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Transcript Text
thank you [Music] welcome back and today in this episode we're going to talk a little bit about scrum rolls we've been around we've beat around the bush on this a little bit we have actually run some classes or some courses in the past and I think it's good to just sort of like do a review of these make sure that we're clear on what is it that what are the people the roles that make up a scrum team so we want to talk about the positions the roles the titles as it were but these all all these roles roll into this scrum team so if you're doing scrum if you're using agile scrum then you have a team these are the people that make that team up there are three key roles for a scrum team there is the product owner the scrum master and the development team now that seems may seem a little confusing because it said you know I just said this is the scrum team but within there is the development team but that is a critical I will say distinction is the difference between your scrum team and the development team and this is basically because your product owner is a single person your scrum Master single person the development team is a group of people but they don't have specific labels you don't have a JavaScript developer or QA or database administrator it is just the development team we'll talk about more about them just here in a little bit let's start with the product owner the product owner is responsible for the solution this is your representative of the final customer one this is the person that is going to make decisions that are going to help you basically build the solution that works for whatever those customers are there's a couple ways they do that they are going to decide what to do this is a matter of do we put this feature in or not do we enhance it in this way how do we move forward with this you know application that we have Sitting where we're at such your product owner is the customer is the the subject matter expert for your solution and so they're going to help you at you being the team they're going to help the team figure out what is it that makes this solution worthwhile what is it that brings value to our customers and along with that throw out things that are not if it's just a bell and a whistle that's not very helpful then the product owner is going to say let's let's not worry about that in a typical Sprint approach though when you've got a scrum team they are driving towards certain goals along the way there may be within a single Sprint a you know a theme or a goal or an objective but there's also going to be longer term things that are going to take a couple of Sprints and this may be something like a I will call like a version 1.0 release that we're working towards or a maybe a minimally viable product an MVP that we are working towards as we're building these Sprints we're going through these Sprints we're building an application we're building a solution and the product owner is going to help us decide what needs to be in that that first or this next release and what are things that we can push off into the future that they can come back later they're not as important and they don't do this in a vacuum this is why it's a team but the key to or the product owners they are to the decision maker you have a team but at some point somebody has to decide yes we're going to do that or no we're not going to do or this is important or this is not important that is what your product owner does the next role I want to talk about is the scrum Master this is effectively the coach for the team the goal of the scrum Master is to make the team better in doing so they're going to help the team work better through removing obstacles whether it's the development team or the product owner the development team more often is going to have obstacles it may be things like there is uh maybe there's some licensing issues that they have to get worked out so that they can use their tools or there may be questions that are blocking them they may need answers to certain questions in order to have the proper requirements the details in order to implement whatever needs to be implemented now if it's directly something that the product owner can deal with a lot of times it's just that's part of the the team meetings and the conversations and then all you have to worry about is the product owner answering the questions but there are times when that's not the case and this may even include team members that are we will say blocked or utilized by other other projects other resources and things like that there may be for example within the team you do your regular status and things like that but there may be an over arching business or organization status reporting that needs to be done and maybe that's taking a lot of time because of how the Sprint's going so maybe the scrum Master helps find a way to get that stuff moved or changed or simplified and this can take a broad range of realities that there's a lot of ways that this can this can actually be done as a scrum Master it may be conversations with people it may be research it may be acquiring certain things and this is for the product owner as well so there may be things like the product owner is trying to get a decision and needs somebody else to Rattle a cage so somebody gets an answer or there may be a lot of research the product owner needs to do in order to properly build out the backlog and the scrum Master may be a part of that so they are sort of a player coach in a sense because the scrum Master may do work here and there but it's really more a a managing coach more of a coaching and