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Friday, September 2, 2011

SM / PO Cheatsheet: Simple guide to the difference between a Scrum Master and a Product Owner

By Edward Scotcher

This is a simple one page aide memoire that can be used to help explain the responsibilities of the role of Product Owner and Scrum Master. It's great to print off and hand out to people when you are explaining what the roles are and what the differences are between them. So next time you need to talk about these roles, you can use this as a basis for a simple discussion or presentation.

Scrum Master's Responsibilities

  • Responsible for helping the team deliver work to the Product Owner
  • Makes sure the team can meet its commitments by removing any impediments they face, including Managing dependencies, escalating blockers that they cannot remove themselves
  • Facilitates process & meetings (eg Reviews, Stand Ups, Planning, Estimation, Scheduling, Prioritization)
  • Makes sure the team is fully functional, productive and improving quality
  • Shields the team from distractions and interferences (including the Product Owner)
  • Enables close co-operation across all roles and functions, removes barriers
  • Responsible for reporting progress, including producing standard outward-facing artefacts
  • Manages Product Owners expectations of the team
  • Responsible for keeping time and quality requirements

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