Scrum is a concept widely used for software development. The Scrum framework revolves around the Scrum Master, the product owner, and the development team. But scrum team: structure, roles, and responsibilities are applicable for all types of team.
A Scrum team functions efficiently when each member serves their responsibilities. The recommended development team size in Scrum is three to nine members. However, this excludes the Scrum Master and the product owner. Dig deeper to find more details about each member of the team.
The Scrum Master coaches the product owner and the development team to work on their day-to-day activities. They ensure that the team understands the values and principles of the framework. Additionally, they ensure that the team becomes interested in Agile to achieve the best from the framework.
The Scrum Master also helps the team organize themselves. They also motivate the team at all times. Boosting communication among all team members and ensuring better collaboration is also key. Some of the specific responsibilities of the Scrum Master are as follows:
They act as an Agile coach for everyone else on the team. Eliminate all obstacles between the product owner and the development team. The Scrum Master also teaches the product owner to become more involved with the development team.
The Scrum Master also serves as the facilitator for the entire framework. They organize all events as per everyone's request. They also facilitate the team in making crucial decisions that can increase the entire Scrum team.
The Scrum Master protects the entire team from outside distraction and interference. It ensures that the team can deliver the best value for the overall business. Organizations often opt for a scaled Scrum environment.
In a scaled Scrum environment, multiple Scrum teams work together. Therefore, a significant amount of dependency exists among the teams. Your Scrum Master becomes responsible for ensuring that the teams work efficiently.
They also keep the teams out of irrelevant discussions by making the teams focus on Sprint items. The Scrum Master also shoulders the responsibility of addressing outside concerns and queries.
The Scrum Master should ask the team if they have any concerns or queries. In case the team has issues, the Scrum Master should be able to solve them. The Scrum Master is also responsible for prioritizing and meeting the team's requirements. It ensures that the team can deliver high-performing results.
The Scrum Master is also responsible for enhancing the processes and practices implemented to maximize the value. They should be able to get the work done at the organization. But also develop a strategy to achieve all the sprint goals.
The product owner acts as the voice of the customers and stakeholders. They remain responsible for bridging the gap between the stakeholders and the development team. They manage the gap in a way that maximizes the value of products.
A product owner is involved at every stage of the Sprint Activities and Development efforts. They play a crucial role in the success of a product. The specific responsibilities of a product owner are as follows:
Product owners work closely with internal and external stakeholders. They gather inputs and create a vision to place the product features in the backlog. A product owner should understand the requirements and preferences of the stakeholders.
But the product owner should make the development team understand the product requirements. They should collaborate with the development team regularly. Their engagement with the team improves feedback frequency and response time.
The product owner will create and manage the product backlog. They order the items in the backlog to fulfill all stakeholder requirements. They should also answer the queries of the product development team. The product owner grooms the product backlog to enhance the value.
A product owner should also certify the features that are being built. They need to define the acceptance criteria for each item in the product backlog. The product owner also needs to create acceptance tests denoting the acceptance criteria.
Product owners need to participate in the sprint activities actively. They need to work closely with the development team members. The product owner's responsibility is to explain the items, their value, and their scope. They should work on the product activities. It includes engaging stakeholders to discuss the items of the next release.
The development team includes developers with individual areas of expertise. People with specialized skills like front-end developers, backend developers, QA experts, Dev-Ops, and business analysts might be a part of the development team. Your team works on implementing the potential deliverable, which must be delivered at the end of a sprint.
The development team might have smaller teams such as the testing team, requirement specification team, and others. These teams form after determining the required skill set to develop, test, and deliver product increments successfully. The development team requires no assistance from outside the Scrum team.
Below are the specific responsibilities of the development team:
The development team creates a done increment at the end of each sprint. However, the done increment does not have to be a part of the release. It should be a releasable functionality. The product owner decides what to include.
The development team needs to pick up the user stories from the product backlog. The team also creates tasks by segmenting the sprint items. Eventually, they provide estimates for the sprint items.
The scrum master role is key to the success of an agile project. However, all members of a Scrum team should fulfill their responsibilities to make the entire team work efficiently. A certification in Scrum agile methodology will help anyone understand their specific duties in the Scrum environment.
