I've been getting this question more often lately. Usually the driver is:
We want to "go Scrum" but we don't want to pay for the "cost of admission". So for example, can one of our developers also be the Product Owner AND the Scrum Master? Those jobs can't be that difficult that one person can't do them all. Right?
Another part of the equation is smaller teams or organizations. They ask this question from a pure 'mass' point of view, in that they don't have that many folks on the team.
While there are no perfect answers, I think the key thing is to have a Scrum Master who has the time perform well in the role. To support all aspects of it as they serve their team. To honor the role of the Scrum Master as significant and important for the teams' success.
Instead of my harping on what a Scrum Master does, here are a few bloggers who've done it for me.
- http://thescrumblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-does-scrum-master-do-all-day.html
- http://www.mitchlacey.com/blog/the-job-and-daily-life-of-the-scrummaster
- http://www.agileforall.com/2009/09/23/new-to-agile-what-does-the-scrummaster-do-anyway/
- http://growingagile.co.za/2011/11/why-invest-in-scrum-masters/
- http://agiletrail.com/2011/11/14/42-tasks-for-a-scrum-masters-job/
- And this is a particularly interesting post from Agile Scout that explores some additional depth for the role. While I don't agree with everything Peter says, it's a lot of very relevant information: http://agilescout.com/faq-common-scrummaster-questions/
- February 2015: Here's another view by Peter @ AgileScout - http://agilescout.com/the-perfect-scrummaster-job-description/ you might also want to read the comments...they're quite good.
# of Teams
Another frequent question is - how many teams can a Scrum Master support?The 'book's seems to imply one, but that can't be right. By gosh, what do they do?
While I was at iContact, we overloaded our Scrum Masters with two teams each. A big part of that was economics, in that we struggled to hire suffecient Scrum Masters to support our teams growth. However, we always engaged the Scrum Masters in the team assignments and asked them if they could take on the additional responsibility without impacting their current team.
It was a balancing act that we partnered with them to achieve. And it became our stanard "ratio" if you will. But the ultimate deciding factor was effectiveness within the role in support of the team.
So, what does a Scrum Master do? A lot. It's a full-time and crucial job. Staff it appropriately with skilled Scrum Masters and you'll see the difference!
Thanks for listening,
Bob.