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Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of a Scrum Master. Feel free to use our job description template to produce your own. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as a Scrum Master.

 

Who is a Scrum Master?

A Scrum Master is also known as a facilitator or coach. He or She is an individual who facilitates communication and collaboration among leadership and team players to bring about a successful result in an organization. Scrum masters are considered facilitators for agile teams who work under the Scrum methodology. The role they play is; that they direct the individual responsible for the big development of each sprint picture, and they bridge the needs of product management, operations, product development, marketing, and sales.

The scrum master works closely with the product owner to develop stories, epics, and other items on sprint lists for clients. Scrum managers may not necessarily need business savvy as product owners and product managers; they must have a solid comprehension of reasoning implications under each initiative. Scrum masters are responsible for assigning and delegating tasks effectively; they must that the team is working and their work aligns with the priorities of the organization. They usually employ agile methodology to keep a team on track. The methodology builds communication and also solves any issue springing up in the organization. The primary goal of scrum masters is to bring about productivity in the organization and also deliver value to customers.

 

What is Scrum?

Scrum is a popular agile methodology in software development. It gives room for a cross-functional team to organize, execute and develop projects. The methodology also encourages continuous feedback to guide decisions appropriately to get appropriate feedback.

The word scrum was pioneered by Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikurjiro Nonak, they devised a framework for project development and called it “scrum”. Scrum occurs when team players gather together shortly in a tightly packed formation.

Moreover, team members work in harmony to achieve a goal. Scrum masters are responsible for emphasizing the idea of teamwork and frequent communication. Scrum is a platform to develop products and manage other difficult projects successfully.

In the working environment, the scrum master is responsible for ensuring that a project is in progress. The scrum master also encourages and presides over the team’s day-to-day meetings every morning. The scrum master presides the meeting by asking the team the following questions:

1. What did you do yesterday?
2. What will you be doing today?
3. Are there any hindrances in your path?

 

Scrum Master Job Description

Below are the Scrum Master job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write a Scrum Master job description for your employee. Employers can also use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.

Scrum masters may be addressed with the term master or facilitator but they don’t have the authority to make strategic or powerful decisions about a project. Scrum masters are not the management of an organization and they don’t bear the sole responsibility for a project outcome. The responsibility of a project outcome is shared by the entire team while the scrum masters are responsible for managing the process and moving the project to a finishing state. The duties and responsibilities of a scrum master are:

• Promoting team members in self-management and cross-functionality
• Assisting the scrum team to focus on creating high-value
• Effecting removal of obstruction to the scrum team progress
• Ensuring that all scrum events that  place are productive, positive, and kept within the time box
• Helping in searching for techniques for effective product goal definition and product backlog management
• Assisting in establishing empirical product planning for a complex environment
• Boosting the scrum team to comprehend the necessity for clear and concise product backlog items
• Stimulating stakeholder collaboration as requested or needed
• Leading, training, and coaching an organization in its Scrum adoption
• Planning and advising Scrum implementations within the organization
• Assisting employees and stakeholders to comprehend and enacting an empirical approach to complex work
• Uprooting barriers or obstruction between stakeholders and scrum teams
• Enabling open discussions and conflict resolution
• Proactively identify and resolve issues
• Updating activities in a project management tracking tool
• Tutoring team on Scrum principles and best practices
• Supporting team members in their task
• Leading daily stand-up meetings, reviews, demos, and other project-related meetings

 

Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Software Management, Business Administration,or any related field
• A past proven experience as a scrum master
• Proficient in software management and development
• Familiarity with agile management methodology
• Leadership Skills or ability to manage a team
• A background in project management and certification
• Ability to multi-task
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
• Ability to work with a team
• Mentoring skills
• Problem-solving skills
• Interpersonal Skills

 

Essential Skills

A scrum master must possess the following skills to bring about a tremendous outcome in the organization and they are:

• Adaptability: Scrum masters are considered facilitators of a team who ensures that there is a tremendous outcome after carrying out a project. Scrum masters also encourage the team and assign tasks to them. They are not static, hence, they must ensure that they bring about change in the organization to achieve the best possible outcome. Without change, an organization will be cut into the web of stagnation.
• Problem-Solving; scrum masters are considered coaches of a team and in the course of carrying out a project; challenges or complex issues may spring up. The scrum master has the sole responsibility of navigating these complex projects and ensuring that they are
• Motivational Skills: Motivation is a stimulator and it is what keeps an individual going. Scrum Masters are facilitators of a team and they must always encourage their team to improve productivity. They must also empower them if there is an obstruction that stands in the way of them achieving their goals. The team members must surmount that obstacle.
• Communication: this is highly important as both verbal and non-verbal communication is important to a scrum master. They must be able to communicate clearly to their team members scrum best practices and ensure their team members comprehend what scrum is all about. One of the ways they can verify if their team members comprehend the concept of “scrum” is through a thorough group discussion with their team members. Giving room for team members to ask questions is also highly paramount because it brings about a feedback mechanism.
• Organizational Skills: Scrum masters must be highly organized to carry out a successful They must be organized in coaching a team and managing multiple tasks, meetings, resources, and priorities. Organizational skills are very important because they are at the forefront of managing an organization’s project.
• Teamwork: a Scrum Master is a facilitator or coach so they mostly work together with a team to carry out a project. The scrum master also is not the management of the team he coaches the team on how a product can be successful. The scrum master must be an excellent team player to motivate others to also perform their duties as expected.

