It’s not a “better” practice to have one person be both Scrum Master and Developer, but there are some situations when it might make sense.When software companies are working within Scrum, deadlines can often create stressful and contentious relationships between product development teams and their senior management. It may also pave the way for a Developer to become a Scrum Master. This helps the team become more aware of what a Scrum Master does, and the team can better fill in when or if the Scrum Master is away. If anyone on the Scrum Team wants to try out being a Scrum Master, you could let everyone interested take turns in the role – rotating each Sprint. Could rotate team members in this role to give them experience doing it
When the kids go off to college, or in this case, just don’t need you much anymore, your time could be leveraged as a Developer if you have the necessary skills. I always think of being a Scrum Master like being a parent – my job is to work myself out of a job. Scrum Master may not always be a full-time positionĪs Scrum Teams mature and become more and more high-performing, there will naturally be less for the Scrum Master to do. In smaller companies, there may be no choice but to have one person play both Scrum Master and Developer on a Scrum Team. Let’s face it, not everyone works at a large enterprise-sized project that can afford to have separate people in all the Scrum roles. If resources are limited, it may sometimes be necessary Now, let’s look at the flip side of this debate. Why it could work with a Scrum Master as a Developer, too Just try to be conscious of which accountability you are playing when you provide your input at the Sprint Retrospective. If you do wear both hats, you will need to provide feedback from both positions, which can be hard. But if you are a Developer on the team, how do you both facilitate and participate? It’s not exactly easy.įrom which perspective should you come from when providing input to the process? As Scrum Master, you may be disappointed that you didn’t meet your commitment and Sprint Goal, but as a Developer, you will understand what challenges got in your way that prevented the Team from achieving their goal. It’s harder to conduct retrospectives wearing both hatsĪs the Scrum Master, you might be responsible for facilitating the Scrum Team’s Retrospective. I would also suggest that you call out which hat you are wearing when communicating with your team, so they will know where you are coming from. You may literally need to take one hat off and put the other hat on, so you know what your focus is. Whenever possible, if you are in this position, you should be very conscious about how you spend your time. This is called context switching, and it takes a huge hit on your ability to get things done. Every time you start one task, stop, and pick up something else, you lose time. If you are playing both Scrum Master and a Developer on a Scrum Team, your effectiveness and productivity in both roles will be reduced. Context switching between roles reduces effectiveness and productivity You serve the team before you act as an individual on the team. If you are both a Scrum Master and a Developer, I believe that your Scrum Master duties should always come first. When playing a dual role, you must understand the priorities. On one hand, you have items in the Sprint Backlog that you are responsible for completing, and on the other hand, you have team members who need coaching in Agile. Imagine playing tug-of-war with yourself. So, why wouldn’t you want to have your Scrum Master also be a Developer on your Agile team? It introduces the possibility of competing priorities A Scrum Master is the coach and leader of a Scrum Team.
Scrum takes its name from the game of Rugby. Why not to have a Scrum Master as a Developer Join me in assessing the reasons why or why not your Scrum Master could also be a Developer on your team. I have been in this uncomfortable position before, and I’ll be totally honest – it’s wasn’t fun, and I wouldn’t recommend it.
#Scrum debate series#
In the tenth episode of my blog series on “20 Controversial Topics of Debate in Agile“, I tackle the tough question of whether a Scrum Master can also be a Developer on an Agile Scrum Team. Rachael Wilterdink > Agile > Scrum > Scrum Master > Debate #10 – Can the Scrum Master be a Team Member, too?
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