It took some time, but Agile has definitely taken over the more traditional approaches to managing projects, especially in the software development industry. As a result, the demand for Scrum Masters and Product Owners is on the rise, as is the interest in courses that would provide the knowledge and the certificates needed to become a Scrum Master or a Product Owner.
If you have been thinking about these courses and certifications but aren’t sure which of these two roles would suit you better, you’ve come to the right place. This article will ask questions and the way you answer them will give you an idea of whether you would make a better Scrum Master or Product Owner.
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You can start by learning more about the Scrum Master vs Product Owner division of responsibilities, just to get the general feeling of what the roles entail.
What Is a Scrum Master?
The scrum master assists the team in streamlining and improving the methods through which they accomplish their objectives.
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Scrum Master Role and Responsibilities
1. Coach Team Members
Scrum master ensures that team members know the Scrum events, as well as the agile values and principles. They also make sure the team is aware of their responsibilities.
2. Help the Product Owner by Implementing Methods to Streamline Procedures
The product owner also prioritizes backlogs and is in charge of establishing, maintaining, and sharing them. The product owner must develop and communicate a goal or long-term target that the product backlog aspires to achieve. The Scrum master looks for opportunities to help the product owner with these duties.
3. Cause the Removal of Impediments
Team members identify the distractions and obstacles in the development of the sprint. The Scrum Master works across the organization to ensure no blockers in project completion.
4. Teach Scrum Principles and Techniques to the Organization as a Whole
Leading the organization in implementing Scrum through training, coaching, and advice is a crucial aspect of the Scrum master role to guarantee that work does not slack off. This includes teaching and promoting the idea, principles, and structure of Scrum. Here, assisting the organization using an empirical approach is a top priority.
Requirements to Become a Scrum Master
- A bachelor's degree
- Scrum Master Certification
- 5-7 years of project management experience
- Knowledge of Agile tools and technology
Benefits of Working as a Scrum Master
Higher Earning Power
According to scrum alliance, the average annual wage for a scrum team member is $88,000. On the other side, a Scrum Master makes an average base income of about $95,000 annually.
Career Advancement
By advancing your understanding of the Scrum framework and Agile concepts, earning your Scrum Master certification offers new opportunities. As a Scrum Master, you have the skills necessary to advance into a leadership position as you direct Scrum teams toward shared objectives and ensure that each stage of the process is carried out correctly.
Comprehensive Scrum Knowledge
The Scrum artifacts, such as burn-down charts and sprint backlogs, require a thorough understanding by Scrum Masters. Scrum Masters apply this expertise to increase team productivity, lessen misconceptions, and support Scrum teams in completing their tasks.
What Is a Product Owner?
A product owner envisions a product and brings it to existing with development teams to ensure product development proceeds as planned. In addition, to ensure that tasks are correctly prioritized for the Scrum team, a Product Owner oversees a product backlog within the Scrum framework.
Product Owner Role and Responsibilities
A product's vision is fulfilled by its product owners. Additionally, they are in direct contact with the clients of their organizations. The duties of the Product Owner are as follows -
- Maintain the product backlog and ensure the Scrum team works on each of the iterations listed there as planned. A product's backlog consists of all the tasks that go into creating it.
- Create a vision for a product and ensure the development team adheres to a predetermined plan to build a product that reflects that goal.
- Communicate with them to ensure that different teams—including Scrum and development teams—are contributing to and accomplishing the product goals.
- To assist product development teams in designing and developing goods and keeping up with market trends.
- Set priorities for product development, completion and product backlogs.
Requirements to Become a Product Owner
You must gain as much knowledge as possible about the Agile framework to become a Scrum Product Owner. A successful Product Owner completely understands the Scrum framework, including its objects and events. By taking part in training programs, you can learn these elements. Pursuing a short-term program can help you become a certified Product Owner. Typically, these programs include a course that lasts at least two days. Depending on the option you select, they could or might not also have exam requirements. While some alternatives lack any particular training requirements, others have test requirements.
Benefits of Working as a Product Owner
Product Owners play a crucial part in providing the vision and leadership that enables businesses to increase the value of their products. In addition, earning a Product Owner certification has many advantages, including improved financial standing.
1. Excellent Earning Potential
Product Owners make an average base income of more than $93,000 annually, according to a poll by the Scrum Alliance. For Product Owners, experience is also very important when determining remuneration. A worker's typical yearly base wage can rise to approximately $103,000 with two certifications or five to seven years of experience in a Scrum-related job.
