Scrum Master vs Product Owner | Roles, Responsibilities, and More

Product development is team work, and if you want to create a successful product, your Scrum Teams must do their job to the best of their ability.

It is vital to know the differences between Scrum Master and Product Owner. The reason is that your employees need to understand the role they play in the development process and how they contribute to the overall success of the product. In the post, let's discuss the positions of Scrum Master and Product Owner, including the key differences each has during the product development process.

Differences between Scrum Master and Product Owner

The Scrum Master and the Product Owner are two key roles in the Scrum framework. The Scrum Master is responsible for facilitating the development process and ensuring that all team members understand and adhere to the Scrum principles. The Product Owner is responsible for setting product goals, managing the backlog, communicating customer requirements, and prioritizing features. Both roles work together to ensure that the product meets its goals.

Although the Scrum Master and Product Owner work closely together, these roles are very different. A Scrum Master leads the agile development team and supports the product owner by relaying updates to relevant employees. Product owners manage the product portfolio and ensure that the company gets the most value from the product.

The product owner is a crucial component of agile product development. Contains all the tasks needed to be completed during the project. The Product Owner must make this resource readily available to the Scrum Master and ensure that it accurately reflects the needs of the customer, the business, and any other relevant stakeholders.

To do this, Product Owners must perform multiple roles for the development team. They act as product designers, customer liaisons, and business strategists in order to gain a full understanding of the product's purpose.

Once the Product Owner and Product Manager have perfected the Product Roadmap, it is up to the Scrum Master to bring the vision to life. If the roadmap or backlog changes along the way, the Scrum Master will notify the development team about the update.

Now that we've covered the basics of each role, let's dive into the key differences between these positions.

Scrum master vs product owner

While the Scrum Master and Product Owner work closely together, these roles are very different.

Product owner role

A key part of any successful software development project is the role of the "product owner." The product owner is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the end product meets customer needs and reflects the business goals.

The product owner may help define user stories, decide which features and tasks are most important, accept or reject finished work items, and give feedback to other team members. In addition, they are typically responsible for managing the backlog, selecting which features should be implemented first and when they should be delivered.

The product owner’s knowledge of customer needs and preferences is also essential for informing design decisions such as wireframes and user flows. As such, the product owner is a key figure in ensuring that projects remain on track while creating quality products that meet customer expectations.

Product owner responsibilities

The responsibility of the product owner is to facilitate the Scrum process within a development team. This includes:

Establish Product Vision and Strategy

The product owner is responsible for developing the product vision and strategy. This involves defining the goals of the product, its features and capabilities, user requirements, market positioning, competitive advantages, and pricing. The vision sets a clear direction and purpose for the team, ensuring that everyone is aligned on what the product aims to achieve and how it will stand out in the market.

Define Backlog Items

The product owner defines items in the project backlog that are necessary to build or improve the product or service. These items can include user stories, bug fixes, technical tasks, research projects, and other activities. By clearly defining these items, the product owner ensures that the development team has a detailed and actionable list of tasks to work on, which helps in organising and prioritising their efforts effectively.

Prioritise Backlog Items

The product owner is responsible for prioritising items in the project backlog to ensure that high-value tasks are completed first. This involves assessing the potential impact of each item and deciding the order in which they should be tackled. By focusing on high-priority tasks, the product owner ensures that the team delivers the most valuable features and improvements first, maximising the product's overall impact and efficiency.

Coordinate Stakeholders

The product owner coordinates with stakeholders to ensure that everyone involved in the project understands their roles and responsibilities. This includes regular communication with customers, development teams, marketing, sales, and other relevant parties. Effective coordination helps align all efforts towards the common goal, ensuring that the project progresses smoothly and meets the expectations of all stakeholders.

Monitor Progress

The product owner monitors progress on a regular basis to ensure that work is progressing as expected. This involves tracking the completion of backlog items, identifying any issues or risks early on, and taking corrective action if needed. Regular monitoring helps the product owner stay informed about the team's performance and ensures that any potential problems are addressed promptly, keeping the project on track.

Accept Delivery of New Features

The product owner accepts delivery of new features from development teams and provides feedback based on testing results. This step ensures that the delivered features meet the required standards and are ready for release. The product owner’s feedback is crucial for making any necessary changes before the product reaches customers, ensuring a high-quality final product.

