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How much of "management" in the 3 scrum roles?

Last post 01:47 pm July 6, 2017 by Andrew Lishomwa
2 replies
07:14 am July 5, 2017

In preparing for my PSM I exam, I am still confused about the management role or rather the apparent lack thereof, in scrum teams.

From the scrum guide I learned that the Scrum Master role is not a management role. Likewise the Product Owner is not a manager and the Development Team is self-organizing, not self-managing.

Still, some of the questions I get in sample exams are contradictory to this. One of the questions was: "is the Scrum Master role a management role?" and the answer was apparently "Yes", the reasoning being he manages not people but the scrum process.

Also I read somewhere that the Scrum Master can change the team to make it more optimal and eliminate waste. So swap out certain team members. This sounds very much like people management to me.

Finally, if the Development Team is not self-managing, who manages them then when it is needed? Still an external resource manager I would think.

Can somebody please shed some light into this?

Thank you kindly.

 


01:06 pm July 6, 2017

You need to be very wary of sites that claim to have Scrum practice assessments - many of them simply have an incorrect understanding of Scrum.   Use the Scrum Guide as your main reference point for all things Scrum, take the practice assessments on Scrum.org, and if needed, MLipshin's practice assessments are actually very good (since they're based on actual Scrum Guide content).

 

"Also I read somewhere that the Scrum Master can change the team to make it more optimal and eliminate waste. So swap out certain team members. This sounds very much like people management to me"

 

That is simply wrong.   The Scrum Master has zero authority over the Development Team, outside of ensuring that Scrum is adhered to.   The SM cannot change the team.

 


01:34 pm July 6, 2017

There's no like button so +1 on Timothy's reply above, agree use the guide and if doing any assessments other than the open ones here yep to the MLipshin, I used it when going for the PSM1


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