Meet “Scrum Master” #1 — the miscast one. This person typically comes from traditional roles like:
- Project Manager
- Program Coordinator
- Agile Delivery Manager/Lead
- Technical Lead
- “Agile Tool” Expert
Some (not all) of these roles are not inherently bad — in fact, they are valuable in the right context. But they are optimized for command-and-control, delivery-focused, or coordination-heavy environments — not for coaching, enabling, or serving.
Let’s take a look at their day-to-day duties:
- Managing dependencies
- Generating dashboards and progress metrics
- Hosting (not facilitating) Scrum of Scrums
- Assigning tasks and managing “resources”
- Owning timelines and performance
Does any of this sound like coaching a self-managing team? Supporting a Product Owner in maximizing product value? Helping the organization remove systemic impediments? Exactly. It doesn’t. Because this version of a Scrum Master is not a Scrum Master at all — they are a delivery overseer, a schedule enforcer, and often, a middle manager trying to stay relevant.
And yet, these individuals are often awarded a Scrum Master title after attending a 2-day certification course. Another line item added to the corporate training budget. Another illusion of progress. Another way to burn money without building capability.
This is transactional agility — it’s expensive, it’s ineffective, and it’s everywhere.
✅ The Right Choice: The True Scrum Master / Team Coach
Now meet “Scrum Master” #2 — the real deal. You won’t need to reshape or relabel their job title. Their business card says what they do: Scrum Master or Team Coach. This person is empowered. They are respected. They are purpose-built for enabling agility — not managing it.
Here’s what their typical day might include:
- Coaching cross-functional, product-focused teams
- Helping Product Owners sharpen their vision and backlog
- Guiding developers toward better engineering practices
- Coaching leadership on how to support agility at scale
- Continuously investing in their own craft as a coach
They aren’t tracking story points or sending reminders for daily stand-ups. They’re surfacing dysfunction. Challenging mediocrity. Advocating for continuous improvement. They don’t “run Scrum” — they cultivate it.
🎭 The Corporate Irony
And here’s the ironic part: many companies assign “leftover” roles to Scrum Master seats — folks who’ve been displaced by reorgs or those who simply want to stay close to project delivery. When those individuals struggle to enable change (because they weren’t set up to do so), the blame shifts not to the poor role alignment, but to Scrum itself.
“We tried Scrum… it didn’t work here.”
“LeSS is too idealistic for our culture.”
“Agile is fine for software companies — not for us.”
We’ve heard it all. But let’s be honest: if you start with the wrong ingredients, you can’t expect the cake to rise.
🔄 Garbage In, Garbage Out — Politely Put
Agile transformation is not a game of musical chairs. Putting someone into a critical role just to check a box will not yield real change. The degree of investment a company makes in setting up the Scrum Master for success translates directly into the degree of success with Scrum or LeSS itself.
This isn’t just about choosing a good coach — it’s about signaling that agility is taken seriously. It’s about refusing to trivialize the Scrum Master role into a ticket administrator. And it’s about recognizing that transformation requires leadership, not logistics.
🎯 Final Thoughts
If your Scrum Masters aren’t enabling change — look beyond the framework and into the mirror. Were they the right person for the role? Were they empowered? Were they trained to coach, not just to coordinate? Scrum and LeSS both offer clear guidance on what a Scrum Master should be. It’s worth revisiting. Agile frameworks are only as strong as the people who embody them. So let’s stop hiring “Scrum Masters” to keep busy. Let’s start hiring them to make a difference.