New community feature: the question of the week :-)

hey hey, dear ones. Happy monday! :grinning:

We have decided to offer you a question of the week once a week, on Mondays. If you like, just discuss with us and get into the topic.

We start - as you see - this week - in the Christmas week. My idea was to let this current question of the week run until the new year - probably you also take a break between the holidays. If you do feel like considering other topics next week and the week after, let me know. Otherwise, we’ll continue in the second week of January.

So, are you ready? Then here we go. :grin:

Our question of the week

Should a Scrum Master be familiar with the PO tasks, or the role in detail? Should he be able to basically fill the role himself (detached from the product, only related to role knowledge)? What is your attitude towards this?

Do you feel like exchanging ideas? Then go for it!

Kind regards, Dani

I know I don’t have an orthodox approach to Scrum, but I believe that the SM’s knowledge of what it means to do and be a good PO is strongly needed.
Not because the SM has to replace the PO, but because the PO, as I understand it (with many freedoms from the Scrum Guide), is a responsibility, not a real role.
I believe all Scrum team members must master product ownership and the product owner is only the leader of this skill.
In fact, when I start a new Scrum team, I try to avoid establishing the roles of SM and PO upstream, but let them emerge from the team itself, inviting all members to try the role for a few sprints (on a voluntary basis, I don’t force it).
In this way, everyone can learn and identify with the responsibilities of PM and SM.

This practice strongly unites the team and triggers a change that will soon go far beyond Scrum.
In my best teams, the team itself no longer needs Scrum to live in the right mindset and deliver value in an iterative and incremental way.

It is certainly not an orthodox approach (I live Scrum as a means, not an end), perhaps a bit libertarian :laughing: but I find it extremely effective.

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is a kind of Libertarian Scrum Delivered on Empathy (LSD-E): the art of seeing double the worlds in half the time (sorry Jeff, with regards)