2. Growth in Leadership Skills
It takes a lot of accountability and leadership to become a product owner. You represent a product as its face, and you are ultimately in charge of seeing that it is successfully finished. This involves collaborating with clients to let development teams know what they require. With the support of your leadership abilities and knowledge, you must bring a product from the concept stage to completion in the Product Owner function.
3. Potential for Career Advancement
You can pursue more qualifications after earning a Product Owner certification. However, candidates for more advanced agile certifications frequently need first to make their Product Owner certification.
What Are the Distinctions Between Scrum Master and Product Owner?
Although Product Owners and Scrum Masters both participate in product development within the Scrum framework, there are variations between the two positions. Leading Scrum teams through each product development stage fall to Scrum Masters. They actively participate in Scrum teams to achieve the objectives required for a successful product.
Product Owners increasingly have a leadership role. These experts contact Scrum Masters, customers, and other stakeholders to ensure that each product aligns with its original vision and satisfies the customer's demands rather than working directly with Scrum teams on specific targets.
Are You a Strategist or a Tactician?
When getting work done, some people have a strategic approach in mind, always thinking about the big picture and a number of steps ahead. Others are better at finding quick solutions to emerging problems and putting out fires. The two roles we are discussing today roughly correspond to these.
On the one hand, you have the Product Owner who needs to be aware of the big picture at all times, to see the product as a whole and who can prioritize and plan out the course of action for the team months ahead. The Product Owner also takes care of the Product Backlog and successfully predicts the work that will lead to a successful product.
On the other hand, the Scrum Master is more of a tactician, someone who notices issues and reacts to them in a way that removes the impediments but also empowers the team as a whole. The Scrum Master ensures that new input does not disturb the team and that it is prepared to handle the newly-arisen situations efficiently.
It should be pointed out that this is a generalization and that both these roles will sometimes require the alternative approach. That being said, in general, strategic minds will be better Product Owners, while the tacticians will have more success as Scrum Masters.
How Good Are Your Communication Skills?
Communication is crucial in Agile, regardless of the role. However, there is one role in particular that requires great communication skills—the Scrum Master.
The majority of the Scrum Master’s responsibilities revolve around interactions with other members of the team and external stakeholders. The Scrum Master is the one who coaches the team in Agile practices, the one who ensures that the Product Owner understands the abilities and the capacities of the team, and who makes sure that the rest of the organization supports the team and does not impede it with non-Agile requests.
All of this needs to be communicated in a way that no one feels managed or coerced by the Scrum Master, as that would deny the whole purpose of Agile. The Scrum Master has to convey their messages in a calm, factual matter and give the other team members the chance to notice the problem and come to the solution on their own.
This is the best way to help the team grow and become better.
Of course, this is easier said than done and this is why communication skills are key for being a good Scrum Master. In other words, if you feel like you have great communication skills, you will most likely excel in the role of the Scrum Master.
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Certified ScrumMaster® Certification TrainingEXPLORE COURSEAre You Comfortable With the Business Side of Software Development?
No software product exists for its own sake. It always has a certain business logic behind it, in terms of the problem it solves, the customers and the end users. In the software development world, there are two types of people—those who enjoy contemplating, discussing and being involved in this business aspect of developing software and those who don’t.
If you are one of the former, then the Product Owner role is perfect for you. The Product Owner is the one in Agile who takes care of the majority of the business side; interacts with the stakeholders, prioritizes the Product Backlog and ensures the rest of the team understands the business logic behind the product.
If you do not feel comfortable with this, the role of the Product Owner will be a chore for you, plain and simple.
How Empathetic Are You?
Being empathetic, noticing and understanding people’s feelings, is a useful trait no matter what you do or what role you have in the business world. In Agile, particularly empathetic people will find the most success as Scrum Masters.
For one, empathetic people will be able to notice certain problems within their team that the team members may not be willing to share directly. By doing so, empathetic Scrum Masters can not only resolve these issues, but also let their team members know they can count on them.
Empathetic Scrum Masters will also better understand the various relationships that develop as part of the everyday functioning of the team, between the Product Owner and development team, between external stakeholders and the Product Owner, etc.
If you are particularly perceptive of other people’s feelings and unspoken opinions, you would probably make for an amazing Scrum Master.
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Do You Like Ordering People Around?
If you are a big fan of ordering people around, we have some bad news for you - neither the Scrum Master nor the Product Owner is a fit for you.
In fact, in such a case, Agile may not be for you.
Agile is all about self-organized and empowered teams. The Scrum Master and the Product Owner are there to assist such teams, coach them and ensure they are given every chance to succeed.
Closing Word
Hopefully, these questions will help you make the decision on whether to become a Scrum Master or a Product Owner. Of course, you will want to do additional research on the required hard skills for each, but these question should point you in the right direction.
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