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Who is a Scrum Master?
Unlike the name suggests, a SAFe Scrum Master is not a leader but a guide and coach for the Agile team to efficiently implement the practices. They help the team to understand the process to ensure good results. A Scrum Master is a professional who acquires the required skills to perform Agile practices. A Scrum Master role can be a full-time or part-time depending on the team size.
Responsibilities of a Scrum Master
A Scrum Master is a guide and facilitator for the Scrum Team but there are many more duties for them to attend. The duties of a SAFe Scrum Master are:
Teaching the team about cross-functionality and self-management.
Removing impediments from the process.
Organizing and operating the Scrum events within the time frame.
Helping the Product Owner with the Product Backlog.
Communicate the product backlog items clearly to the team.
Helping in product planning.
Collaborate with the stakeholders to make changes.
Leading the team through Scrum Adoption.
Resolving issues between the team and other parties.
Educating the team about Agile practices.
Skills required to be a Scrum Master
The essential skill sets to carry on the responsibilities of a Scrum Master efficiently are:
Communication
Collaboration
Leadership
Organizational Skills
Expertise in project management
Thorough knowledge of Agile and Scrum
Addressing the team patiently
Adaptability
Risk management
Who is a Product Owner?
A Product Owner is a part of a Scrum team with a designated role who is responsible for the success of the project. They are responsible for maximizing the product value delivered by the team. The product owner creates a product backlog and defines user stories. The product owner addresses any problems or queries regarding user requirements.
What is the role of a Product Owner in an Agile Team?
The success of the project depends on the efficiency of a SAFe Product Owner to manage the product backlog. Other responsibilities of the Product Owner are:
Helping the stakeholders in creating the vision.
Communicating the vision clearly to the team.
Creating the product backlog.
Prioritizing stories.
Participating in Daily Scrum and other events.
Being the communicator between the stakeholders and the Agile team.
Evaluating the progress after iteration.
Pre-requisites to be a Product Owner
Every designation requires deep knowledge and a skill set to work properly. A Product Owner is a critical role for the team and they have to hone some skills to conduct their responsibilities. The skills are:
Communication skills
Product management
Project management
Leadership
Creativity
Decision-making
Resolving issues
Knowledge about Scrum
Collaborative skills
Time management
Analytics
Technical skills
Roles of Scrum Master & Product Owner in SAFe:
Scrum Master vs. Product Owner
Points of Comparison
| Scrum Master
| Product Owner |
1. Role
| A Scrum Master helps the team to implement Scrum and Agile practices to generate quality products.
| A Product Owner communicates the vision to the team to meet customer needs. Accordingly they prepare the product backlog.
|
2. Nature of work
| Communicator, coach, guide, servant leader and liaison
| Visionary |
3. Job Responsibilities
| Implementing Scrum practices and coaching the team. | Creating the Product Backlog and communicating the client about the progress at frequent intervals.
|
4. Skills
|
|
|
5. Salary
| The average salary of a SAFe Scrum Master is around $80-90k
| The average salary of a Product Owner is around $75-85k
|
6. Certification
|
|
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What is SAFe?
SAFe or Scaled Agile Framework is one of the most popular Agile frameworks among large enterprises as it is flexible, sustainable and can handle large projects. It is a set of workflow patterns and practices that helps to implement Agile at an enterprise level. It has been leveraged by combining three concepts namely:
Agile Software Development
Lean Product Development
Systems Thinking
Roles in SAFe
SAFe is all about simplifying the process to bear efficient results at the end. SAFe Methodology thus uses a number of practices and assigns responsibilities as per the skills of the individual to increase agility at work. So, SAFe has too many roles at different enterprise levels. Let us see the most common Agile Roles and Responsibilities:
1. Portfolio Level
Enterprise Architect
Epic Owner
Lean Portfolio Management
2. Large Solution Level
Solution Manager
Solution Architect
Solution Train Engineer
3. Program Level
System Engineer/Architect
Product Manager
Release Train Engineer
Business Owners
4. Team Level
Scrum Master
Product Owner
Agile Team
Conclusion
Role of Scrum Master & Product Owner in SAFe both have very critical responsibilities. The set of responsibilities to be conducted by them require certain skill sets which can be acquired by qualifying certification. Acekube is a platform that provides a number of certification courses for both the roles.
FAQs
1. Which SAFe Certifications can help to boost your career?
There are different SAFe Certifications for helping different roles in the Agile team:
2. Why choose Acekube?
Acekube is a platform that offers a variety of SAFe courses to professionals and teams to boost their career. You should choose this platform for the following reasons:
The quality of training is world class
The trainers and coaches are experienced
Individual, team and enterprise level of training is provided.
Training time is flexible to suit your schedule.
Uses pragmatic methodology
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