They need to be proficient in the following technical skills:

• Agile Project Management Methodology: Scrum masters must guarantee their team adheres to specific processes to complete and release projects and products in stages for customer input at every step. This methodology also encourages feedback mechanisms among team members.
• Software Development: management skills are highly important when working on software projects and products. You need to know the goals, expectations, processes, requirements, planning, and monitoring that goes into producing better software.
• Business Analysis: Scrum masters must be able to analyze a project successfully before embarking on it. A scrum master must be highly visionary to brainstorm if a project will be successful or not. They need to master the skills of how to continuously improve a product that will meet stakeholder, customer, and company needs.

 

How to Become a Scrum Master

To become a scrum master, follow the steps highlighted below:

• Earn a Bachelor’s Degree

The first step to becoming a scrum master is to earn a bachelor’s degree in Information technology, Business Administration, or a related field. Although earning a college degree is not mandatory before an individual can be a scrum master without it but most employers will prefer someone with a college degree. The college degree will take four years to complete; this degree will give you a background in management which will help you to become a successful scrum manager.

• Enroll for scrum Master’s Training and Certification

The scrum master training is divided into three sections and they are:

1. PSM Level 1 demonstrates a fundamental level of Scrum mastery
2. PSM level 2 demonstrates an advanced level of Scrum mastery
3. PSM level 3 demonstrates a distinguished level of Scrum mastery
4. The Applying Professional scrum (APS) is a two-day course that teaches Scrum by giving room for students to experience what it feels like to deliver a product using the scrum framework. This is achieved by splitting students into scrum teams to deliver stimulating real-life problems
5. The professional Scrum Master (PSM) is a two-day course where students maximize how to use scrum to get value productivity and the overall total cost of ownership of a product. Some special tools are provided to enable students to understand behavioral shifts. Work with people and teams to facilitate and coaches techniques and also address the organization when necessary.
6. The Professional Scrum Master 2 (PSM 2) is a 2-day Advanced Scrum Master course designed to support experienced Scrum Masters in their journey to the professional world. This course combines instruction and facilitated exercises looking at the pending issues or problems scrum masters face and how the guidelines or the principles scrum is built upon will help them to resolve these circumstances.
7. The Professional Agile Leadership Essentials (PALE) is a 2-day hands-on workshop that utilizes a combination of instruction and hands-on exercises to assist managers and leaders who work directly under agile teams to understand how-to guide, coach, and support their teams to improve their agile capabilities.

Earning an industry credential is another way to impress potential employers to validate your knowledge of the Scrum framework. You can acquire certification in Certificate Scrum Master (CSM) from the Scrum Alliance. Although you may need to write a certificate examination which will enable you to harness practical skills in which you can lead a team successfully.

You can also enroll in online training courses to acquire scrum master certification. Some qualified instructors the training and also instruct you through an online platform. You can use the website scrum.org courses to acquire Professional Scrum Master and Professional Scrum Master 2 which are designed to help students pass the exams.

• Build Your Network

Build your professional network by attending agile conferences or being part of an agile group. This can give you the platform to meet other professionals in the field and it will help you land a job opportunity quickly. A network of scrum master professionals will give you the advantage of learning more about this discipline and it will also build your career.

• Practice the Scrum Framework in other roles

Most people get employed as scrum masters with zero experience; when you apply for your scrum master roles, you should consider applying the knowledge to another framework so that you can have the requisite experience. You can start doing this in other projects or tasks; to be successful, you can start applying it to your current career.  can also be used to approach a hobby or event planning from your professional life. For instance, you can start by applying it to simple tasks in your home; the scrum framework can be used to plan a home renovation.

• Draft your Resume

When drafting your resume; consider reviewing the job placement for a local scrum master role to ascertain what skills the company may be looking for. Consider the skills you currently possess and match them with the job posting skills. Highlight these skills in your resume to make your potential employer impressed. You can also use this opportunity to show how you have been applying the Scrum framework to your daily life experiences.

 

Where Can a Scrum Master Work?

A scrum master can work in a company and help the product owner to prioritize and build the product and they also ensure that their team follows the process.

 

Scrum Master Salary

In the United States, the salary of a scrum master is $172,000 annually. The salary depends on the location and experience of the scrum master.

 

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