Ever wondered how a Scrum Master differs from a Product Owner in a Scrum environment? John McFadyen walks us through his interpretation of how they differ.   

A scrum master and a product owner are completely different sides of a scrum team and perform very different functions within the environment.  

A product owner acts as the CEO of the product.  

They determine the product's vision and articulate it to the scrum team to help inspire creative solutions to solving problems or creating products that delight customers.  

The product owner is also responsible for creating a backlog of items, in order of priority, to help the development team understand what needs doing and why it needs doing.  

A product owner will also be responsible for writing epics and user stories that aim to provide context to the development team, helping them understand what the specific feature or item aims to do for the user and why it is important to the user the new feature or item exists.  

A product owner also works closely with product stakeholders within and outside the organisation to ensure that the most valuable products are being built. They also work closely with customers to understand their challenges and ensure that the built products and features will truly delight those customers.  

A scrum master works with the product owner to achieve their vision and ensure that great products, services and features are being built.  

A scrum master will work with the development team to help them excel in the environment and ensure that there are no impediments to the team's progress.  

Sometimes, that involves working with people outside the scrum team to remove impediments or secure resources that will help the scrum team thrive.  

A scrum master also coaches the development team, helping them identify the most effective ways to solve complex problems or create valuable products.  

A scrum master does not carry the same authority as a project manager nor do they involve themselves in the tiny details in the same way that a project manager would.  Instead, they focus on coaching others or facilitating events such as retrospectives to help the team gain the most valuable insights and learning from each sprint and product increment.  

A scrum master works with influence rather than authority and as such they are trusted figures within the scrum team.  They are great at coaching and facilitation rather than issuing directives and as such they can be very effective at helping scrum teams tap into their highest potential.  

A scrum master understands that members of the development team are the experts when it comes to solving problems or creating products, and as such, doesn't interfere in the minor details of their work. Instead, they work with the development team to identify ways to improve in each cycle and how to integrate what has been learned in each iteration into the scrum team repository.

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