Hi Jonathan,

Thank you for your feedback. “ScrumMaster” is the traditional spelling of the term, which you can find in the early Scrum literature. “Scrum Master” is a more recent spelling adopted by the Scrum Guide from 2011 onwards. The initial version of this article used the old spelling. But encouraged by your feedback, I have now updated the spelling in the text.

Hope this helps!

Roman –

In your article, you used the term “ScrumMaster”, while in the users question and your response, you use “Scrum Master”. After some research, it seems there is massive confusion within the industry. I would love to hear your take on the proper usage, as it is specifically an issue when drafting a copy of one’s resume in an ATS world. Might your candidacy be excluded if you use the proper terminology? Are the HR resources configuring matching algorithms in ATS aware of the distinction?

Hi Iyonia,

Thanks for sharing your question. While I find it helpful for Scrum Masters to understand the product vision and strategy, what’s more important in my mind is that a) a validated product strategy exists, b) the product owner regularly reviews and developed the strategy, and c) that the stakeholders and dev team support the strategy and are involved in progressing it. If there is no vision or strategy, then I recommend discussing this issue with the product owner.

Hope this helps!

The dev team is helping me to catch up on what they’re working on, but that’s the POs job, correct? The PO is sort of new too and maybe doesn’t have a lot info?

Thanks.

Thank you for your feedback. How to best strengthen the relationship depends on the individuals. The key is to regularly connect IMO, for example, by having coffee or lunch together. If you find it hard to deal with your ScrumMaster, then you may want to take a look at my article Dealing with Difficult Stakeholders and Team Members. Hope this helps!

Thanks for your feedback and sharing the infographic Darren.

http://thenakedscrummaster.com/product-owner-versus-scrummaster/

I find it generally helpful when a ScrumMaster has some technical understanding. But the specific skills required depend a lot on the people and organisation the ScrumMaster works with.