It’s a recurring question: Is the Scrum Master role the equivalent of the Project Manager. In this article I want to clear up the landscape on this issue by approaching the subject from the perspective of the responsibilities that each one has in the broader picture of managing a project.
Within the context of managing an IT project there are several procedures that are associated directly or indirectly with the over application development life-cycle. The following table lists the various typical processes that are shared by most methodologies used.
| PROCESS | SCRUM MASTER | PROJECT MANAGER |
| Project Mandate Receipt | YES | YES |
| Project Budget | – | YES |
| Human resources | – | YES |
| Project Controls* | – | YES |
| Tasks | YES (Backlog) | YES |
| Task Assignment | – | YES |
| Planning | -** | YES |
| Quality Assurance Planning and Coordination | – | YES |
| Construction Tracking | YES | YES |
| Testing coordination | YES | YES |
| Product Delivery | YES | YES |
| Project Closure | Partially *** | YES |
*Communication Plan, Methodologies, Coordination with external contractors etc.
**Sprints are built from Product Backlogs so it is included in tasks
***Partially in Review and Retrospective
From the above it becomes clear that the Scrum Master owns part of the responsibilities that a Project Manager has. Practically, the Scrum Master roles focuses on the construction application while the Project Manager is additionally involved in its preparation.
In the context of the Scrum methodology , the roles of the Project Manager and the Scrum Master can coexist. Regarding the people who perform these roles, there are 2 options:
a) Seperate people own the 2 roles: Most likely this is happening in complex projects where:
- the Project Manager is responsible for all of the prerequisites of the project as well as planning and coordination at a high level
- the Scrum Master takes ownership of the supervising the construction on a daily basis
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