How Crucial is the Role of a Scrum Master?

Investing in Scrum has become a common practice in today’s business landscape, where teamwork is a crucial component in the dynamics of every company. But while plenty of companies involve this process framework in their operation, many of them have yet to hire a scrum master.

Companies have yet to recognise the importance of a highly skilled and experienced scrum master or project manager in the success of their Scrum teams. This particular expert is responsible for being on top of the proper implementation of the Scrum Framework. The person must also ensure that all output produced by the team are properly tested and validated.

If your company has yet to get a scrum master on board, these factors might motivate you to immediately look for these experts.

What is a Scrum?

Before learning the importance of scrum masters in an organisation, it is imperative to understand what Scrum is and what it can do for businesses.

Scrum offers companies a highly responsive framework that runs in iterations called “sprints,” enabling them to deliver solutions faster at the highest quality possible.

By using Scrum, teams within a company can incorporate practices taken from other frameworks where they fit the context of the team and follow other helpful elements mentioned in the Scrum Guide.

What is the Role of a Scrum Master?

The main responsibility of a scrum master is to ensure that the team complies well with agile development principles and conforms to the methods and practices that everyone on the team agreed upon.

This person is also accountable for the following tasks:

• Assigning objectives
• Creating an environment where every person in the team can be efficient
• Engaging and maintaining team dynamics
• Forging a good professional relationship between the team, the business owners, and the people outside the team
• Ensuring that the team will not be distracted by external interruptions

Reasons Why You Must Hire a Scrum Master

Your company needs to hire a Scrum Master to experience the full benefit of using the Scrum framework. Without the expertise of this individual, the team’s efforts will go in vain or be less productive.

Here are several reasons why you need to delegate a Scrum Master in your company:

To Enforce the Best Practices on Project Management

The Scrum Master manages between tasks and members so the team can focus on a specific project. In addition, this person assists the product owner in achieving a more distinct vision of the product and relaying it to the team responsible for its development to turn the vision into a reality.

The Scrum Master also ensures that the agile development team properly implements all the best practices to create high-quality products using the most efficient methods. For example, the individual will offer the most efficient tips so that members can understand the right mobile app development process. The person must also offer feedback to the team to provide an encouraging impact on its ongoing improvement.

To Keep Every Member of the Party Informed

Scrum Masters must facilitate Scrum meetings referred to as the Daily Scrum to generate updates regarding the status of the project. In addition, these gatherings can be useful in identifying any possible challenges and determine the appropriate solution to address them.

To Work Directly with the Product Owner

Another key role played by the Scrum Master is to cooperate directly with the Product Owner. The Scrum Master ensures that the product backlog will remain manageable for every sprint by working directly with the Product Owner.

The person will also provide a detailed report to the Product Owner to discuss the technical aspects while motivating the Scrum team for collaboration.

What are the Different Skill Levels of Scrum Masters?

There are no defined skill levels for scrum masters at the moment. But in practice, there are five different experience levels that you can check out when hiring these professionals:

• Rotating Scrum Master – The Scrum team members rotate the responsibilities of a Scrum Master among themselves on a sprint-by-sprint basis.
• Part-time Scrum Master – One of the team members will temporarily take on the important role while working on the other responsibilities simultaneously.
• Full-time Dedicated Scrum Master – A single person has the sole responsibility to take the role of the Scrum Master. This skill level is perfect for a team that is still learning agile practices.
• Full-time Scrum Master with Other Team – This model works for a person whose main job is to be a Scrum Master who can also work in other teams.
• Agile Coach – This person does not have a particular team to handle but works with multiple teams on specific tasks.

Conclusion

Scrum Masters are crucial to ensure that the agile development team will stay on track. If you plan to monitor your product development without using too much time and resources, working with the experts on agile processes can benefit your business.

If you can’t find a capable scrum master for your team, you can always tap remote talent agencies or IT support services provides such as Frontline, a leading software development agency in Singapore. We can ensure that your company’s agile development is in proper order with our veteran Scrum masters available to help your team. Drop us a message at https://www.frontline.com.sg/contact/ to know more about our agile development services or hire one of our Scrum masters.