Scrum master role

The Scrum Master role is a critical part of the success of any Scrum team. They are responsible for assisting the Product Owner in creating and maintaining the product backlog, as well as managing the scrum team’s day-to-day activities.

The Scrum Master also serves as a facilitator and coach to ensure that the team is working together efficiently. Additionally, they are responsible for conducting daily scrums to review progress within the sprint and ensuring that each member of the scrum team is on track with their assigned tasks. Additionally, they provide guidance on best practices within the Scrum framework and help to resolve any conflicts or impediments that arise during the sprint. Finally, they ensure that all of the artifacts required for successful completion of a sprint are created and maintained throughout its duration.

Scrum master responsibilities

The scrum master's role is to facilitate the Scrum process within a development team. This includes:

Enforcing the Rules of Scrum

The Scrum Master enforces the rules of Scrum to ensure that all team members remain focused and productive. This involves making sure that everyone follows the established Scrum framework, including its ceremonies, roles, and artefacts. By maintaining discipline and adherence to the process, the Scrum Master helps the team stay on track and avoid disruptions that could hinder their progress.

Facilitating Meetings

The Scrum Master facilitates key Scrum meetings, including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives. These meetings are crucial for maintaining the rhythm of the Scrum process and ensuring effective communication within the team. The Scrum Master’s role is to guide these sessions, ensuring they are productive and that all team members have the opportunity to contribute.

Removing Impediments

The Scrum Master removes impediments that block the team from making progress or completing their work on time. This can involve resolving technical issues, addressing organisational roadblocks, or facilitating access to necessary resources. By proactively identifying and removing these obstacles, the Scrum Master helps the team maintain momentum and achieve their sprint goals.

Assisting the Product Owner

The Scrum Master assists the Product Owner in ensuring that tasks are well-defined and understood by the team. This collaboration helps to ensure that the backlog is clear, prioritised, and actionable. By supporting the Product Owner, the Scrum Master helps the team to complete tasks efficiently and effectively, reducing confusion and enhancing productivity.

Coaching and Mentoring the Team

The Scrum Master coaches and mentors the team in Agile principles and best practices. This involves providing guidance on how to become self-organising and high-performing teams. Through coaching, the Scrum Master helps team members develop their skills, embrace Agile values, and continuously improve their processes, fostering a culture of excellence and collaboration.

Is the Product Owner higher than the Scrum Master?

The Product Owner is responsible for aligning the product with its original vision and goals and for working directly with scrum teams to ensure that the product meets its objectives. Since the product owner is ultimately responsible for the success of the product, they have a greater degree of responsibility than the scrum master. The product owner is in charge of overseeing all aspects of the product, including ensuring that it meets customer needs, while the scrum master focuses on optimizing and facilitating the scrum process. The Product Owner has ultimate authority over how resources are allocated within their scrum team, while a Scrum Master's main goal is to ensure that Agile principles are upheld throughout the development process. In short, while both roles are important for successful product delivery, product owners have more responsibilities than scrum masters when it comes to managing a project.

Who earns more, the scrum master or the product owner?

The Scrum framework and Agile process are popular methods for managing software development projects. As part of the Scrum framework, a company will hire both a Scrum Master and a Product Owner to make sure a project is successful. Both roles are integral for understanding the Scrum framework and ensuring that the product aligns with its original vision.

Generally speaking, product owners need to have more knowledge regarding the product itself than the scrum master does, so they tend to earn more money than their counterparts. The product also needs to be able to work collaboratively with stakeholders, teams, and other departments in order to ensure that everyone is on the same page regarding the product’s goals, objectives, and progress. All in all, because of their greater level of knowledge and experience needed for success, product owners generally earn more than scrum masters.

Can the Product Owner also be a Scrum Master?

The short answer is no. Scrum Master and Product Owner should always have separate roles, and there are a few reasons why this is beneficial to your business.

First, when scrum masters act as product owners, they don't have the same access to customer feedback. Without this data, it is difficult to create products that meet the needs and goals of your customers. You will spend all this time creating products that your customers do not like or are not what they expect.

The next problem is that when product owners act as scrum masters, they take on new responsibilities that devalue the original ones. Product Owner is a full-time job, and if they take the time to complete Scrum Master tasks, they will have to cut corners when creating the product backlog and managing the development process. There will be less room for innovation and more focus on completing tasks before deadlines. Because the product owner has too much on their plate, the value of their product will start to take a hit.