Unit 3
Unit 3 forum
Forum Post and Replies
Complete the Forum Discussion question and reply to two other posts - pick one of the following discussion questions for your own forum post. State the questions you have chosen in the forum post.
· Which role do you think is most like a project manager? Discuss why.
Writing Requirements
· Initial Post Length minimum of 150 words
· Replies: minimum of 100 words per post (respond to at least two classmates, please select classmates that you have not yet replied to)
Reply 1: Akhil
· Which role do you think is most like a project manager? Discuss why
A project manager is a person who would responsible for the scope, resource and the timeline of project, which I feel would closely aligns the roles and responsibilities for a Scrum Master. Even though the scrum principle calls a scrum master a ‘servant leader, I feel the Scrum master also serves as a gate keeper for the project, keeping the note of tasks that has been completed and also responsible for the velocity of the sprint and the burndown chart. Some of the other reasons why I feel the scrum master is like a project manager is because the scrum master is a people’s person who helps in clearing roadblock and impediments faced by the team by open communication and reach out to other resources to help, the scrum master facilitates various scrum ceremonies and is responsible of bringing people together. Scrum master would also be responsible for communicating information to the higher up and the stakeholders.
Reply 2: Swagata
Which role do you think is most like a project manager? Discuss why.
When applying Agile Project Management with Scrum, Scrum defines 3 roles: that of a scrum master, a product owner and a scrum team or development team. There is no formal concept of a Project Manager. A project manager may assume any of the scrum roles based on his skills and desire. The core responsibilities of a project manager is important, but in scrum these responsibilities are not vested in a single individual but are distributed among the three scrum roles.
In a traditional project management, the Project Manager is a leader, decision-maker and is responsible for managing the project, resources, and scope of business requirements. The Project Manager has the role to ensure that the project is in line with the essential business requirements.
On the surface, it might seem that there are similarities in the roles of the project manager and the scrum master because both help in removing impediments to the project’s progress. A project manager is in command and control of the project and is in a leadership role. There is no such leadership role regarding control that the scrum master enjoys. The scrum master is a servant leader, a facilitator, a coach and a team motivator. But the above being said, the scrum master has the status of a consultant.
In terms of responsibility, I would say, the role of the product owner is more closely in line with that of the project manager. In my opinion, the product owner has a considerably more responsible role in an agile project. The product owner maintains the project backlog and ensures that the product aligns to the business requirements. If any changes are to be made to the product, it is the product owner who has the responsibility to adjust and re-prioritize the current product backlog to align to the changes and then plan the project. In fact, the scrum master has to report to the product owner along side other project stakeholders.
I would therefore conclude that the role of the project manager is divided between that of the product owner and scrum master. But if I have to select one role, then in terms of responsibility, I would say the product owner has a more closely related role to that of the project manager.