What Is a Scrum Master?

The Scrum Master is one of the three accountabilities in the Scrum framework. The Scrum Master is accountable for establishing Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide. They do this by helping everyone understand Scrum theory and practice within the Scrum Team and the organisation.

They are a leader and servant of the Scrum Team. They are accountable for the Scrum Team’s effectiveness. They adopt stances including facilitator, coach, teacher and mentor to help the team become more effective. They cause the removal of impediments to the Scrum Team’s progress. They help the Scrum Team to improve continuously.

One of the primary responsibilities of the Scrum Master is to facilitate the Scrum events. They ensure that everyone attending has the opportunity to participate, that discussions are focused, and that the event’s objectives are achieved.

Scrum is a problem-finding framework. It helps you solve your problems by making them visible. You still need to fix them. Scrum offers only limited help with this. Learning Scrum is easy. Succeeding in complex environments is challenging. Scrum Masters understand this and support the Scrum Team and the organisation in adopting Scrum and the Empirical approach that sits behind it.