Do you fit into your role?

Scrum Guide defines different roles in Agile Team but not everyone read Scrum Guide.  Indeed, I have met Scrum Masters and Product Owners who haven't had any idea what is expected from them or do they fit into their role. Some of them have been nominated into that role, some of them have themselves wanted to take that role but with their own interpretation of role and some have taken the role thinking it is their next step in their career.

Once I interviewed candidates for Scrum Master position. I asked candidates what would make them great Scrum Masters and I was amazed how many people thought Scrum Master to be a team leader or supervisor. 

"I know each team member competence so it is easy for me to make sure right people are doing right things."

"I am really good at making progress reports and I know I can make people deliver more."

"You can trust me. I will supervise the team to be the best team."

I have seen how role of Scrum Master have been given to a person who was the most silent team member. Or to a person who wasn't respected at all in the team. I have seen people leaving the role as it was totally something they thought it to be. I have seen people staying in their role even it wasn't any fit for their personality. I have seen Scrum Masters who didn't act like one but made sure that as many as possible outside the team knew that they were Scrum Masters  - it was all about them!

Product Owners are no different story. How can you succeed in your role when you don't have any clue what that role is?  Quite often I have seen people thrown into the role with statement "it is just a minor thing you do - so don't worry, it won't take a lot of your time". What an understatement! 

In my opinion role of Product Owner is even more misunderstood than Scrum Master. Also more often they have been confused what is expected from them. Some of them have been surprised that they are needed more often than in Planning and Review meetings. 

"I don't have time for team members questions. Can't they list them and I answer them when I have time?"

"Why I need to participate all these meetings? I already told the team what they should do."

I have seen Product Owners who didn't want to order the backlog because everything was equally important. Or who couldn't say "no" to any request and promised the team to deliver far more than they can based on their capacity.

We should more consider if the person is right fit for the role instead of putting people into these two key role in Scrum just because they are available. And also ask people to consider are they the right fit and make sure they know what they are expected to do in their role. That would benefit all - people would be happier and organisations would get more value. People need to be educated, they deserve the chance to succeed. Scrum is not rocket science but something is good to know when jumping into it!

But world is weird. I found this video which would help me to give right answers in Scrum Master interview. If I ever interview Scrum Masters again I make sure to listen carefully in case the interviewee has been listening this video.