What is a key difference between the role of traditional project manager and the role of Scrum Master?

Overview of Scrum Master vs Project Manager

As distinct their titles, their roles to differ! However, there is a lot of confusion and misinterpretation when it comes to both the roles due to lack of clarity. Many professionals who have stepped into the domain of project management often are confused and struggle to understand the difference between scrum master vs project manager. With the transition from waterfall to agile delivery, the concept of Scrum Master might seem identical to that of a Project Manager on the exterior.

However, let’s recognize the difference between both the functions, understand where few tasks might overlap, though they are quite radically different. Scrum Master plays the role of a facilitator or mentor who empowers & motivates a team and has a certain level of technical proficiency. While, Project Manager helps to manage and monitor the resources, project schedule and scope so as to meet business objectives to make the project successful.

Head to Head Comparison between Scrum Master vs Project Manager (Infographics)

Below are the Top 10 Comparison between Scrum Master vs Project Manager

Key differences between Scrum Master vs Project Manager

Considering their roles & responsibilities and how they operate, let’s understand the key differences between the scrum master vs project manager:

• The primary difference is that the Project Manager owns a ‘project’ and is solely responsible for its success or failure. And, a Scrum Master is responsible for the agile practices whose focus is to bring out the best from the ‘team’ and make the team accountable for a project.
• When it comes to ‘leadership’, Project Manager has to be the ‘Leader’ who with an objective is able to lead the project successfully. While Scrum Master is more like that of a ‘Servant Leader’ who has to think for the team first before considering himself.
• Project Manager has to possess expertise in the successful implementation of the project, exhibiting sound knowledge of project planning & scope, budgeting & resources, scheduling & risk management. Definitely, the Project Manager has to be good on negotiation & communication so as to deal effectively with the customers & stakeholders. On the contrary, Scrum Master has to be a good trainer of agile practices with expertise on the usage of the scrum process. No wonder he has to be a team-player with a friendly attitude who encourages openness and honesty amongst the team members. Thus, helping to facilitate genuine feedback from the team members and bringing in continual improvement on a given project. Also, Scrum Master has to support the product owner in managing the product backlog to keep it in good condition.
• Another key difference is that the role of a Project Manager is full-time and requires the managing of multiple projects. While that of the Scrum Master is not a full-time role and allows flexibility to work on other tasks.
• Last but not least, unlike the Scrum Master, Project Manager has to be a critical thinker with an ability to identify and manage risks associated with a project. The mitigation plan for the identified risks has to be prepared by the Project Manager so as to limit the amount of any risks a project might undergo. Whereas, Scrum Master has to safeguard the project team from external interventions and bring in team efforts to facilitate continual improvement.

Scrum Master vs Project Manager Comparison Table

Below is the topmost comparison between Scrum Master vs Project Manager

Conclusion

The million-dollar question: who would justify the role better? Well, in the agile world Scrum Master would be a better fit. And the companies that follow the conventional waterfall model, a Project Manager would be a good option. While, for the companies who are in the transitory phase from waterfall to agile, both the roles can be interchanged. As there are no set rules as to Scrum Master has to be necessarily technically sound, but basic technical knowledge is required so as to follow the processes properly. Thus, in such cases, a Scrum Master can take over the responsibility of Project Manager and vice-versa whichever is suitable for the project. Now, that we are aware of what makes them distinct and how they operate, it’s clearer to comprehend ‘who’ can fit ‘where’ and in ‘what’ circumstances!

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This has been a guide to the top difference between Scrum Master vs Project Manager. Here we have discussed the scrum master vs project manager key differences with infographics and a comparison table. You may also have a look at the following articles to learn more-

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