Scrum is one of the most popular Agile frameworks, designed to help teams develop products in an iterative, collaborative, and flexible manner.
One of the common questions that arise when adopting Scrum is whether traditional project management roles, such as the project manager, still have a place in a Scrum team.
In this article, we’ll explore whether there can be project managers in a Scrum team, how traditional project management roles intersect with Scrum roles, and how project management tasks are handled in a Scrum environment.
Scrum Roles Breakdown: Does a Project Manager Fit There
It's important to first understand the roles that exist within a Scrum team. Scrum defines three key roles:
1. Product Owner
The Product Owner is responsible for defining the features and functionality of the product being developed. They maintain the product backlog, prioritize tasks based on business value, and ensure the development team is working on the most important features.
2. Scrum Master
The Scrum Master serves as a facilitator and coach for the Scrum team. Their primary role is to ensure the Scrum process is being followed, remove any obstacles the team faces, and help the team continuously improve.
The Scrum Master also helps foster a culture of collaboration and self-organization.
3. Development Team
The Development Team consists of cross-functional professionals who are responsible for developing the product. The team is self-organized, meaning they manage their own work and collaborate to meet the goals set by the Product Owner. Scrum emphasizes empowering the team to make decisions without top-down direction.
These roles are designed to promote collaboration, self-organization, and flexibility within the Scrum framework. But where does the role of a traditional project manager fit into this structure?
Project Management in a Scrum Team
The short answer is that there are no traditional project managers in a Scrum team. Scrum, by design, is an Agile framework that decentralizes decision-making, promotes self-organization, and focuses on empowering the Scrum team to take ownership of their work.
Traditional project management tasks - such as managing timelines, budgets, and directing teams - are distributed across various Scrum roles.
However, that doesn’t mean the responsibilities of a project manager are entirely absent in a Scrum environment. Instead of a single person assuming the role of project manager, Scrum distributes these tasks across multiple roles within the framework. Here’s how:
1. PM Responsibilities in Scrum
While the Scrum Master is not a project manager, they do take on some of the responsibilities typically associated with project management. For example:
- Facilitation: The Scrum Master ensures that the team follows the Scrum process, facilitates Scrum events, and removes obstacles to progress, similar to how a project manager ensures a project runs smoothly.
- Team Support: The Scrum Master helps the team collaborate and improves team dynamics, ensuring effective communication across the group.
The Product Owner also takes on a significant amount of project management responsibility, particularly when it comes to managing the product backlog, prioritizing tasks, and making decisions about what to build next.
They have a key role in steering the project in the right direction from a business perspective, just as a project manager would align a project’s scope with business goals.
2. What Happens to Traditional Project Management Tasks?
Traditional project management tasks such as budgeting, resource allocation, and scheduling may still exist in a Scrum environment, but these are typically handled outside of the Scrum team, often at the organizational level. For example:
- Budgeting and Resource Allocation: In some organizations, these tasks might be handled by a portfolio manager or a resource manager who works closely with the Scrum team.
- Scheduling and Timeline Management: While Scrum emphasizes flexibility and adaptability, there are still deadlines and timelines in most projects. These are often set by external stakeholders, such as the Product Owner or project leadership outside of the Scrum team.
In smaller teams or organizations, the Scrum Master may help coordinate some of these aspects, but it’s not their primary responsibility. This reflects the flexibility within Scrum to adjust roles depending on the team's needs.
Integrating Project Managers Into a Scrum Team
Even though Scrum doesn’t have a traditional project manager role, that doesn’t mean project managers can’t still play a key role in the organization.
In fact, project managers can work alongside Scrum teams to help guide and coordinate projects, particularly in larger organizations or more complex projects.
1. The Role of the Project Manager Outside Scrum Teams
In many organizations, project managers can complement the Scrum framework by focusing on tasks that fall outside the Scrum team’s scope, such as:
- Cross-team coordination: Ensuring that different Scrum teams or departments are aligned and working toward the same objectives.
- Stakeholder communication: Managing relationships with stakeholders, ensuring that they are informed and engaged throughout the project.
- Risk Management: Monitoring and mitigating project risks at a higher level, coordinating with external teams or departments that may impact the Scrum team’s progress.
By focusing on these organizational and cross-team aspects, project managers can help ensure the success of projects while leaving the day-to-day project execution and delivery to the Scrum team.
2. Project Manager as a Scrum Team Facilitator
In some cases, especially in larger teams or organizations, a project manager might be embedded in a Scrum team but act as a facilitator rather than a traditional manager. They could take on a hybrid role, where they:
- Assist with planning and coordination between Scrum sprints.
- Help organize product backlog refinement and sprint planning sessions.
- Support the Product Owner and Scrum Master in aligning priorities and ensuring project milestones are met.
While this role doesn’t involve the traditional responsibilities of a project manager, it can help integrate Scrum with the broader organizational processes, ensuring smoother project delivery.
The Benefits of Removing the Project Manager Role in Scrum
One of the key advantages of Scrum is its emphasis on self-organizing teams. By removing the traditional project manager role and distributing project management responsibilities across the Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Development Team, Scrum helps foster:
- Team Autonomy: Teams have the authority and responsibility to make decisions without waiting for approvals from a project manager.
- Improved Collaboration: Scrum’s focus on collaboration encourages open communication and shared decision-making between team members, Product Owners, and stakeholders.
- Faster Decision-Making: Without the need for centralized decision-making, Scrum teams can make decisions more quickly, reducing bottlenecks and increasing the speed of delivery.
This structure can lead to more flexible, adaptable teams that can respond quickly to changing requirements or obstacles, which is one of the reasons Scrum is so effective for Agile project management.
Project Managers in Scrum Teams - A Winning Hybrid Approach
Can there be project managers in a Scrum team? Technically, no - Scrum does not include a traditional project manager role. Instead, Scrum distributes project management tasks across the Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Development Team.
However, this does not mean that project managers are excluded from the process. They can still play a crucial role in managing projects at the organizational level, coordinating with other teams, and ensuring alignment with business goals.
In some cases, project managers may even act as facilitators within Scrum teams, helping to coordinate sprint planning and aligning Scrum with broader organizational objectives. Ultimately, the role of a project manager in Scrum depends on the structure and needs of the organization.
