The Scrum Master Role (3) - Collaborating with the Product Owner

By Chantal Jenoure

A Scrum Master’s closest partner should be their Product Owner.


Why?


According to the Scrum Guide 2020:

“The Product Owner is accountable for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Scrum Team.”

How is the Scrum Master role different from that of the Product Owner?

To distinguish between the roles of the Scrum Master and the Product Owner, I’ll say this simple statement - “Whilst the Product Owner is responsible for determining WHAT is built, the Scrum Master guides HOW the solution is built.”

Unsplash Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com

In the grand scheme of things, why is this such a big deal?

Well, in many organizations that are ‘exploring’ Agile, there is nothing of more importance (and most times, under more scrutiny) than the output (and hopefully, this means, value delivered) of their Agile teams. 

This is why it is important that the Scrum Master guides and aids the Product Owner to focus on the most important increment and that the increment is implemented as quickly as possible to deliver the intended value as early as possible.

How the Scrum Master supports the Role of the Product Owner

The Scrum Guide (2020) also outlines that the Product Owner captures the work to solve a complex problem into a Product Backlog. 

This role is accountable for managing the Product Backlog effectively. 

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One Product Owner per team

Additionally, the Scrum Guide stresses that the Product Owner is one person. The role cannot be filled by a number of persons or a committee. In the same breath, the decisions of this individual should be respected by the organization.

Unsplash Photo by Parabol

The Scrum Master champions this, by ensuring that:

1 The voice of this individual is respected and their decisions are honoured, by garnering the support of key stakeholders as well as reiterating the team’s focus, the Product Goal and what each increment will include. 

2 No one goes around the PO to have sidebar discussions with the developers to change the priority or focus on what they would have agreed with the PO to deliver.

3 Changes to the product backlog are done through conversations with the Product Owner and not through the issuance of mandates or imperatives. This is crucial to the success of a Product Owner, seeing that they are accountable for what is built. Furthermore, the Product Owner should always have a full understanding of what, how and why the requests and needs of the stakeholders have changed to ensure that the team is focusing on the highest priority at all times.

Next up, we'll look into the Scrum Master's role to their organisation. 

In case this the first in the series that you are reading, check out Parts 1 (A first look) and 2 (A Practical Look) here!