What Is a Scrum Master and How Do You Enter This Career?

As a Scrum Master, you use Agile project management approaches to control and manage project tasks towards the project goal. 

If you pursue a career as a Scrum Master, you will manage interactions and collaboration through small team environments whilst engaging with leadership and key stakeholders. You will use Agile project management techniques to lead small teams through a project management life-cycle under the leadership of a product owner or project manager.

This guide will take a look at what a Scrum Master does, their roles and responsibilities, the skills of the Scrum Master, and how you can begin a career in this job function.

What does a Scrum Master do on a daily basis?

The Scrum approach to project management, ideal for managing iterative projects, is often used in software development. Agile project methodologies involve short phases of work, constant feedback, continuous improvement, and cycling back to review and renew the project plan. 

Scrum is the most popular of the Agile frameworks, with lots of job roles in the UK requiring Scrum Master qualifications.

The characteristics of Scrum include:

• A highly collaborative environment

• Efficient, clearly tracked processes

• Clear schedules, full communication, and feedback

• Short project milestone sprints

What is the difference between a project manager and a Scrum Master?

Project managers tend to focus on the project scope, budget, and timeline. For example, with the PRINCE2 project management methodology, the focus is very much on the deliverable of the project.

A Scrum Master is more focused on the individuals within a team, working with them and ensuring sufficient collaboration and alignment with fellow team members and people from other departments.

What is the difference between a Scrum Master and an Agile Coach?

Scrum Masters work in small teams or small groups of teams. A typical Scrum process is known for stand-up meetings and a team/task focus. An Agile Coach takes a broader role that involves coaching and mentoring all disparate teams within a project life-cycle.

An Agile Coach takes a broader view of the project and is a role that a Scrum Master can progress into with experience.

Scrum Master daily tasks and responsibilities

The Scrum Master is the leader and champion of the teams completing complex projects that require a dynamic approach. As a Scrum Master, you can work in any industry or work environment, although, as we have seen, a lot of Scrum Masters work in software development.

The needs of the project may dictate that you take more of a coaching and mentoring role, or you may end up facilitating collaboration and information sharing on another project. And in another project, you may be putting more of a project manager hat on.

The kinds of things that you will find yourself doing as a Scrum Master include:

• Reporting on projects with project management software

• Constantly monitoring and managing team risks through a project

• Creating a collaborative environment for information sharing and feedback

• Mentoring teams and individuals on Agile approaches to the project

• Creating a framework for support for individual team members and providing direct support on tasks

• Scheduling and leading update and feedback meetings with product users, project owners, team members, and other key stakeholders

• Doing project demonstrations and reviews

• Setting up product testing and user analysis

What skills do Scrum Masters need?

Scrum Masters must be comfortable working in environments with a certain level of uncertainty. Agile projects often involve the need to add new features to a project, adapt timelines, and overcome significant challenges through iterative improvements in the project process and delivery. 

It's essential to build the following advanced skill sets if you want to work as a Scrum Master.

Project organisation

As a Scrum Master, you will be scheduling and managing meetings on a highly regular basis. The nature of Agile projects is that there will constantly be shifting priorities, new tasks, and the requirement to reallocate resources. This takes a highly organised approach.

Communication and conflict resolution

In a role as a Scrum Master, you will be developing teams and leading them through short project phases that require clear goals and communication. Projects can often have conflicting priorities from different stakeholders, and you will need to be able to coordinate and align teams with the central vision, overcoming objections and creating a path to project success.

Motivating people

In an environment where project tasks change frequently and are completed in sprints, it is crucial that team members complete their tasks in a timely fashion. Inspiring and motivating team members become highly important as a Scrum Master where you need to keep things moving and developing on a daily basis.

An adaptable approach

With the nature of Agile development definition, you have to drop ideas and adopt new ones as the project develops, and you need to have a flexible and adaptable approach. You need to be willing and able to change paths when the need arises if it is the best thing for the project.

Critical thinking and problem-solving

Agile projects require constant assessment of data, product usability, team performance, and project risks. Scrum Masters need to develop advanced critical thinking skills and the ability to overcome obstacles to plot a successful course through a complex and ever-changing project environment.

Additional project skills required as a Scrum Master

Along with these traits, you'll need to apply project-related skills as a Scrum Master.

Agile project approaches and methodology

You need to be keenly aware of how to run an Agile project, understand the methodology for project sprints and product releases, gain user and team feedback, and iteratively chart a course toward project success. 

Qualifications and certifications can provide you with the foundational knowledge you need to apply Agile project methodology in diverse project situations.

Software development and IT knowledge

When managing software projects, you need to be able to communicate with coders, database professionals, UX designers, and product users. To assimilate and communicate during software projects you, therefore, need an understanding of all aspects of the software so that you can plan goals, structure tasks, assess software requirements, guide developers on tasks, and cycle through phases towards product release.

Business analysis

Developing successful products requires understanding the functional requirements, translating them to technical specifications, and then delivering products that are technically sound and functionally effective. 

In addition, you need to understand the project's business case and interact effectively with stakeholders up to senior management levels. Business analyst skills are key to being able to pull together the right approach and manage the multiple streams of work required.

Why should you take a Scrum Master career path?

As a Scrum Master, you have a dynamic role within an organisation, with the ability to make a difference in important strategic projects. 

At the project level, you will be coaching and mentoring, facilitating, and leading people towards a common goal. All this adds up to the Scrum Master role as a very rewarding career path where you constantly learn and evolve your approaches and methodologies as you gain experience.

How much do Scrum Masters earn?

The average salary for a Scrum professional in London, England is around £62,500 [1]. There are regional differences in salaries throughout the UK, and a large proportion of project management job roles are located in the capital city.

The job outlook for Scrum Masters is very good in the United Kingdom. With advances in technology and the requirement to stay competitive with new software releases, every sector in the UK is running projects. Even with the challenges of recent years, project managers have remained in high demand, according to the 2021 APM.org study [2].

How do you get on the career ladder as a Scrum Master?

There is no one path to becoming a Scrum Master, although there are certain requirements that most employers state on job postings.

Educational requirements

Scrum and project manager roles don't always need a degree. However, many companies recruiting Scrum Masters specify technology-related or business degrees in their criteria. In the UK, project management and master's degrees can open up more opportunities to work on exciting, complex Agile projects.

Certification in Scrum

Scrum certifications, including the Certified Scrum Master (CSM), provide confidence to employees that you have a rounded skill set in this Agile project methodology. With foundational knowledge and practical skills gained in a Scrum certification, you can apply with confidence for Scrum Master jobs and contracts.

What job roles prepare you to be a Scrum Master?

If you are looking to plot a career path up to Scrum Master, then several roles can help you to build the skill set and knowledge you'll require.

Here are some job titles that are often precursors to the Scrum Master roles:

• Business analyst

• Project management office roles

• Software developer

• Quality assurance tester

• Software team leader

• Junior project manager

What roles can you move onto after getting experience as a Scrum Master?

Scrum Masters develop excellent project management experience and competencies through complex project leadership situations. Here are some of the roles that Scrum Masters tend to move on to:

• Agile coach

• Product manager

• Senior Scrum Master

• Project manager

• Chief information officer

• IT manager

Get started in Scrum with Coursera

Moving into an Agile project methodology career is an exciting step. To provide yourself with the best chance of catching the eye of potential recruiters, it's important to demonstrate your competence with certifications.

You may want to begin with an introduction to Agile development and Scrum, an Agile project management course, or the Project Management: Professional Certificate from Google as you prepare for full Scrum Master Certification. 

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)