All About Agile | Agile Development Made Easy!

Is it possible, albeit maybe ill-advised, to be both a Product Owner AND the Scrum Master?

I ask because I work on a small to medium-sized development team that builds web apps for internal customers, and we are looking to implement scrum. At the current time, I and another BA are the closest thing to "scrum masters" that we have. And currently, as far as I understand the role of a product owner in scrum, we fill that role on our team.

I have read much about the importance of having a dedicated scrum master and making sure the business takes an active part in scrum, and I can see the importance of that. But in all honesty, I don't see that happening - for both budgetary and culture reasons - for some time yet.

So is it ok, as we make the transition, to play the role of both for awhile? We are dealing mainly with smaller, internal projects at the time, and although we do have our director's buy-in, we are not so confident about getting the same at higher levels in the organization.

Thank you in advance for all helpful advice.

Kevin W

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kelly Waters on January 13, 2012 at 9:33

Hi Kevin. Personally I don't see any problem with that at all. Both are roles, not necessarily full-time jobs, and in my experience it is common for both to be played by people who have a day job. The key question that I would ask is whether or not the person playing both roles has the time and experience to do both. If the answer is yes, no worries.

Kelly.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kevin Wood on January 13, 2012 at 14:15

Kelly - Thank you so much for the reply. Your clarification of the the fact that they are roles and not necessarily full-time jobs in themselves helped me immensely. I think that was the concept I was stumbling on, and your insight has helped me to "see the light"! Thanks again.