SCRUM PROJECT: A METHOD THAT UNDERMINES THE PROJECT MANAGER ROLE Amy Ibrahima POUYE ESC RENNES SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Abstract Scrum Project is a method used in agile project management. It consists of dividing the traditional responsibility of the project manager into three main roles such as Product Owner, Scrum Master and Developers (teams). However, the fundamental question that is frequently asked is: do we need a Project Manager in Scrum Project? This question is the main problem statement that will be highlighted along this paper. To tackle at all level this latter, several articles and books have been read in order to see the overall framework of this issue, what people who already have experiences about that think and at the end of the day, to provide people with answers of the questions related to the necessity to have a project manager in Scrum project different from the three responsibilities we already have and who among them plays the role of a project manager. An analysis backed by several articles and books shows two different opinions. While many people agree with the presence of a project manager who will have the “big picture” of the project, other ones claim that he is not needed. Key words: Scrum Project, Product Owner, Scrum Master, Developers, Product Backlog, Spring JEL Classification: D23, M12, M14
Introduction Project Management is a discipline of planning, organizing, leading, controlling and coordinating the Human and material resources along the project life cycle by using appropriate techniques so as to reach specific goals. A project meanwhile is a set of activities with limited resources that could be combined in an optimal way to achieve the objectives in order to meet the needs of the customers. Nowadays, we notice that several companies above all the ones which are specialized in Software Development projects and the big projects that have a real impacts on the customers, are likely to adopt a new way of doing as far as the organization of the human resources, the control processes, the allocation of resources, the requirements of the customers are concerned. This new way of proceeding is better known as the Scrum Project. Many definitions of this concept have been given but we have decided to focus on the definition given by Hirotaka TAKEUCHI and Ikujiro NONAKA in the “New new product development game” (Takeuchi & Nonaka 1986), which defines the Scrum project as “a flexible, holistic product development strategy where a development team works as a unit to reach a common goal.” In this