top of page
Search

Why the word 'roles' used for Scrum Team has been changed to 'accountabilities' in the scrum guide?

Updated: Jul 30

So, with the update to the Scrum Guide in 2020, the term 'roles' has been replaced with 'accountability' for the members of the Scrum team. As the adoption of scrum increases globally, so does the chances of words and terms often being misinterpreted or misunderstood.


Case in point, a lot of companies around the world now use the term 'Scrum Master' to define job titles. Job titles have a habit of extending the role beyond the responsibilities mentioned in the Scrum Guide, e.g. sending updates about Scrum team performance to senior management. This is not a responsibility of the scrum master, although this might be delegated to him/her by the organization. In the light of such extensions and sometimes outright misinterpretations, the switch from 'roles' to 'accountabilities' has been made. It's also essential to understand the meaning of the term role. Just a quick google search brings up this definition of the word role, "the function assumed or part played by a person or thing in a particular situation". It's evident from this definition that roles have a temporary nature, akin to someone acting out the role when required. Therefore, it's not necessary that you'll be always playing that role.


Another quick search online will reveal the definition of the term accountability, which is an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility for one's actions. Going by the definition, in the most minimalistic sense, the scrum master's or the product owner's defined accountabilities make him/her responsible for actions outlined in the scrum guide and those actions only. However, organizations can choose to freely extend the responsibilities associated with these roles to other tasks as long as it does not contradict or undermine the core accountability defined in the guide. You can still refer to them as 'roles' if you like. Just remember that these are roles with specific accountabilities.


Interested in becoming a Scrum Master or Product Owner? Join our "Crack the Professional Scrum Master/Product Owner Training in 4 hours". Get an obligation free quote here.


About the Author

Rohit Gupta is a PMP and PRINCE2 certified project management trainer with 15+ years of experience training a global audience of more than 50,000 candidates.


He has helped over 500 professionals get their PMP applications approved and mentored 300+ candidates to earn their PMP certifications. As a lead coach at CareerSprints, Rohit continues to guide project managers with personalized, real-world preparation strategies.


Rohit is recommended by many PMP exam candidates for his ability to guide them through the PMP application process and for his personalized, structured coaching style that helps them achieve certification success.


He also holds other prestigious and in-demand certifications such as ITIL expert, Scrum Master Certification, FCAS certification and DevOps Foundation Certification.



 
 
 

Comments

bottom of page