Scrum is a framework for organizing a workflow that cannot be imagined without 3 main components. We are talking about the product owner, the scrum master and the development team. In short, the key roles are played by the following functions:

• product owner has a vision or picture of the product;
• scrum master helps to effectively use the framework in work;
• development team is directly involved in the development of the product.

However, this is not enough to understand the principle of operation and interaction of each link in scrum.

What is the function of a product owner?

In scrum, the product owner is mostly the key to success of the project itself. It is them, who determine what needs to be done and the order of priority. In addition, the owner must understand what results are needed, and why exactly these ones. He also presents the project to the remaining team, acting as a product expert.

In scrum, the owner differs significantly from the seemingly similar role of the sponsor in the waterfall model, they are actively involved throughout the work. For example, they can also evaluate the remaining tasks and set new priorities. In this case, if requests change, then feedback immediately goes. This is the main difference between the owner and the sponsor in the waterfall model, who immediately determines the volume of work at the start of the work, and no longer involved in the process until the end of the release.

There are also some pitfalls in Scrum. The product owner is always tempted to control everything. It is important to remember that this member of the scrum team carries only business value. In other words, the are responsible for the compliance of the result of the work with the set goals. It is desirable that the product owner adheres to the Scrum methodology and refrains from trying to completely control the scrum team. This role is assigned to the Scrum master.

Scrum master and their role on the project

The Scrum master is the next link in the work on the project. On the one hand, they inform the team about the wishes of the product owner, on the other hand, the scrum master establishes internal processes in the team. In addition, the are also responsible for the implementation of the scrum framework in the project.

Development team - autonomous role on the project

One of the features of scrum lies in autonomy. As you can see, none of the previous roles in the framework has any control over the work of developers. The highlight of scrum is that the latter are responsible for their own work. The team consists of 5-9 people. Each participant performs their functional role.

All members of the scrum team work together. The owner prioritizes individual features, the scrum master is responsible for the process, and the development team does the rest. For example, a developer can take any feature from the backlog (a list of tasks for a sprint prepared by the product owner) and decide how to do it. The main difference from traditional models is self-organization, which contributes to a positive working atmosphere and the achievement of goals in the optimal timing.