What are the responsibilities of a Scrum Master?

Posted by SCRUMstudy^® on July 16, 2024

Categories: Agile Scrum Scrum Master

In this article, we delve into the core responsibilities and key contributions that define the essence of a proficient Scrum Master.

The Scrum Master is the “supporting leader” of the Scrum Team who moderates and facilitates team interactions as team coach and motivator. The Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring that the team has a productive work environment by guarding the team from external influences, removing any obstacles, and enforcing Scrum principles, aspects, and processes.

The Scrum Master has many responsibilities, and they change depending on which process is being conducted. For example, during the develop epics process, the Scrum Master facilitates creation of the epics and personas.

The table given below summarizes the Scrum Master’s responsibilities in the various Scrum processes:

Processes	Scrum Master Responsibilities
Idetify Scrum Master and Business Stakenholder(s)	Helps identify business stakeholder(s) for the project
Form Scrum Team	Facilitates selection of members to the Scrum Team(s) Facilitates creation of the Collaboration Plan and the Team Building Plan Ensures back-up resources are available
Develop Epic(s)	Facilitates creation of Epic(s) and Personas
Create Prioritized Product Backlog	Helps Product Owner in creation of the Prioritized Product Backlog and in definition of the Done Criteria and meeting the Definition of Ready
Conduct Release Planning	Coordinates creation of Release Planning Schedule Helps Product Owner and Scrum Team to determine Length of Sprint
Create User Stories	Facilitates creation of User Stories and their Acceptance Criteria
Estimate User Stories	Facilitates meetings of the Scrum Team to estimate User Stories
Commit User Stories	Facilitates meetings of the Scrum Team to commit User Stories
Identify Tasks	Facilitates the Scrum Team in creating the Sprint Task List
Estimate Tasks	Assists Scrum Team in estimating the effort required to complete the tasks agreed to for the Sprint
Update Sprint Backlog	Assists Scrum Team in developing the Sprint Backlog and the Sprint Burndown Chart
Create Deliverables	Supports Scrum Team in creating the deliverables agreed to for the Sprint Helps update the Scrumboard and the Impediment Log
Conduct Daily Standup	Ensures that the Scrumboard and the Impediment Log remain updated
Refine Prioritized Product Backlog	Facilitates Prioritized Product Backlog Review Meetings
Demonstrate and Validate Sprints	Facilitates presentation of completed deliverables by the Scrum Team for the Product Owner’s approval
Retrospect Sprint	Ensures that ideal project environment exists for the Scrum Team in the succeeding Sprints
Retrospect Release	Represents the Scrum Core Team to provide lessons from the current release

Responsibilities of the Scrum Master in Scrum Processes

Chief Scrum Master

Large projects require multiple Scrum Teams to work in parallel. Information gathered from one team may need to be appropriately communicated to other teams—the Chief Scrum Master is responsible for this activity.

The role of a Chief Scrum Master is necessary to ensure proper collaboration among the Scrum Teams. Coordination across various Scrum Teams working on a project is typically done through the Scrum of Scrums (SoS) Meeting. There is no role hierarchy of Scrum Masters—they are all peers. The Chief Scrum Master works at a multi-team level, whereas the Scrum Masters each work at a single-team level.

Typically, any inter-team issues are addressed by the interested parties in a session immediately following the Scrum of Scrums. The Chief Scrum Master facilitates this session.

Articles

What are the responsibilities of a Scrum Master?