The Scrum Roles: Describing the Individuals & Interactions

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EXERCISE

To begin this course on the Scrum Roles, we ask you that you please pause and take a moment to think about some questions you might have about the roles and responsibilities in Scrum and how they might be applied in your environment. When finished, write down five questions that you would like your instructor to answer when you meet them face-to-face.

Your Questions About the Scrum Roles

1. _________________________________________________________________

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2. _________________________________________________________________

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3. _________________________________________________________________

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4. _________________________________________________________________

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5. _________________________________________________________________

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Now take a moment to watch two short videos on the website about the different roles in Scrum and some of their interactions. Use the space on the next page to take

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any notes you might want to capture or to write any additional questions you might have for your instructor.

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APPLY YOUR LEARNING

Instructions: using the information in the videos and your personal experience with Scrum, review the list of statements below to identify the statements which are true and those which are false.

Scrum Roles - True or False? 1. The ScrumMaster is responsible for the delivery of the product.

(a) True (b) False

2. Development Team members provide estimates to Product Backlog and Sprint Backlog items.

(a) True (b) False

3. The ScrumMaster is a full-time role dedicated to assisting the Development Team, Product Owner and Stakeholders in receiving the maximum benefit from using Scrum.

(a) True (b) False

4. The Product Owner is responsible for the business outcomes. (a) True (b) False

5. The roles of ScrumMaster and Product Owner can be combined. (a) True (b) False

6. The Product Owner supports the ScrumMaster in helping the Development Team self-organize.

(a) True (b) False

7. Development Team members give the Product Owner status updates at the Daily Scrum.

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(a) True (b) False

8. As a recognized authority of Scrum, the ScrumMaster assigns work to people in order to maximize business value for the Product Owner.

(a) True (b) False

9. Stakeholders are involved in the day-to-day activities of the Development Team. (a) True (b) False

10. The technical lead is empowered to make architectural decisions for the Development Team.

(a) True (b) False

11. The term “Scrum Team” refers to the four roles of Development Team, Product Owner, ScrumMaster and Stakeholders.

(a) True (b) False

12. Once the Development Team members understand how to do Scrum well, the ScrumMaster has nothing more to do.

(a) True (b) False

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CONCLUSION

Scrum Roles Metaphor Magic Instructions: for this activity, we want to engage the right side of your brain to create some memorable (and perhaps humorous) associations of the Scrum Roles (plus the Stakeholders) to common household items. For each of the Scrum Roles listed below, select one household item (pick a different household item for each metaphor you make) from the list below to create a short simile using this template:

“A [Scrum Role] is like [common household object] because [your explanation].”

Example: A Product Owner is like an exercise bike because they always workout the team’s creativity.

Development Team

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Product Owner

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vacuum antenna blender sofa

television toothbrush soap lawn mower

refrigerator exercise bike doorbell mirror

remote control washcloth cardboard box safe

table bathtub protractor hammer

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ScrumMaster

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Stakeholders

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

BOOKS

• The Art of Agile Development: Pragmatic Guide to Agile Software Development - by James Shore

• Scrum Mastery: From Good to Great Servant-Leadership - by Geoff Watts • The Great ScrumMaster: #ScrumMasterWay - by Zuzana Sochova • User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product - by Jeff

Patton (don’t let the title fool you, this is one of the best books on the role of the Product Owner)

• Agile Product Management with Scrum: Creating Products that Customers Love - by Roman Pichler

• Product Mastery: From Good to Great Product Ownership - by Geoff Watts

BLOGS

• The Scrum Guide (the official source of Scrum in multiple languages) http://www.scrumguides.org/index.html

• Scrum Roles Demystified https://www.scrumalliance.org/agile-resources/scrum-roles-demystified

• Characteristics of a Great Scrum Team https://www.infoq.com/articles/great-scrum-team

• 42 Tasks for a Scrum Master’s Job http://agiletrail.com/2011/11/14/42-tasks-for-a-scrum-masters-job/

• Evolution of a ScrumMaster https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/evolution-scrum-master

• 37 Tasks for a Product Owner’s Job http://agiletrail.com/2011/11/29/37-tasks-for-a-product-owner’s-job/

• Every Product Owner Needs a Great ScrumMaster http://www.romanpichler.com/blog/every-great-product-owner-needs-great-scrummaster/

VIDEOS

• Scrum Roles and Responsibilities https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnqeFjlxOK0

• Agile Product Ownership in a Nutshell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=502ILHjX9EE

• Sh*t Bad Scrum Masters Say https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGbsgs611MM

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TECHNIQUE

Pains-Gains Map

WHAT YOU CAN LEARN

Develop an understanding of the motivations and decisions for a specific person, role, persona or market segment.

WHAT YOU NEED

1) Post-it notes 2) Sharpies 3) Flip chart paper, whiteboard or a large wall

HOW TO DO THIS

Many decisions often boil down to one’s basic choices between benefit and harm. By capturing these specifics for a key person, you may uncover the most relevant points to bring up in presenting or influencing this person’s decisions. This key person may be user of the product (expressed as a persona), a crucial customer (or market segment) or even the leader of an organization whose approval is sought.  

Start by drawing a quick sketch of the person you are examining on sheet of chart paper. This is not an art contest, so stick figures and simple representations are just fine. If you are completely at a loss on how to draw the person, simply write their name on the top of the sheet of paper.

