Project managers often assume one of the following roles, which incorporate some of the same responsibilities they’re used to: ScrumMaster, product owner or team member.
Scrum projects eliminate the role of the project manager, but that doesn’t mean a team can get rid of the work and responsibilities of that role. Since self-organizing teams are at the core of Scrum, a great deal of the responsibility previously shouldered by the project manager is transferred to the Scrum team.
Without a project manager to assign tasks to individuals, team members assume the responsibility of selecting tasks themselves. Additional responsibilities shift to the ScrumMaster or product owner.
Project managers usually find a role in Scrum they enjoy. For example, those who became project managers but miss the technical challenge of working as a programmer, tester, database engineer, designer, analyst, architect and so on, often find the role of a team member to be more satisfying.
Project managers who are very knowledgeable about the business and its customers typically go for the product owner role. In fact, this can be an excellent fit for those who have a hard time completely relinquishing the ability to tell the team what to do.
On the other hand, if a project manager can overcome old habits of directing the team and making decisions for it, the ScrumMaster would be an excellent agile role. This is the most common new role for project managers in organizations adopting Scrum.
