Let's talk about who does what on a Scrum project. On a scrum project, work is split between a scrum master, a product owner, and a group of developers. Each of these is given a set of accountabilities, which is what I'll cover in this video. If you're worried that you don't see your job title here, don' panic. While Scrum only defines three sets of accountabilities, many job functions still exist in organizations practicing Sc rum. It's up to each organization to determine how its job titles map to Scum's set of accountability. Let's start by looking at the Product Owner. The Product owner is responsible for delivering a product that customers value. Maybe value isn't a strong enough word. Maybe product owners should create products that captivate users, delight them, thrill them or that they lust after. Okay, maybe lust is a bit too strong, but you get the idea. Without a product owner, developers build stuff that's really cool to them. And building really, cool stuff is fun. When I was a developer, I loved building cool things. But some of the cool stuff I built never got used by customers, which was less cool. So the product owner's goal is to maximize the value delivered to customers. To do that, a good product must do two things. Ask the developers to build the right features. ask for them in the right order. To determine their right features and the optimal order, a good product owner needs to understand users, customers, competitors, trends in industry, and much more. As such, most product owners will meet regularly with customers and stakeholders to show them progress and learn what they want next. It's important for there to be only one product owner. A product is the single voice of authority on what the developers should build. The product needs to listen to stakeholders, customers, and users. But ultimately, what gets worked on and in what order is up to the product. The product owner's job is made difficult by the need to face in two directions at once. The Product Owner needs to look outward at stakeholders, users, and customers to understand what is needed in the product. But the Product owner must also look inward at the developers to explain those needs so the developer can build them. Best Product Owners work closely with their developers, usually being available daily to clarify issues and answer questions. Speaking of the developers, their job on a Scrum project is easy to define because it's so big. They work collaboratively to build the product. they do whatever is necessary to accomplish that. On a software project, developers would likely include programmers, testers, user experience designers, database engineers, business or system analysts, and many more. The term developers sounds software-centric, And that is the origin of the term. But in Scrum, a developer is anyone collaborating to develop the solution requested by the product owner. On a marketing Scrum project, developers could mean a copywriter and a graphic designer. The developers are responsible for estimating their own work because they know the most about how they'll go about that work. Scum does not prescribe how the estimate. The developers can use story points, days, hours, or whatever method they prefer, as long as those doing the work are the ones estimating the word. The best Scrum teams I've worked with share one very noticeable trait, a feeling of everyone being in it together. There's no us versus them mindset, this happens too frequently on traditionally managed projects. The best Scrum teams don't devolve into finger-pointing and blaming with statements like, that wasn't in the specification, or, I would have built it that way if you'd told me, but I built exactly what you asked for. I've been fortunate enough to work with several hundred Scum teams over the years. And I can always pick out an awesome Sc rum team immediately. When I see an Awesome Sc Rum team, they have a few things in common. First, they work really well together and are focused on the same goal. When one person gets behind, someone else immediately jumps in to help. Second, the have a lot of pride in their work and continually want to improve how they worked together to get even better. Third, there's healthy conflict. Since team members trust and respect one another, They aren't afraid to debate. While this may appear like fighting to an outsider, it's a sign of a good Scrum team. It's like being in a family. Its easier to disagree with your wife or kids because you know that at the end of the day, you're all still in it together. That brings us to the Scrum Master. The Sc rum Master plays a vital role in creating the all for one and one for all attitude and sense of team unity. But that's just one thing a Scum Master does. the scrum master is also accountable for ensuring the developers are able to be their most productive, facilitating meetings and difficult conversations and helping the Developers and the organization learn how to work in a new agile manner. One thing a Scrum Master can do to help the developers be the best they can be is to remove any impediment to their progress. I hear some people refer to these as blockers. I never use that term. Here's why. When I'm a Scrum Master, I don't want to remove only the things blocking the developer's progress. That includes anything that slows them down or hampers them, not just things that are absolutely blocking progress, The Scrum Master should be neutral and objective. This makes them an ideal person to facilitate, especially when difficult conversations need to take place. That doesn't mean that a Scum Master must lead every meeting, though. In fact, doing that often leads the developers to look to the Sc Rum Master to solve every issue rather than produce a solution on their own. A good Scrum Master facilitates when necessary. When a team is first learning Sc rum, the Scum Master will do this more actively, actually running the first few of each type of meeting. Over time though, the Scrum Master can shift to a more passive type of facilitation, there when needed, but not orchestrating every meeting. The Scum Master serves as a change agent to the team and to their broader organization. Therefore, The Scrum master really needs to have a deep understanding of Agile and Scrumb and be able to identify where an organization can improve. To help a scrum team achieve its goals, the Scrum Master keeps the team focused on the sprint goal and removes distractions. Early in a new team's adoption of Scum, The Scrum Master will also need to teach other team members about Sc rum. This will include the importance of time boxing, both the meetings and the overall sprint itself. The sprint cycle creates a rhythm for the Team, which helps the teams meet the goals of the Sprint. A good scrum master also helps members of the scrumb team improve. Sometimes, this means helping the developers replace old ways of working. Other times, it may be teaching something new, like estimating with planning poker. So there you have it, the three sets of accountabilities that make up a scrumm team, The Product Owner, Scrum Master, and The Developers.