helping the team get stuff out of the way and do the processes better and within the process the actual process of scrum this is where the scrum Master is going to make sure that people stay on track that they follow the agenda that's set that they are utilizing the tools properly so they are for example making sure that tasks get properly built into the backlog that tests are updated properly once they're in the backlog when the team's working on them that tasks have a a clearly defined done set of criteria or state you know something that says we have completed this and then the the scrum Master is also going to work with and we'll talk in other situations we're going to get a little bit more into some of the the rituals and the activities that occur in a scrum or you can see that in in some of our other posts that are out there but the scrum Master is going to make sure that those activities like for example your daily stand-up that they work and they are utilized properly so that your daily stand-up for example is done quickly you get what you need out of it and you move on to work and it doesn't turn into an hour-long meeting that sucks the whole team in every day so your scrum Master is the one at the end of all of this that you look at and say they either yes helped the process and the team get better or they didn't and in which case they're that's part of their own thing they're going to help even themselves look at ways that in that next Sprint in that next iteration that they can do things better the development team is not just a person it is a team it typically in a scrum it's going to be three to maybe nine members so it's not real small it's not gonna be one person it's not gonna be two because you need to have at least usually three to have enough people working enough resources available to make the Sprint work to make scrum useful otherwise it ends up being overhead that's not really needed these are the the implementers the development team are the people that get the job done that make the product that do the coding that do the testing that they do the deployment these are going to be your technical members and note in scrum it is a development team it is not a junior developer and a UI developer and a tester that is critical in properly doing scrum yes you're going to have people almost every time there's gonna be certain people that are going to be best suited for specific tasks and there may even be Specialists of some sort where they really are the one that needs to do that task however your goal over time is for there to be cross-training and general knowledge about the system that allows you to Plug and Play people into any task and there's so many reasons that that is valuable the least of which is that then you're not a slave in a given Sprint to somebody you know getting sick or taking a week off or two weeks off or something like that where if you don't have that then you may have some critical resource you know a senior developer that is not available and now you have a whole handful of tasks that can't be done because that developer is not available that is what you want to avoid now again the reality is that that happens more often than not that that is a fairly regular situation but as a scrum Master that's one of the things you want to work for is try to find some sort of you know cross-training and ways to get everybody working towards this goal which is the whole idea of what a scrum is is get the whole team pushing forward pushing in the same direction working together so that that difference in experience and knowledge and technical skills can be shrunk a little bit so that you can find a way for even your newest developers To Be steady and regular contributors hopefully across whatever test get is Task it is that they are working on this team this development team just to be clear these are the people that write the code they design stuff they do testing they do deployment they are really going to drive your estimates and they're going to give technical feedback your product owner is a business person for the most part now they will potentially have technical Knowledge and Skills but their focus is the business side the development team is the technical side and they are best working when they work with the product owner to help them understand what is the cost what is the investment what is the risk to all of these different tasks and the priorities that are being set so while the product owner is going to really set the course in a sense is going to be setting priorities and setting tasks the development team should be a part of that and give technical feedback to help the product owner make decisions that are well informed at the end of this it is key to understand this is a team the scrum team should work together and they should be looking at ways to incrementally improve and that increment being by Sprint basically the way they build the solution they're building and if they go beyond that where they build Solutions in general the whole goal as you step into this as a team is to say this is something we want to solve this is where we're at and then each time you go through it you want to be able to do better so that where you say this is where we're at that should be in a better situation a better place after every single scrum that is in a nutshell the roles and the you know really the objective of scrum is you've got your product owner you've got scrum Master you got your development team they work together and if they do it right they're going to build a great solution and they're going to be better at doing it when they get to that last Sprint than they were at the first one [Music]
