• Agile & Scrum Basics

What is the role of the project manager in Scrum?

THE project manager does not exist

In my life, I have met many project managers. They usually have the same challenges, but are very different as people. Everyone has their own background and became a project leader for different reasons. Moreover, very few of them thought at 18: I’m going to be a project manager, that’s what I’m going to study for! This is also where the search for your new role begins. Who are you, and what would you like to add to the team? If you like to do strategic work, perhaps Product Owner is for you. Are you more into developing people and optimizing processes? Then you might think about Scrum Master. Or do you have other areas of expertise? Then you could be a team member . There is plenty of work out there! So the question is not: what does THE project leader do in Scrum? But the question is: what will be your personal new role?

Getting things done is also work

When I was writing quotes at Fabrique (my previous employer), the custom was to include 20% project management in the quote. And rightly so. Because getting things done is hard work. It is valuable if agreements are clear, invoices correct, delivery moments clear and diseases taken care of. Somehow I always had to explain that these things cannot be taken for granted.

Now it is true that in Scrum you try to make the organization as simple as possible. So you eliminate a lot of classic internal project management work. Because you’re a stable team, you don’t have to Tetris full schedules. And because people formulate and follow up on their own tasks, you don’t have to chase them. But that already wasn’t the best part of leading projects. However?

But another important and relevant part of your external project management work remains. You put that on the Backlog from now on . Especially if a team has many vendors, there is a lot of external arranging work. By putting that on your Backlog, you make it visible and transparent to the whole team. Chances are you’ll get the appreciation it deserves there too! If you do and create those things in the team, then your Scrum role is that of Developer. After all, you develop added value.

From outsider to team member

As a project manager, you usually have several projects that you manage. Is one project not going well? Then you often get a lot of shit thrown at you. Is it going well? Then most of the credit goes to the team. You share out the tasks, but are not allowed to interfere too much with the content. “You’re not into that.”

In Scrum, this all improves. After all, you only have one project: the current Sprint. And it’s OK to get involved in the content, because you’re going for the Sprint goal together with the team. Scrum is multidisciplinary. So as an ex-project leader, you don’t always have to do all the arranging. Someone else can pick that up as well. And so you can pick up work that may not directly fit your old role, but which you are good at.

You can become a project leader Developer, Scrum Master or Product Owner

So what role or roles you take in the transition to Scrum depends on your own needs as well as what the team needs. Because by “team” we mean motivated individuals with a shared goal. So both your motivation and your contribution are important! Would you like to discuss your new role with us? Feel free to get in touch. I am sure I have experienced a similar situation with which I can inspire you.