What is the Proper Role for Project Managers in Scrum?

An interesting 2017 conference white paper is circulating in Agile forums.  It addresses the question, “Which Scrum role should project managers assume on an Agile-Scrum project?”  The white paper, entitled “A Study of the Scrum Master’s Role,”[1] argues that it should be the Product Owner role.

Before delving into the white paper’s findings, I am providing a little background on Agile and Scrum.

Agile and Scrum

Agile is a software development approach in which software development teams:

• Self-organize – Team members collectively define and manage their work and processes
• Deliver increments of software functionality that are tested and ready to be deployed and used
• Delivery increments over the course of multiple short-term iterations/Sprints
• Are guided by direct interaction with product stakeholders and end-users

Scrum is one of many approaches to Agile software development. Other examples are Extreme Programming (XP) and Feature-Driven Development (FDD).

The Scrum Team

The Scrum Team is the basic unit of organization for Scrum.  Scrum Teams are small, consisting of three to nine members each.  Small teams are more agile because their size lowers complexity.  Communication between members is immediate and having fewer members minimizes the number of dependencies between them.  Scrum enables small development teams to punch well above their weight.

By constraining the scope of releases into smaller “Lego blocks” of functionality that build on each other, small Scrum Teams are able to deliver more useful functionality, at higher levels of quality, faster.  Smaller releases, delivered more frequently, provide more opportunities for evaluating and adapting both the product and how it is developed. 

When project scope and schedule constraints make adding more technical contributors necessary, they organize into multiple Scrum Teams.  Scrum Teams identify and address mutual dependencies and ensure that the collective product aligns with the needs and desires of stakeholders and customers.

The Three Scrum Team Roles

As described in the Scrum Guide, Scrum specifies three formal roles within a Scrum Team: Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Development Team.  The Scrum Team collectively shares responsibility for the following activities:

• Defining product (system, application, etc.) features
• Prioritizing features
• Estimating level of effort for developing each feature
• Planning incremental releases of features
• Iteratively shaping the product throughout development based on user and stakeholder feedback

While the Scrum Team performs the activities above collectively, each role has a distinct set of responsibilities:

You may ask, “What about other roles typically performed in software development projects? How do they contribute to Agile projects?”  In the case of Scrum, those roles lend support to the work of the Scrum Teams.  Examples:

• Enterprise architects and development teams work together to define the longer-term technical direction of the product
• Testers become Development Team members and automate as much of the testing effort as possible within and across Scrum Teams
• Business analysts facilitate discussions between Scrum Teams and end users to ensure the product ultimately serves business needs

The key to placing project managers in Scrum projects is to place them in a role that allows them to use their skills and experience in ways that naturally align with Scrum Team self-organization.

Should Project Managers Work Agile Projects?

Since Agile teams self-organize, many argue that project managers have no role in Agile.  The thinking is that traditional project management is a command-and-control, top-down approach focused on managing people and tasks and ensuring strict adherence to a predetermined plan.  In contrast, Agile is a bottom-up, decentralized approach to software development focused on managing the development of the product itself rather than people and tasks.

Despite conventional wisdom against it, the authors found that it is quite common for project managers to work in Agile software development projects as project managers:

This may be a sign of the fact that Agile adoption can be difficult and takes time.  According to the white paper:

When the bulk of an organization operates under traditional project management, it is easy to understand a preference for including project managers across all project types, including Scrum.  Project managers are already working Scrum projects, so the debate over whether they should do so is irrelevant and unproductive.  Instead, the focus should be on how to better utilize them in support of Agile and Scrum.

Project Managers as Scrum Masters

According to the white paper, project managers often participate in Scrum projects is as Scrum Masters.  At first blush, this seems like the best way to leverage project managers’ people and task management experience.  Many managers are dual-hatted as project managers and Scrum Masters. 

However, it is often difficult for project managers to assume the role of Scrum Master because the two roles are fundamentally different and, to a significant degree, incompatible.  Combining the two roles in one person is unfair to the project manager and to the Scrum Team.  I compare the two roles below:

Confusion Over the Scrum Master Role

There appears to be a shift in Agile literature that is adapting, conflating, and, in some cases, corrupting the original Scrum Team roles.  The authors conducted a “systemic review” of Agile literature.  They found that, along with the traditional Scrum Master activities of “process facilitation, ceremony facilitation, and impediment removal,” many sources ascribe to Scrum Masters project management activities or activities belonging to the other Scrum Team roles.

The authors opine that this documented shift in what activities are characterized as Scrum Master responsibilities comes from a corruption of the Scrum Master role.  This corruption typically occurs in organizations rooted in traditional project management as they transition to Scrum.  As stated earlier, such organizations often appoint project managers to serve as Scrum Masters.  Those organizations also tend to contort Agile practices to fit their existing command-and-control management culture with project managers leading the way as Scrum Masters.

Product Owners Own Scrum Project Management Activities

The white paper references fifteen papers that characterize a number of activities outside the scope of the original Scrum Master role as Scrum Master responsibilities.  The authors contrast that list with five project management activities required in Scrum:

Of the five project management activities, three belong to the Product Owner.  The one overlap between the project manager and Scrum Master roles is the process management category which, while important, does not require a project manager to perform.

Conclusion

The best way for traditional project managers to contribute to Scrum software development projects is by becoming Product Owners.  There is significant overlap between the two roles, thus the transition should be easier and more in line with the valuable skills, talents, and experience project managers bring to the job.

Successfully achieving this transition requires training, coaching, and meaningful organizational support.   No amount of training and coaching will help a new Product Owner perform in a traditional project management culture.  In essence, the decision to adopt Agile software development affects the entire organization, not just technical contributors.  The organizations that reap the full benefits of Agile adoption embrace Agile as a cultural transformation, not just as a different way to develop products.

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[1] Noll, John & Razzak, Mohammad Abdur & Bass, Julian & Beecham, Sarah. (2017). A Study of the Scrum Master’s Role. 307-323. 10.1007/978-3-319-69926-4_22.  https://arxiv.org/pdf/1712.01177.pdf

Last Updated on February 2, 2022