Puzzled about the Scrum Master Role in Scrum?

Confused about the Scrum Master role? See our creative and entertaining metaphors to better understand the nuance and complexity of this key Scrum role.

Inevitably, when working with organizations and helping them move from Waterfall to the Scrum Framework, there is a lot of confusion about the Scrum Master role. And frankly, I am not at all surprised. There are so many different descriptions and metaphors for the Scrum Master role that it is entertaining.

Some of the common questions I get include, What does a Scrum Master do? (Plenty including helping your team kickass!) People often ask the follow-up question, Can we make our Project Managers the Scrum Masters? (Yes you can, but no you should absolutely not.) And third, Do we need a full-time Scrum Master? (Yes, if you are going to use Scrum, You probably need a full-time Scrum Master.)

Some organizations actually believe the Scrum Master is the Jira Lackey for the team. No. Certainly not.

Addressing the Confusion with the Scrum Master Role

I have a theory about why this confusion exists, and why it will continue to exist. But before we go there, let’s look at what the Scrum…