Transcript Segments
thank you
[Music]
welcome back and today in this episode
we're going to talk a little bit about
scrum rolls we've been around we've beat
around the bush on this a little bit we
have actually run some classes or some
courses in the past and I think it's
good to just sort of like do a review of
these make sure that we're clear on what
is it that what are the people the roles
that make up a scrum team
so we want to talk about the positions
the roles the titles as it were
but these all all these roles roll into
this scrum team so if you're doing scrum
if you're using agile scrum then you
have a team these are the people that
make that team up there are three key
roles for a scrum team there is the
product owner the scrum master and the
development team now that seems may seem
a little confusing because it said you
know I just said this is the scrum team
but within there is the development team
but that is a critical I will say
distinction is the difference between
your scrum team and the development team
and this is basically because your
product owner is a single person your
scrum Master single person the
development team is a group of people
but they don't have
specific labels you don't have a
JavaScript developer or QA or database
administrator it is just the development
team
we'll talk about more about them just
here in a little bit
let's start with the product owner
the product owner is responsible for the
solution this is your representative of
the final customer one this is the
person that is going to make decisions
that are going to help you basically
build the solution that works for
whatever those customers are there's a
couple ways they do that
they are going to decide what to do this
is a matter of do we put this feature in
or not do we enhance it in this way how
do we move forward with this you know
application that we have Sitting where
we're at
such your product owner is
the customer is the the subject matter
expert for your solution
and so they're going to help you at you
being the team they're going to help the
team figure out what is it that makes
this solution worthwhile what is it that
brings value to our customers and along
with that throw out things that are not
if it's just a bell and a whistle that's
not very helpful then the product owner
is going to say let's let's not worry
about that
in a typical Sprint approach though when
you've got a scrum team
they are driving towards certain goals
along the way there may be within a
single Sprint a you know a theme or a
goal or an objective but there's also
going to be longer term things that are
going to take a couple of Sprints and
this may be something like a I will call
like a version 1.0 release that we're
working towards or a maybe a minimally
viable product an MVP that we are
working towards as we're building these
Sprints we're going through these
Sprints we're building an application
we're building a solution and the
product owner is going to help us decide
what needs to be in that that first or
this next release and what are things
that we can push off into the future
that they can come back later they're
not as important and they don't do this
in a vacuum this is why it's a team but
the key to or the product owners they
are to the decision maker you have a
team but at some point somebody has to
decide yes we're going to do that or no
we're not going to do or this is
important or this is not important
that is what your product owner does
the next role I want to talk about is
the scrum Master this is effectively the
coach for the team
the goal of the scrum Master is to make
the team better
in doing so they're going to help the
team work better through removing
obstacles whether it's the development
team or the product owner the
development team more often is going to
have obstacles it may be things like
there is uh maybe there's some licensing
issues that they have to get worked out
so that they can use their tools or
there may be questions that are blocking
them
they may need answers to certain
questions in order to have the proper
requirements the details in order to
implement whatever needs to be
implemented now if it's directly
something that the product owner can
deal with a lot of times it's just
that's part of the the team meetings and
the conversations and then all you have
to worry about is the product owner
answering the questions but there are
times when that's not the case
and this may even include team members
that are
we will say blocked or utilized by other
other projects other resources and
things like that there may be for
example within the team you do your
regular status and things like that but
there may be an over arching business or
organization status reporting that needs
to be done and maybe that's taking a lot
of time because of how the Sprint's
going so maybe the scrum Master helps
find a way to get that stuff moved or
changed or simplified
and this can take a broad range of
realities that there's a lot of ways
that this can this can actually be done
as a scrum Master it may be
conversations with people it may be
research it may be acquiring certain
things and this is for the product owner
as well so there may be things like the
product owner is trying to get a
decision and needs somebody else to
Rattle a cage so somebody gets an answer
or there may be a lot of research the
product owner needs to do in order to
properly build out the backlog and the
scrum Master may be a part of that
so they are
sort of a player coach in a sense
because the scrum Master may do work
here and there but it's really
more a a managing coach more of a
coaching and helping the team get stuff
