Let’s discuss the commonly known role of the Scrum Master and debate the question if the Scrum Master is a Manager or not.
Can we say that Scrum Master is a manager?
In short: Yes!
The Scrum Master is a manager and the main reason is that normally a manager is a role who has the power to make decisions and resolve problems. One of the main things that are expected from Scrum Master is to remove the impediments on the way of the Scrum Team.
Why Scrum Master is a manager?
If we say that Scrum Master is not the manager, then it would be unreasonable to expect the regular clerk to resolve the problems and remove the impediments. Isn’t it? Therefore, we should normally consider Scrum Master as a management position that is empowered enough to resolve most of the day-to-day routine things. And luckily, in most cases, it’s true. Most of the organizations empower this role with management privileges (in most cases a mid-management role which fulfills most of the needs).
Let’s discuss the roots…
The major reason why people doubt the Scrum Master’s role as a manager is because it’s expected that this role will behave relatively unusually to what is normally expected from the manager.
By default, when we speak about the manager in general, we normally consider a person who rules according to the privileges empowered by the position.
In Agile, ruling as we know it in the traditional sense is not appreciated. In the Agile environment, manager or Scrum Master in other words considered to be a servant leader who leads people by example and acts with the best intentions for the organization and team. And only in a very unusual case, it’s admissible that a manager or Scrum Master, in other words, would act solely based on the privileges empowered by the role. That is why there are a lot of gossips and uncertainties about whether to consider the Scrum Master as a manager or not.
Scrum Master vs Manager
So, is Scrum Master is a management role? Yes, it is!
Nevertheless, in the Agile environment, it’s expected that this role will behave in a relatively different way from what is normally expected from managers in the traditional sense. A Scrum Master is known as a servant leader who leads people by example and acts with the best intentions to befit the organization and the team.
