The Scrum Team and its Accountabilities
One team, three accountabilities
The Scrum Team is a single small team of 10 or fewer people, cross-functional (it collectively has the skills to create value every Sprint) and self-managing (it decides internally who does what, when and how). There are no sub-teams and no hierarchies within it. The three accountabilities - Product Owner, Scrum Master, Developers - are not three separate teams.
Product Owner is accountable for maximizing product value and for effective Product Backlog management: ordering, clarity and transparency. The Product Owner is one person, never a committee, and may delegate work while remaining accountable. The Product Owner does not dictate the how.
Scrum Master is accountable for the Scrum Team's effectiveness: establishing Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide, coaching the team and the wider organization, facilitating events where useful, removing impediments and causing change. The Scrum Master is not a project manager, team lead, or scrum police.
Developers are accountable for creating a usable Increment each Sprint, for the Sprint Backlog, and for quality through the Definition of Done.
Traps
- "Cross-functional" means the team has the skills collectively - not that every person can do every job.
- "Self-managing" covers how the team organises its own work; it does not remove organizational constraints or accountability for the Increment.
- The Product Owner is not required at the Daily Scrum; if working on Sprint Backlog items, they participate as Developers.
- A Scrum Master who assigns tasks has slipped into a management role the framework does not define.
- "The team decided" is not an answer when the question asks who is accountable.
Rule of thumb
Ask who is the single accountable person? - one person maximizes value, one accountable for effectiveness, and the Developers as a group accountable for the Increment.