Difference Between Scrum Master and Product Owner

Prerequisite: Agile Software Development

In the world of software development, a project is managed majorly by three bodies they are Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Teammates. Agile project management divides the whole work among the members and set some methodology to accomplish every project before the deadline. Scrum is the framework and scrum master is mentor, guide, facilitator of agile management. The project owner focuses on the outcomes of the project or you may say the finishing of the product. And the teammates work on the project.

1. Scrum Master:

Scrum master is the mentor coach or the leader for the agile development teams and allows the team to self-organize. It manages the process of information exchange between the team members and takes necessary steps accordingly owing to agile principles.

Roles of Scrum Master:

• As mentioned above, guides the team members working on the project. He checks whether the work is done and how much work is left out.
• Provides the goals and idea of any software which is newly going to be developed.
• Organizes meetings and supervises his teammates according to the scrum.
• Maintains a record of each staff working on the project.
• Provides a healthy environment to sync among the team members.
• Throws easy ideas to a complex project and clears the backlog if exists.
• Ensures the product is in the final state and makes team ready for the next sprint.
• Helps scrum team to accomplish the work within the time period by clearing all the obstacles.
• It is his responsibility to keep his scrum team focused and dedicated to getting a high-level product.
• Removes the barrier between teammates and stakeholders by facilitating stakeholder collaborations.
• Advises scrum implementation within the organization
• He is the main link between the project team and the organization.
• He takes the report of the progress of every product from the product owner.
• Every new member begins and learns his profession under his control. He trains him and helps him to get accommodated with the new environment.
• Ensures a good bonding between the scrum team, product owner, organization, project manager, and others.
• Protects the team from distraction and interruptions.

Challenges Faced by Scrum Master:

• Will be accountable when a task is not finished before the deadline.
• Stuck in various confusion in implementation when team offers conflicting methodologies for instance whether to choose old or new software.
• Understanding the scrum is easy but making it clear, training the scrum team accordingly to get a fine and accurate product is a tough job.
• When the budget is exceeding the limit, it will be held responsible.
• May fear a loss of authority when cross-functional occurs within the same organization.
• Delay updates on the product may charge a lot.
• Faces danger if the final outcome does not match with the desired one.
• Faces a lot of hurdles to make its job secured.

2. Product Owner:

A product owner is a role in an agile development who is responsible for the output or the final product ensures that it is up to date in terms of priorities with no backlog and has the items which are demanded in the current vision. The product owner represents the business and is accountable for collaborating with the customers to define what features will be in the product release.

Roles of Product Owner:

• Maximizes the value of the product resulting from the work of the development team.
• Manages the product backlog and the prioritized features list for the product.
• It checks the timeline of the products.
• Prioritizes the work while planning a sprint in the meeting.
• Visualizes the goal to the development team, business manager, and the customers.
• Sets the goals according to customer demand and visualizes them to the scrum master, development team, business manager.
• Motivates the team with clear goals and vision, answering any questions.
• After setting the vision, Production prioritizes and strategy looks after the development of the project through all the stages from beginning to the end.
• Evaluate each and every stage of the progress of the project throughout the sprint of each event.
• Primary communicators between stakeholder and development teams.
• Takes major decisions by giving clear instructions and priorities of the sprint to the developers.
• Checks the final product and ensures whether to outreach the product to the customer.
• Plays a vital role in marketing.

Challenges Faced by Product Owner:

• It is too difficult to take any decision and work on the development of software with a lack of data and information.
• Struggles to set a clear priority if any changes occur in the middle of the sprints.
• It’s not easy to predict the accurate time for delivery and launching the product.it is responsible to forecast the delivery timeline.
• Faces conflicting situations with the stakeholders when they come with different objectives and priorities for the same products.
• Managing a number of stakeholders and making them accommodate in that environment is a tough job.
• Dealing with the product backlog is one of the toughest jobs.
• Faces hurdles if the requirements of the customers change in the middle of any project.
• Has to take so many decisions within a short period of time so it may not lead to a constructive way to take wise steps for the development of the products.
• Planning for the product and aligning the product strategy according to the customer demand is a big challenge.
• Look after requests made by the influential stakeholders. It leads to context switching which will reduce productivity.

Difference Between Scrum Master and Product Owner

S.No..	SCRUM MASTER	PRODUCT OWNER
1.	Scrum master guides and coaches the team members.	The product owner collects the requirements and list of the customers.
2.	Leads the scrum team.	Maximization equalizes productivity.
3.	Scrum Masters need to be highly knowledgeable about the Agile Methodology and its best practices and must be able to communicate to the rest of the team.	Product owner requires to have a variety of skills to be successful in their job.
4.	Skills- Leadership Skills Communication Skills Collaborator Coaching and Mentoring Abilities Certifications and Knowledge Change-Ready	Skills- Constant Availability Technical Skills End-User Perspective Committed to Vision Understanding of ROI
5.	Divides into a number of sprints.	Sets the priority of every sprint.
6.	Checks the tasks done by team members.	Deals with the product backlog.
7.	Protects the team from distraction.	Gives clear instructions and priorities to the developers.
8.	Creates a healthy environment and maintains a good bonding among the team members.	Manages a number of stakeholders and equalizes their different objectives to set a common goal.
9.	Makes team understand the user’s point of view.	Deals with the user’s point of view.
10.	Checks the progress of the products.	Checks the timeline and deliverables of the products.
11.	Plays a vital role in the implementation of products.	Plays role in the high-level marketing of the products.
12.	Motivates the team members and encourages the team spirit among them.	Flourishes the business by creating high-level products.
13.	Responsibility- Their responsibility is to oversee the entire procedure and ensure its effectiveness and relevance.	Responsibility- Their responsibility is to create the vision and strategy for a successful product.
14.	The work done by the product owner is reviewed by the scrum master and provide recommendations incase any improvement is required.	The product owner does not review the work done by the 4.scrum master.