Skip to main content

One person for Scrum Master & Product Owner - out of necessity not desire

Last post 04:49 pm August 17, 2018 by Filip Łukaszewski
5 replies
Anonymous
10:46 am August 14, 2018

Hi, I work in a large organisation that has several dev teams who are trying hard to be Agile.

The dev teams are made up of PO, Tech Lead and the dev team.

Now, for brevity - this isn't going to change. I need to work with what I have.

What do you think is the best Agile practise in this situation? 

All help and advice very gratefully received!


02:27 pm August 14, 2018

You can read the following post about this topic

https://www.scrum.org/forum/scrum-forum/17899/scrum-master-and-product-…

what is your role in this situation? 

 


Anonymous
08:02 am August 15, 2018

Hi Ricardo, my role is Senior [hybrid PO and SM role], so I'm in a leadership role over the Agile teams.


09:23 am August 15, 2018

Michael,

"I work in a large organisation that has several dev teams who are trying hard to be Agile" How exactly are they trying to be Agile? Give us a few examples, please.

"The dev teams are made up of PO, Tech Lead and the dev team." I think you misrepresented the setup. Why would a dev team be made of PO, Tech Lead and dev team? If you come to an internal agreement to follow Scrum rules, you'd have a Scrum team made of a dev team, a PO and a SM.

"Now, for brevity - this isn't going to change. I need to work with what I have." You won't have Scrum if PO and SM are coupled in one person. PO and SM are two distinct roles, and while both of them can be part of the development team itself, the two roles (PO and SM) should be covered by two people. Try identifying another setup that looks closest to your realities. Would Kanban work for you?

"What do you think is the best Agile practise in this situation?" Difficult to answer especially because we don't know the situation (we really don't - a few lines won't give the proper picture). An Agile consultant would spend many weeks, maybe months, discovering your specifics, assessing and suggesting changes, then assisting with implementation. If you don't have one, I'm afraid it's up to you to dive deep into the problems and have key people from the company involved in the (transformation) process. Good luck with the research, when in doubt, ask here.


12:34 pm August 15, 2018

The dev teams are made up of PO, Tech Lead and the dev team.

Now, for brevity - this isn't going to change. I need to work with what I have.

What do you think is the best Agile practise in this situation?

Regardless of whether this set-up is going to change or not, it seems you are aware of actual or potential shortcomings with the arrangement.

In terms of agile practice, what transparency have you put in place over those issues? Can you describe them? Are others in the team aware of them?


04:49 pm August 17, 2018

One person for Scrum Master & Product Owner (...) my role is Senior [hybrid PO and SM role], so I'm in a leadership role over the Agile teams.

but simultanously

The dev teams are made up of PO, Tech Lead and the dev team.

I still do not understand the setup. It does seem like you are a leader of some sort, and the teams are missing Scrum Masters. Or did I get it wrong?


By posting on our forums you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.

Please note that the first and last name from your Scrum.org member profile will be displayed next to any topic or comment you post on the forums. For privacy concerns, we cannot allow you to post email addresses. All user-submitted content on our Forums may be subject to deletion if it is found to be in violation of our Terms of Use. Scrum.org does not endorse user-submitted content or the content of links to any third-party websites.

Terms of Use

Scrum.org may, at its discretion, remove any post that it deems unsuitable for these forums. Unsuitable post content includes, but is not limited to, Scrum.org Professional-level assessment questions and answers, profanity, insults, racism or sexually explicit content. Using our forum as a platform for the marketing and solicitation of products or services is also prohibited. Forum members who post content deemed unsuitable by Scrum.org may have their access revoked at any time, without warning. Scrum.org may, but is not obliged to, monitor submissions.