What is a Scrum Master?

A Scrum master is responsible for ensuring that the Scrum team follows the processes that were agreed upon. Keeping obstacles and distractions out of the team's path is one of the responsibilities of the Scrum master. In this role, the individual acts as the interface between the Scrum team and other people or teams.

A Scrum Master holds a position that’s relatively narrow in scope, yet extremely broad in influence throughout any organization. In practice, however, a Scrum Master is working behind the scenes and is not involved in product ideation or strategy. They work more as a conduit between product/line-of-business owners and development teams as a project manager. Because agile processes are entirely dependent on people and collaboration, Scrum Masters must also marry soft skills with the latest tools and methods. After all, software projects have many moving parts, and individual programmers can quickly lose sight of the broader scope when heads-down in code. A Scrum Master, on the other hand, maintains a high-level view, helping teams to understand both organizational and technical dependencies while avoiding chokepoints. This creates a culture of accountability and enables teams to meet critical deadlines.

So now, as you are well aware of what a scrum master is, it's time for you to understand the roles and responsibilities of a scrum master.