out of the way and do the processes
better and within the process the actual
process of scrum this is where the scrum
Master is going to make sure that people
stay on track that they follow the
agenda that's set that they are
utilizing the tools properly so they are
for example making sure that tasks get
properly built into the backlog
that tests are updated properly once
they're in the backlog when the team's
working on them that tasks have a a
clearly defined done set of criteria or
state you know something that says we
have completed this
and then the the scrum Master is also
going to work with and we'll talk in
other
situations we're going to get a little
bit more into some of the the rituals
and the activities that occur in a scrum
or you can see that in in some of our
other posts that are out there
but the scrum Master is going to make
sure that those activities like for
example your daily stand-up that they
work and they are utilized properly so
that your daily stand-up for example is
done quickly you get what you need out
of it and you move on to work and it
doesn't turn into an hour-long meeting
that sucks the whole team in every day
so your scrum Master is the one at the
end of all of this that you look at and
say they either yes helped the process
and the team get better or they didn't
and in which case they're that's part of
their own thing they're going to help
even themselves look at ways that in
that next Sprint in that next iteration
that they can do things better
the development team is not just a
person it is a team it typically in a
scrum it's going to be three to maybe
nine members so it's not real small it's
not gonna be one person it's not gonna
be two because you need to have at least
usually three to have enough people
working enough resources available to
make the Sprint work to make scrum
useful otherwise it ends up being
overhead that's not really needed
these are the the implementers the
development team are the people that get
the job done that make the product that
do the coding that do the testing that
they do the deployment these are going
to be your technical members
and note in scrum it is a development
team it is not a junior developer and a
UI developer and a tester that is
critical in properly doing scrum yes
you're going to have people almost every
time there's gonna be certain people
that are going to be best suited for
specific tasks and there may even be
Specialists of some sort where they
really are the one that needs to do that
task however your goal over time
is for there to be
cross-training and general knowledge
about the system that allows you to Plug
and Play people into any task and
there's so many reasons that that is
valuable the least of which is that then
you're not a slave in a given Sprint to
somebody you know getting sick or taking
a week off or two weeks off or something
like that where
if you don't have that then you may have
some critical resource you know a senior
developer that is not available and now
you have a whole handful of tasks that
can't be done because that developer is
not available that is what you want to
avoid now again the reality is that that
happens more often than not that that is
a fairly regular situation but as a
scrum Master that's one of the things
you want to work for is try to find some
sort of you know cross-training and ways
to get everybody working towards this
goal which is the whole idea of what a
scrum is is get the whole team pushing
forward pushing in the same direction
working together so that that difference
in experience and knowledge and
technical skills can be shrunk a little
bit so that you can find a way for even
your newest developers To Be steady and
regular contributors hopefully across
whatever test get is Task it is that
they are working on
this team this development team just to
be clear these are the people that write
the code they design stuff they do
testing they do deployment they are
really going to drive your estimates and
they're going to give technical feedback
your product owner is a business person
for the most part now they will
potentially have technical Knowledge and
Skills but their focus is the business
side
the development team is the technical
side and they are best working when they
work with the product owner to help them
understand what is the cost what is the
investment what is the risk to all of
these different tasks and the priorities
that are being set
so while the product owner is going to
really set the course in a sense is
going to be setting priorities and
setting tasks the development team
should be a part of that and give
technical feedback to help the product
owner make decisions that are well
informed
at the end of this it is key to
understand this is a team
the scrum team should work together and
they should be looking at ways to
incrementally improve and that increment
being by Sprint basically the way they
build the solution they're building and
if they go beyond that where they build
Solutions in general
the whole goal as you step into this as
a team is to say this is something we
want to solve this is where we're at and
then each time you go through it you
want to be able to do better so that
where you say this is where we're at
that should be in a better situation a
better place after every single scrum
that is
in a nutshell the roles and the you know
really the objective of scrum is you've
got your product owner you've got scrum
Master you got your development team
they work together and if they do it
right they're going to build a great
solution and they're going to be better
at doing it when they get to that last
Sprint than they were at the first one
[Music]