Working with Agile Roles

Basic

difficulty

Stage 1

Agile IQ® Level

Team Setup

Practices

Scrum

Framework

Introduction

Agile’s roles tend to be sourced from the Scrum framework [1]. They consist of the following:

Product Owner
Scrum Master
Team members (Developers)

Product Owner

The Product Owner is accountable for maximising the value of the product resulting from the work of the agile team.

The Product Owner is also accountable for effective Product Backlog management, which includes:

Managing the relationship between the company’s strategy and execution through a Product Goal.
Developing and explicitly communicating the Product Goal (and vision)
Creating and clearly communicating Product Backlog items
Ordering Product Backlog items
Ensuring that the Product Backlog is transparent, visible and understood

The Product Owner is responsible for:

The budget
When to release value
Stakeholder engagement and communications management
Change management, including understanding whether users and stakeholders are ready to use the work that the team has been producing (“business readiness”)
Reporting to senior stakeholders, e.g. financial committees, boards, C-level executives on the impacts and outcomes of their product

Who should be the Product Owner?

The Product Owner needs the authority to make decisions about what the team should do and when. They are responsible for the budget and how much of the team’s time should be invested in producing product solutions and delivering services to the rest of the organisation.

BA as the Product Owner

Some organisations feel that Product Owners should write all the backlog items (“user stories”) and, because those activities are similar to those of a traditional Business Analyst (who writes requirements), a Business Analyst should become the Product Owner. In most organisations, though, requirements require approval. This results in a Business Analyst / Product Owner seeking sign-off of backlog items, producing delays in decision-making regarding what the team should focus on in any given Sprint.

This anti-pattern is called the Proxy Product Owner. This should be avoided.

Anti-patterns: Proxy Product Owner

Product Owners are a strategic role acountable for connecting the organisation's strategy into an implementable product vision through to execution and delivery. This is not just a traditional B.A. role.

Stakeholder as the Product Owner

Using the stakeholder as the Product Owner comes from the agile framework Extreme Programming (XP). This can work well, so long as:

The stakeholder adheres to the rules of your agile framework.
The stakeholder actually performs the roles and responsibilities of the Product Owner role and doesn’t delegate it to someone else.
The stakeholder becomes a member of the agile team.
The team doesn’t have multiple stakeholders, e.g. is producing outcomes for multiple stakeholders.

In the latter instance, the Product Owner tends to become a committee instead of a single person. Avoid this anti-pattern.

Characteristics of a great product Owner

Is a team player (the role is an integral part of the agile team, not just an observer)
Understands users and stakeholders
Understands what users and stakeholders value
Can make trade-offs in scope versus time and costs
Can engage effectively with senior stakeholders

Scrum Master

The Scrum Master isn’t an “agile project manager”. They’re not responsible for making the team deliver. Their responsibility begins and ends with establishing Scrum (as defined in the Scrum Guide) and ensuring its effectiveness.

Who should be the Scrum Master?

While the Scrum Master is a leader and facilitator, they aren’t the team’s secretary. Many teams get their Scrum Master to book Sprint events, write reports, and manage the Scrum board. This anti-pattern is often referred to as the Secretary and should be avoided.

Anti-patterns: Secretary

The Scrum Master is not there to book meetings, invite participants, and take notes. This anti-pattern is called the Secretary and should be avoided.

Characteristics of a great Scrum Master

Serving others – helps the whole team (including the Product Owner) to be successful rather than focussing on managing the team through handing out tasks or ensuring everyone is fully utilised and “busy”.
Coach – developing shared improvement goals to ensure Scrum and agile are successful in enhancing the team’s operations. A Scrum Master is required to coach Developers, the Product Owner, stakeholders and even managers.
Facilitation – of key events without directly being involved in the outcome or giving advice.
Mentor – helping the Product Owner, stakeholders and the team to develop their “how to” guides based on experience.
Change agent – supports the team (including the Product Owner) to navigate positive change and continuous improvement.
Teacher – supports structured learning of agile practices.
Lean leadership – supports the team (including the Product Owner) to navigate their own learning path.
Counsellor – able to help the team treat disfunction.
Consultant – Focusing on developing frameworks and toolkits to support enhanced agility for the benefit of the team, management, and the rest of the organisation.

Team Members (Developers)

Scrum calls the people who do the work “Developers”. This is because these people are the ones who develop the product (or service) by doing the work.

Developers are self-managing, meaning that they work within the guardrails of Scrum, and from a single Product Backlog. No one from outside of the team should be telling them how to do their work. Ultimately, Developers are committed to creating a usable Increment each Sprint.

When a Scrum Master or Product Owner contributes to the Sprint Goal by doing work, they’re also referred to as a “Developer”.

While the specific skills needed by the Developers are often broad and will vary with the domain of work, Developers are always accountable for:

Creating a plan for the Sprint, the Sprint Backlog
Instilling quality by adhering to a Definition of Done
Adapting their plan each day toward the Sprint Goal
Holding each other accountable as professionals

Characteristics of great team members

Work together toward a common goal
Don’t work in silos
Don’t take on more work from the backlog once their own work finishes, but lends a hand to help others get their work to Done.
Help everyone in the team keep to timeboxes
Puts up their hand and asks for help when they get “stuck” and issues impede their delivery of work