How Does a ScrumMaster Compare to a Project Manager?

By Lisa A. Grant, MBA, PMP, CSM

Can a ScrumMaster be a project manager—are the positions one in the same? I pondered this question for about three weeks after becoming a Certified ScrumMaster, and have concluded that they are not the same, rather they are two distinct roles. However, a project manager can fulfill the ScrumMaster role and often does. 

Technically, Scrum, which is an agile software development framework, is ideally suited just for that: software development. In fact, it is designed for focused software development by highly skilled and self-motivated team members.

There are, however,  many activities in the software development life cycle that are not directly related to the development of software features and functions.  These activities include business case development, operational readiness activities, training and deployment to production, to name a few,

The best ScrumMasters are the technical leads, architects or managers. These are the senior software development engineers who can assess tasks and offer technical guidance to the development process. They are intended be technical.

The project manager is the person who manages all aspects of the project, one of which is the software development cycle. The project manager is the overarching manager and person accountable at the project level, while the ScrumMaster is the one responsible for the product development.

Unlike the project manager, the ScrumMaster manages:

• The process that supports whether or not the software functionally meets the stakeholders’ needs (per the product owner's direction);
• The soundness and scalability of the technical design; and
• The tasks required to build the product in an iterative manner that produces functional software after each iteration.

The project manager ensures that the business case is clearly defined, compliance documents are completed in a timely manner, product deployment activities are executed—and he or she manages all other business aspects of the new product launch.

There are many ways to assign roles based on the resources allocated to the project. However, as they are being assigned in an agile environment I want to reiterate that agile is intended and was designed for  software product development.

It is possible to use agile for other types of projects, but  the value could  become diluted to a task list with due dates aligning to iterations. High-performing agile produces customer value at the end of each iteration, not simply the completion of a bunch of tasks.

The question to be answered is: “Is the customer better off for what we delivered  at the end of the iteration?” If the answer is no, then agile is not being truly embraced.
 
So is your project manager  also playing the ScrumMaster role? Ask these questions:

• Does the project manager have the technical expertise to assess technical tasks and set direction?
• Has the project manager been trained in Scrum?
• Does the project manager have the respect of the team for his or her subject matter expertise?

If the answer to any of the above questions is “no,” then let the person who does have that expertise perform that role. If the answer is “yes,” then he or she can probably successfully perform the dual role of ScrumMaster and project manager.

Just remember that it is difficult to keep a project view AND a task view; that's why there are  project managers. To balance both roles, the business pieces of the project will need to be minor in comparison to the software development. That way, the project manager/ScrumMaster can focus the bulk of his or her time managing and facilitating the software development tasks and issues, and the rest of the time on activities such as business justification, deployment and training.

If your environment is moving towards Scrum, don't automatically assume that the project manager should be the ScrumMaster. Also, remember, there is always a role for the project manager.

These two positions should work in concert with each other just as a project manager and a development manager do.

Lisa A. Grant, MBA, PMP, is CEO of Enterprise Project Management Solutions. She recently spearheaded the use of Scrum on her consulting engagements with the intent of following the process precisely in order to gain the experience and benefits of the framework. You can contact her at lisa.grant@enterprisepmsolutions.com.