After that, draw a line down the center of the paper. Write “Pains” on the left side of the paper and “Gains” on the right side of the paper. Distribute the post-it notes and sharpies to the group. Make sure that everyone have a sharpie and post-its.

TIME NEEDED PARTICIPANTS OUTCOME

10 - 15 minutes 3 - 10 people Customer empathy & understanding

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Begin creating your map by asking about the person’s pains. Encourage the group to step inside this person’s mind and to think and feel as this person by reflecting on the list of questions below.  

• What does a bad day look like for them? • What are they afraid of? • What keeps them awake at night? • What obstacles stand in their way?

Allow the participants about five minutes of silent writing (or working in pairs) to capture their responses on post-it notes, one answer per post-it. After the five minutes timebox is complete, put the post-it notes on the left side of the paper. Cluster similar post-it notes together and capture the duplicates.

Many times, a person’s gains can be the inverse of their pains. However, to discover the real innovation, or the breakthrough thinking that motivates a person to change their long-standing behavior(s), it is important to go beyond listing the gains as the mirror image of the pains. Use the questions below to think deeply on what motivates this person.

• What does this person want and aspire to? • How do they measure success? • What would make their jobs (or lives) easier? • What can we offer this person?

Again, allow the participants about five minutes of silent writing (or working in pairs) to capture their responses on post-it notes, one answer per post-it. After the five minutes timebox is complete, put the post-it notes on the right side of the paper. Cluster similar post-it notes together and capture the duplicates.

When finished, ask the group to summarize and prioritize the top pains and gains from the exercise. Use these pains and gains when developing presentations, value propositions or any other instance where you are trying to influence a decision.

Finally, please keep in mind that without further validation these pains and gains are highly speculative. It is important to quickly (and cheaply) find a way to test that the pains and gains you have identified are indeed pains and gains for your target profile.

WHO SHARED THIS WITH US

James Macanufo and Sunni Brown

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CHALLENGE

For this challenge, we want you to read the Technique “Pains-Gains Map” in the workbook, think deeply about the various Scrum Roles and then select what might be some common pains (and gains) when these roles are put into action.

1. Which of the following is NOT a pain frequently associated with being the Product Owner?

(a) A Sprint that fails to deliver any business value to the Stakeholders. (b) Dealing with customers who do not care about\understand Scrum. (c) Working with a Development Team that does not deliver quality work. (d) The Development Team works as a group of individuals rather than as a

collaborative team.

2. Which of the following is a gain frequently associated with being a ScrumMaster? (a) A Sprint that fails to deliver any business value to the Stakeholders. (b) A productive, safe and collaborative environment that puts people first. (c) Not being able to deliver the product by the end of each Sprint. (d) Quickly identify features which are unfeasible due to technical limitations.

3. Which of the following is a pain frequently associated with being a Development Team member?

(a) Growing technical debt after each Sprint. (b) Scrum is being used in the wrong way and\or being used to solve the

wrong types of problems in the organization. (c) Maintaining the Product Backlog requires time and effort. (d) Business leaders that do not provide clear direction and guidance to the

product.

4. Which of the following is a gain frequently associated with being a Development Team member?

(a) An organization that understands and supports continuous improvement. (b) Being recognized and respected within the organization as being an

expert on Scrum and Agile. (c) No more late nights in the office or working on weekends; no more

overtime! (d) Stakeholders approve new functionality during the Sprint Review.

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5. Which of the following is NOT a pain frequently associated with being a ScrumMaster?

(a) Stakeholders insist on an exact delivery date for all requests. (b) Balancing Stakeholder expectations with what the Scrum Team can

realistically deliver. (c) Lots of administrative tasks to be done (eg. meetings, JIRA, etc.) instead of

writing coding and creating value. (d) Success as a ScrumMaster depends on others following through on their

commitments.

6. Which of the following is a gain frequently associated with being a Product Owner?

(a) Lack the authority to make Product Backlog decisions which drive business value.

(b) Given enough time for cultural changes to take effect and yield benefits. (c) Having a working product at any time, even if incomplete, to gather

feedback from customers and end users. (d) Patience and trust from managers that we know how to deliver; enough

time to figure out the best solution.

7. Which of the following is a pain frequently associated with being a Product Owner?

(a) Business leaders that do not provide clear direction and guidance to the product.

(b) Look weak\ineffective when late-breaking impediments derail a Sprint. (c) User stories are overly broad with unclear acceptance criteria. (d) Seeing the product being used by the customers and receiving regular

feedback from them.

8. Which of the following is NOT a gain frequently associated with being a Development Team member?

(a) Having visibility into upcoming work in order to prepare for what is to come next.

(b) Empowered to select the technical work that interests me without any outside influence.

(c) Facilitating a productive and collaborative environment that supports personal and professional growth.

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(d) Protection from outside interference and unnecessary distractions.

9. Which of the following is a pain frequently associated with being a ScrumMaster? (a) Dependencies on other teams (or systems) impact our ability to “get to

done” before the end of the Sprint. (b) Stakeholders do not provide regular feedback on the product. (c) Not enough business knowledge to provide good requirements and

complete user stories. (d) Lack of collaboration between the Development Team and Product Owner.

10. Which of the following is a gain frequently associated with being a Product Owner?

(a) Support from the organization to remove impediments; it is “OK” to ask for help.

(b) Advocates and supporters who champion the value of Scrum across the organization.

(c) Complete authority on how to turn Product Backlog items into a potentially shippable product increment.

(d) Understand why the schedule has changed and can intelligently convey the reasons why to the Stakeholders.

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