Can a Project Manager Be a Scrum Master?
Spoiler Alert: Yes you can, but is a totally different role
You are probably a damn good Project Manager. Your communication skills are awesome, you create accurate plans, follow up closely risks or issues and you have a great record delivering successful projects.
And you may be thinking, just as I incorrectly did, that becoming a Scrum Master is a very easy task since it is just taking a few Agile classes, reading the entire Scrum Guide, taking a quick certification and leading some ceremonies and walking some tickets on a Scrum board. Right? How difficult that would be?
Let me tell you my story:
I had always managed IT project and programs and some of them were very big. But I have always been very passionate about software development and for many reasons I did not have the opportunity to work as a software developer, even that my major is on Electronics Engineering. Therefore, I wanted to work directly with software development teams. So, I applied the formula above: take some Agile classes, read the entire Scrum Guide, take a quick certification and volunteer myself to help a team on leading some stand ups and setting up their board.
But the reality is that I wanted this Scrum Master job very hard so I applied to a consultancy firm and since I had a very good grasp about the theory and I had some practice, I was able to pass the interview.
But is when I started the new job, when the nightmare began. My project management spirit of command and control emerged and I started asking for deadlines, status and even over committing the team.
Some peers and my team very quickly realized that I had not practiced Scrum enough to help them, so they gave me a very tough feedback: ”Hey Edgar, you are probably a very good project manager but you are not a good Scrum Master. You need to act as one. Remember that the protagonist is the team and not you”.
It was a big hit to my ego but also it was one of the best presents that anyone has ever given to me on my career.
Then, after that episode, I started studying, reading, focusing, observing and trying to behave as a real Scrum Master and I kept this phrase that marked me forever: “You are not the protagonist, but the team”.
Even nowadays, on my current role, it is still a challenge for me as I still work as a Project Manager part of my day. Therefore, whenever I start interacting with my teams, I need to wear my Scrum Master - Agile Coach cap and remove my Project Management cap.
As well is not an easy endeavor when there are organizations that do not perform as a true Agile company and they are focused more on putting work into teams with arbitrary deadlines instead of building motivated and self organized teams that can deliver at a sustainable pace and adapt the scope accordingly. I will write more about this on future posts.
So how a person performing this Scrum Master role should behave?
Scrum Master, Agile Coach, Kan-ban Flow manager, Lean Facilitator or however these roles are or will be called.
In simple words, your job is to put your Agile and Lean mindset on, follow the principles and find the best tools, practices to help the team, and sometimes an organization, to become the best version of them. And is on the team, or the organization, to decide how far they want to go. If you work on creating high performing teams, the delivery of the work will come and at a sustainable pace. And once you gain consistency, you will be able to estimate when something can be done and then you would be able to plan accordingly.
Otherwise, you may run teams under the command and control perspective and you probably will be able to deliver work for some time but eventually your teams will suffer attrition and low morale and your cycle of trying building teams and deliver by pushing hard will never end.
One caveat about being a Scrum Master
I found that in order to be a very good Scrum Master, and a Project Manager as well, you need to be very resilient - “…generally thought of as a "positive adaptation" after a stressful or adverse situation” .
Changing a team, or even an organization, is not an easy endeavor and sometimes we are dragged into organizational habits, toxic cultures and teams. You need to understand that the world is not perfect and even the same team and organization that you helped improve a year ago, has changed and you may need to start all over again.
My recommendations to you:
Be very open to feedback, continuously ask for feedback and listen your teams.
Adapt, what you do with a team may not be suitable for another team
It sounds cliche but keep trying and never give up
Learn new techniques and methods
From time to time read the Agile and Lean principles, the Scrum Guide, the Kanban guide again. Every time I read them, I found something new or something I was doing wrong adapted to my current situation
Teach, share your knowledge. I found that I learn a lot of new things by teaching.
Maybe an organization or a team cannot change or they do not want to change. If you feel like you are no longer helping or learning, like Mary Poppins, you can take your stuff and find some other “family” that will welcome your help.
I hope you liked this post. Please give me your comments and let me know what other topics you would like me to cover. Stay tuned for my next post.
Thank you for reading!
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Your attrition perspective as a project manager is interesting. I typically say the scrum master is the "friend of the team and agile coach" which plays a different role when compared to the Project Manager. Both SM and PM need to pay special attention to the methodology, but the PM hat brings attrition over a deadline or commitment needs to be fulfilled. I would say the balance is on stakeholder management and finding the timelines that serve both teams and clients. Thank you for your insight. Great post!