estimations for each user story. Based on this inputs Product Owner can do the cost estimation but is not covered in the Scrum Guide. Story point is the estimation technique used for estimating the time. Thou it is said that in Scrum we freeze the cost and time (I meant sprint duration here and not the user story level) and deliver the product increments in a time boxed sprint, there is a EVM (Earned Value Management) method of estimating the cost. Schedules are usefully freezed with a 4 week sprints (or lesser) and at the release level we estimate based on progress of the project delivery and not beforehand (being agile).
d) [Stakeholder management] - In Scrum, Product Owner is taking up this role of a traditional project manager. A proactive approach in managing the stakeholder is what is considered the best approach for a Product owner.
e) [Financial management (Budgeting, Accounting, Costing)] - Though Scrum Guide from Scrumalliance.org does not refer to this particularly, but the Product Management team owns this. I see the reference being made as Scrum team does the estimates for the user stories defined in the product backlog thru EVM method. A SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) methodology is where the financial aspects are covered and not in the Scrum methodology. SAFe is what is being used when you need to scale Agile framework to a large organisations using Scrums at the project level. SAFe looks at Team level, Program level and at the Portfolio level (there is a another level as well - Value Stream).
f) [Risk management] - The ownership of identifying, monitoring and controlling the risk lies with traditional project manager ideally. In scrum, the risk can be identified by anyone in the scrum team and ownership of removing this impediment lies with Scrum Master. Look at the term 'Impediment' rather than a risk which more often you will notice as a Scrum terminology. Impediment is a blocker which is holding back the task from moving further which in turn can hamper incremental delivery of the product whereas a risk is something that is yet to occur. The Sprint review and Sprint retrospective meetings are utilized effectively to handle the impediments.
In continuation to what you have understood already, we cannot mix the Scrum Master role with traditional Project Manager role. The project management activities are still being carried out in the agile framework. Let us understand what a Project Manager does [role] and how this task is being carried out in the scrum framework
a) [Project Delivery (Planning and execution)] - In Scrum to deliver a project successfully the entire Scrum team (Scrum Master, Product Owner & Development team) will be equally committed and the ownership shifts from one person ( referring to Project Manager in traditional terms) to the whole team (Scrum team).
b) [Resource planning/allocation] - In Scrum we have a self sustained, cross functional development team who do not need high directive/less supportive (Directive approach) but more supportive/less directive (Supportive approach). The supportive role is played by a Scrum Master.
c) [Estimation in terms of Time/Cost/Schedule] - In Scrum this is where the sprint planning meeting is held which takes care of the time and schedule estimations for each user story. Based on this inputs Product Owner can do the cost estimation but is not covered in the Scrum Guide. Story point is the estimation technique used for estimating the time. Thou it is said that in Scrum we freeze the cost and time (I meant sprint duration here and not the user story level) and deliver the product increments in a time boxed sprint, there is a EVM (Earned Value Management) method of estimating the cost. Schedules are usefully freezed with a 4 week sprints (or lesser) and at the release level we estimate based on progress of the project delivery and not beforehand (being agile).
d) [Stakeholder management] - In Scrum, Product Owner is taking up this role of a traditional project manager. A proactive approach in managing the stakeholder is what is considered the best approach for a Product owner.
e) [Financial management (Budgeting, Accounting, Costing)] - Though Scrum Guide from Scrumalliance.org does not refer to this particularly, but the Product Management team owns this. I see the reference being made as Scrum team does the estimates for the user stories defined in the product backlog thru EVM method. A SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) methodology is where the financial aspects are covered and not in the Scrum methodology. SAFe is what is being used when you need to scale Agile framework to a large organisations using Scrums at the project level. SAFe looks at Team level, Program level and at the Portfolio level (there is a another level as well - Value Stream).
f) [Risk management] - The ownership of identifying, monitoring and controlling the risk lies with traditional project manager ideally. In scrum, the risk can be identified by anyone in the scrum team and ownership of removing this impediment lies with Scrum Master. Look at the term 'Impediment' rather than a risk which more often you will notice as a Scrum terminology. Impediment is a blocker which is holding back the task from moving further which in turn can hamper incremental delivery of the product whereas a risk is something that is yet to occur. The Sprint review and Sprint retrospective meetings are utilized effectively to handle the impediments.
Just to summarize the project manager role played in traditional context has more control over project resources (be it human, metrics etc) whereas in scrum we look at transparency, inspection and adaption as the core pillars that is valued over control. The important part of scrum is to being more agile or dynamic in nature, be it in producing the incremental product or accommodating to changes.
Now the larger picture, a program manager is someone who handles the set of projects in a program in traditional sense. In Scrum, 'Scrum of Scrum' meetings are held to understand the co-relation and co-ordination of various projects. Issues, risks or impediments are discussed in these scrum of scrum meetings from projects that are interlinked and interdependent on each other. Do remember that in scrum a project by itself can produce an incremental product, so in an ideal scenario the scrum of scrum meetings should have much risks that can intervene one project over the other projects as they are loosely coupled.
Organisations today are adopting for a process implementation that is mixture of both and looking for employees who can play the role of Scrum Master or a Project Manager. In my view this is what is causing all the confusion. Let us keep it separate as my previous blog suggests.
Do write to me if you have your opinions on this.
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