What's the Difference between a Scrum Master and a Project Manager

how does a scrum Master differ from a project manager it's a common question and the simple answer is substantially so let's have a look at why they may appear to be similar and what in fact are the differences between a project manager and a scrum [Music] Master before we look at all the ways that scrum Masters and project managers are really very different roles let's look at the similarities between those roles because there are some both are for example leadership roles and roles in which coaching their teams to get the best from them is a really critical skill and of course communication is a huge part of both roles it's often said that project management is 80% communication and I think the same can equally be said for the scrum Master role as well both of these roles have a responsibility for delivering both to schedule and to quality standards and both roles have to deal with a range of issues and impediments along the way to make sure that they do deliver on time and they do deliver what they promise and finally there are many skills that people in both of these roles need to use daily obviously I've already mentioned coaching and mentoring too and facilitation skills and negotiation skills in fact a whole range of communicating skills and let's not forget things like motivating the teams that work with them but for all the fundamental similarities between the roles there really are a lot of important differences in the way that these two roles play out in their daytoday work critically they have a different Focus for their leadership and often different ways of leading fundamentally a project manager has the leadership responsibility for the whole project and can take on the leadership of a wide range of project types a scrum Master leads an agile scrum team and not the whole project and not projects where you don't need scrum teams and while both scrum Masters and project managers employ coaching and facilitation as a leadership approach for scrum Masters coaching mentoring facilitating and serving their teams is the fundamental way that they lead and operate day-to-day whilst for project managers these are just leadership approaches within their wider leadership tool set in many ways a scrum team leads itself and the scrum Master isn't their leader so much as their supporter their coach their facilitator and their mentor on all things to do with scrum and there are other detailed comparisons that we can make so let's look at them under four headings scope of leadership constituency context text and certifications and training first scope of leadership project managers are responsible for all aspects of the project and its success scrum Masters on the other hand are only responsible for the work of the scrum team their focus is on the team's efficiency and Effectiveness within the principles of the scrum framework they're responsible for the conduct of the scrum process and for how the team works together to achieve its results unlike a scrum team a project team will work together on a plan approved by their project manager the project manager May delegate the leadership of that team to a workstream leader or a work package manager who may in some contexts actually be a scrum master they may also delegate some of their responsibilities typically their more administrative roles to either a project coordinator or project administrator and if you want to know more about how that role operates then I'll put a link to our video in the description scrum teams on the other hand are largely self-managing and self-organizing the role of the scrum Master is to support guide and serve them rather than to Simply lead them the second set of differences lies in the constituency a project manager has both an internal and an external Focus that is they concern themselves both with the team members who are working within the project and with the stakeholders who are outside of the project feeding in their ideas and also being affected by what the project does it's scrum Master on the other hand is mainly focused internally on their scrum team outside of the scrum team they will liaz with the project manager the solution architect and the product owner all of whom have their focus more oriented towards the outside this all means that project managers have to balance the interests of their stakeholders their customers and their users against the interests and priorities of the project and the project project team that is working on it scrum Masters don't have to carry out that Balancing Act their focus is entirely on the scrum team however it's when they work with the product owner that they bring balance together because the product owner has that external Focus so balance in the scrum environment comes from the working together of the scrum master and the product owner third we need to look at the context for scrum Masters and project managers project managers can manage and lead a vast range of projects and project types I would say all projects and all project types except for my caution around absolutes and the word all scrum Masters however exist only in scrum environments or maybe they can exist in other environments that incorporate the ideas of the scrum framework within their own Frameworks and methodologies or perhaps within projects that are hybrids and incorporate elements of scrum within a wider project management framework but even so the range of contexts within which we find scrum Masters is much narrower although we do now find a lot of scrum Masters out there because scrum has become a very popular approach to delivering projects particularly technology projects finally let's look at the differences in certifications and training for both scrum Masters and project managers I don't want to get into a load of detail about all the different certifications that are available but I will put links to all of our resources into the description to this video however the major project management certifications that are available include the pmis capm and PMP certifications the apms pfq pmq and PPQ certifications and the ipas level d c b and a certifications and not to forget the widely popular prints 2 certifications both at foundation and practitioner level for scrum Masters the two principal sets of certifications that are available come from the scrum Alliance and their certified scrum Master certifications and scrum.org and their professional scrum Master certifications each organization offers three tiers of certification and I have a video that specifically compares the CSM and PSM certifications so to conclude there are overlaps of course between the role of project manager and scrum Master both are leadership roles within the context of a project but the way they discharge those roles and the range of context within which they discharge those roles are very different scrum Masters and project managers are different roles which require different training different expertise and to an extent different personalities yes of course it is possible for anyone to learn and become skilled at both roles but the reality is that in the professional project world most people choose one role and stick with it at least to the point where they want to retrain and take on the other role please do give this video a like if you've enjoyed it I'll be creating loads more great project management videos for you so please do subscribe to the channnel and hit the Bell so you don't miss any of them and I look forward to seeing you in the next one

Channel: Online PM Courses - Mike Clayton

Views: 1,591

Keywords: project manager, scrum master, scrum master roles and responsibilities, scrum master vs project manager, scrum master explained, project manager vs scrum master, difference between project manager and scrum master, difference between scrum master and project manager, what is a scrum master, agile project manager, project manager roles and responsibilities, role of a project manager, role of project manager in agile scrum, role of a scrum master, mike clayton

Id: FUdnziBMKSE

Length: 10min 10sec (610 seconds)

Published: Thu May 23 2024