Scrum Roles Explained: Product Owner, Scrum Master and Development Team
Scrum is the most widely used framework for Agile software development. Its strength comes from a small set of clear responsibilities: who decides what to build, who protects the way of working, and who builds the product.
This guide explains the three Scrum roles as defined in the Scrum Guide (the product owner, the Scrum master and the developers), how they work together, and what this means for you as a client of a custom software project.
The Scrum team at a glance
A Scrum team is a small, self-managing and cross-functional unit with one goal at a time: the product goal. The Scrum Guide recommends teams of typically 10 people or fewer. There is no hierarchy inside the team; each role carries distinct accountabilities.
| Role | Accountable for | Key question |
|---|---|---|
| Product owner | Maximizing the value of the product and managing the product backlog | What should we build next, and why? |
| Scrum master | The effectiveness of the Scrum team and the correct use of Scrum | How can the team work better? |
| Developers | Creating a usable, quality increment every sprint | How do we build it well? |
The product owner
The product owner represents the business and the users. This is one person, not a committee, even if they gather input from many stakeholders.
Main responsibilities:
- Define and communicate the product goal.
- Create, order and clarify the items of the product backlog.
- Make sure the backlog is transparent and understood by the team.
- Accept or reject the work delivered at the sprint review.
- Arbitrate priorities between stakeholders.
In a client–vendor project, the product owner is often on the client side, or shared: a business owner at the client works closely with a product owner or analyst at the development company.
The Scrum master
The Scrum master is a servant leader. They do not manage the team’s tasks; they make sure the framework helps the team deliver.
Main responsibilities:
- Coach the team in self-management and cross-functionality.
- Make sure Scrum events take place, are productive and stay within their timebox.
- Remove impediments that slow the team down.
- Help the product owner with backlog management techniques.
- Help the wider organization understand and adopt Scrum.
The developers (development team)
“Developers” in Scrum means everyone who builds the increment, not only programmers: front-end and back-end developers, testers, designers, DevOps engineers or data specialists.
Main responsibilities:
- Create the sprint backlog and plan the work of the sprint.
- Build features that meet the definition of done.
- Ensure quality through unit tests, code reviews and automated pipelines.
- Adapt their plan every day at the daily Scrum.
- Hold each other accountable as professionals.
How the roles work together during a sprint
- Sprint planning: the product owner presents priorities; developers choose what they can deliver and how.
- Daily Scrum: developers inspect progress and adjust their plan; the Scrum master makes sure it happens.
- Sprint review: the team demonstrates the increment; the product owner and stakeholders give feedback and update the backlog.
- Sprint retrospective: the whole team looks at how it worked and chooses improvements.
To see how these events fit with other approaches, read our comparison of Agile vs Waterfall, or the fundamentals in Understanding Agile development.
Common mistakes with Scrum roles
- A product owner with no authority. If every decision needs a committee, sprints stall.
- A Scrum master acting as project manager. Assigning tasks undermines self-management.
- Splitting the team by specialty. Separate “dev” and “test” teams recreate hand-offs and delays.
- An absent client. Skipping sprint reviews removes the feedback loop that makes Scrum work.
Your role as a client in a Scrum project
When you outsource a custom software project run with Scrum, expect to:
- Name a decision-maker who can act as, or work closely with, the product owner.
- Attend sprint reviews to see working software and give feedback.
- Help prioritize the backlog when new needs appear.
- Validate releases during acceptance testing.
In return, you get regular demos, full visibility on progress and the ability to change priorities without restarting the project. Our Agile Scrum development methodology shows how we organize roles, meetings and the 10 stages of each sprint.
Frequently asked questions
What are the 3 Scrum roles?
The product owner, the Scrum master and the developers. Together they form the Scrum team.
Is the Scrum master a project manager?
No. The Scrum master coaches the team and removes impediments but does not assign tasks. Planning the work is the developers’ responsibility.
Can one person be both product owner and Scrum master?
It is discouraged. The product owner pushes for value and scope, while the Scrum master protects the team’s way of working. Combining both creates a conflict of interest.
Where is the project manager in Scrum?
Scrum does not define a project manager role. Traditional project management tasks are distributed between the product owner, the Scrum master and the developers.
Want a team that already works this way? Euro Tech Conseil, a Paris-based software development company since 2000, provides Agile software development services with an experienced Scrum team. Contact our team to discuss your project.