TOPIC: Exam Question: Project Manager Role on Agile

Whats the Role of the Project Manager, From my experience I know that could be many: Product Manager, Product Owner, Scrum Master, still Project Manager, etc. But In case, the question comes into the exam, whats the expected answer (PMI answer).

Project Manager is not listed in the roles of Scrum. But I would guess he is more like a Scrum Master.

Hi Erick,

Good question, and one I've actually heard quite a few people ask me in person. In Agile there is no "Project Manager" role. If someone does refer to a Project Manager in Scrum / Agile then they're likely not familiar with the terminology and are referring to the Scrum Master as Harold mentioned. I would personally treat "Project Manager" as the Scrum Master for exam questions unless one of the options is to state that there is no such role in Agile.

Beyond the scope of your question, however, when an organization moves towards Agile from Waterfall then usually existing Project Managers either become Scrum Masters or coaches.

Hope that helps!

I have got many questions in the exam mentioning Project Manager. I have just dealt with them as per XP definition for communicating with external stockholders and as a Scrum Master (Coach) for questions that have nothing to do with stockholders or communication.

I have passed the exam

Hello,
Just curious What materials did you use to pass the exam ?

Hi Harold,

Do mean to pass the PMP exam? You must use the PMBOK (read 2 or 3 times and note key concepts and the process). The PMP is a must, 80% of the questions comes from it. You can also purchase the bundle of Cornelius material including the simulator which is very helpful. Cornelius is promoter of this forum and a great coach with his team. Also go through Rita Macauley book which pains many concepts with practical situation. The 175 questions of Oliver and 250 questions of shiv (who has a very blog) are also recommended. Last but the least from my experience take the full exam of simplilearn.

Do not hesitate to contact me or any of the moderators of this forum. Hurry up please the exam is changing from Jan 11, 2016.
Good luck.
Lazard

Hello,

Practically, if you use Scrum, there is no Project Manager titled person. Now if you talk about the "function" that a Project Manager does, that is does collectively as a team.

Principle 11 is Self Organizing and Self Managing teams - This is a major function of the project manager to manage. Sprint Planning is done with the involvement of everyone on the team. We have the Product Owner, who gives the Requirements which is managed using a Product Backlog. The Scrum Master is also the agile coach and he works with the Product Owner and the Team to ensure that any internal risks are mitigated and he protects the team from any distractions from external sources. Daily stands up and done and everyone is involved so risks are brought to the fore, discussed and everyone in the team is aware of the mitigation techniques that would be used so those who have done PMP know that 90% of the time of the Project Manager is spent in communication. So that is also a function of PM which is done collectively.

So if one is using Scrum then the function of a traditional project manager is done collectively by the team. Then again, the ideal scrum team should be between 5 to 9 people.

Cheers !!!
Elijah Nagawkar PMP, PMI-ACP, ITSM, OCP