Scrum Master

Oh My Job is a web series that helps you learn about specific roles from the people who carry them out every day. In this episode, François, a Scrum Master, shares his professional insights and talks about daily life working at beNext.
Scrum Masters are the guarantors of Scrum methodology. This agile management approach allows them to oversee their teams.

A WHAT Master?

Scrum is an agile and cyclical management framework. Something similar to lean management, it’s mostly used in product or software development. The goal is to break down the widest and most complex projects into small steps that are completed during a series of “sprints.” The Scrum framework is used to analyze and adapt the objectives and techniques in line with the problems encountered.

Responsibilities:

The Scrum Master’s main goal is to manage and help a team by facilitating its organization. He or she must put the framework in place and ensure that the team is cohesive. This happens primarily by defining a clear objective and a following up on the progress of each team member. Often through visual aids, their work streamlines the development process and keeps the team on track during sprints. Depending on the size of the team, a Scrum Master can get involved and concretely help coworkers, but his or her main goal is to analyze potential issues and coordinate the team to overcome those issues.

“If there were one main tool for the Scrum Master, it would be the post-it!”

Career path:

A profession for the truly self-taught profession, being a Scrum Master mostly requires a profound knowledge of this agile methodology. At the same time, developer schools frequently offer Scrum Master certification. Training in project management can also provide a great foundation for those wishing to master this methodology. If he or she ends up working with a technical team, training as a computer engineer is another way the Scrum Master can better understand the processes needed to develop a feature using this methodology.

Skills:

Scrum Masters are able to organize their teams, helping them make progress while ensuring individual success. To do this, he or she must be a good educator and tuned in to the needs of each person. A true leader, the Scrum Master is also good at resolving conflicts within a team and is strong in both communication and coordination.

“It’s a strength for Scrum Masters to be really into computers, but you need to be interested in the team’s organization, to make sure that the teams you work with are happy and work better because of it!”

Collaborative relationships:

A Scrum Master mainly works with the team that he or she oversees (a development team in most cases). He or she works closely with the Product Owner, who is the main point of contact for the team and project they are working on.

“A good Scrum Master is a Scrum Master nobody needs!”

Salary:

The median salary varies between $6,500 and $8,500 gross per month in the United States, depending on experience levels (junior/senior).

Career progression:

The logical career progression for a Scrum Master is to become an Agile Coach, the guarantor of the Scrum methodology at a company level. He or she can also go into roles such as Product Owner or Head of Product.