What Is The Difference Between Traditional Project Manager And Scrum Master?
iZenBridge | 04/01/2019
Project Manager [PM]
PM owns the goal of delivering a project. The team assists the PM in delivering the work products of the project. The PM is in charge of the project management processes right from planning to the execution stage. PM is the center of all the action and is a single point of contact for successful delivery of the project.
PMs have the “Project” Mindset. With this mindset, all the key decisions are taken by the PM. The mindset is all about how to deliver the project on time. The teams follows and executes them.
To successfully achieve the project goal, PM must be having project context and knowledge, delegate tasks, update plans, drive multiple status meetings, communicate with stakeholders and focus on process.
Traditional Project Manager
owns the goal of delivery of project.
does all the work right from Planning, prioritizing features, managing dependencies across teams, takes Risks, communicates etc.
is single point of contact for driving the delivery of the project
PM is the center of all the action and is a single point of contact for successful delivery of the project
Scrum Master [SM]
Unlike PM, the SM is not accountable for delivery of the project. SM is grounded in servant leadership and facilitation, the SM roles do not map directly to any deliverables.
The SM owns the goal of making the team accountable for the project. The Team is at the center of all the action. Scrum master takes the back seat, guides the team by demonstrating the best practices of scrum ceremonies, mentors, grooms, coaches, and develops the team into self-organized, self-managed team. SM inculcates the agile mindset, scrum values, and promotes XP Practices into the team in a way that the team sustains delivering the customer value continuously with no compromise on quality.
Team follows “agile manifesto” values and does all the work done by the traditional project manager. Once the teams are fully coached and transformed into high performing self-organized teams, it’s like attaining Nirvana for the agile teams. The Scrum Master makes the team self-organized, shields the team from outside distractions and assists the team in unblocking any impediments, so that the team can achieve its desired goal.
Scrum Master
owns the goal of making the team accountable for the project.
Team follows “agile manifesto” values and does all the work done by the traditional project manager.
guides the team towards delivery of project.
The Team is at the center of all the action. The Scrum master is out of the action and plays a role of facilitator and servant leadership.
Article also includes a few other opinions on these roles
Author = Giri Saran
URL = https://www.izenbridge.com/blog/difference-between-traditional-project-manager-and-scrum-master/