Is there a role for the project manager in Agile? Is so what is it? Or is the role defunct and everyone should be a Scrum Master?
As we move away from project manager-led projects and shift to team-focused leadership with the aim of empowering the whole team with the responsibility for creating products or services in lean and agile transformed organizations; the question often gets asked "but what about the Project Manager".
Well, good news ... the certified PM is a highly skilled knowledge worker capable of adding value in the lean and agile world and in a competitive business climate, all available brainpower must be present to enable the organization to achieve enterprise agility and scale to meet customer, compliance, financial markets, internal opportunities, and competitive demands. The training and knowledge received through the rigorous PM education program positions the PM to participate effectively in enterprise agile organizations.
However, the traditional role does change and requires the PM to change and take on additional challenges - this is not trivial nor simple, and PM transformation into the new paradigm of agility needs to be supported, to enable the PM to learn and grow into the role perhaps even through trial and error.
Simple answer : NO.
Formally, Scrum defines three roles: product owner, ScrumMaster, and development team. So, there is no specific role called project manager when using Scrum.
Below the core project management responsibilities (as defined by the Project Management Institute (PMI)) are mapped against the various Scrum roles and other managers. While a "project manager" role no longer exists in a Scrum environment, the core responsibilities of a project manager do exist (e.g., someone has to have responsibility for dates, scope, budget, etc.).
As highlighted in the above table a project manager might assume any of the three Scrum roles, depending on that person’s skills and desire. Many project managers make excellent ScrumMasters, if they can forgo command-and-control management tendencies.
A PM deployed in a Scrum-only environment limits the PM to the choices to participate as the product owner or as a ScrumMaster. The product owner and ScrumMaster roles are essential for teams to have prioritized work and experience continual improvement.
A common misconception is that the Scrum Master is really just the “agile project manager” or a project manager with a different title- that is NOT the case and should not be assumed. Agile project manager - is really a term to define to the process that occurs OUTSIDE of Scrum/Kanban and is more aligned with traditional project management than Agile. Again, tho' the term Agile is use to differentiated from Project Management Command Control to a Servant Leader approach to project management.
Scrum Master is a defined role, with defined responsibilities.
Simple answer: Depends.
The agile program manager is something completely different and is mainly used and defined when talking about Scaled Agile - that is Agile for the enterprise - the tools, techniques, and roles in place in a corporate portfolio, programme, and development paradigm
Here we see that the PM knowledge and skills can be used in multiple ways to serve the enterprise. The SAFe model provides the best opportunity for the PM to use skills obtained from PM training. The enterprise focus of SAFe provides the PM with a landscape to operate within the strategic, leading, and lagging PM roles.
Project managers have important and necessary skills, and in a an Agile environment, the requirement for the skill and expertise does not disappear. However, project managers (and program) need to decided and understand where they are working within the enterprise and what "hat" they should be wearing.
If they work inside the scrum, they need to take on the one of the 3 defined role - and dedicate the correct and necessary time to that role and abide by the framework.
If they are working outside the scrum - on program / project level initiatives, they will perhaps utilise more of the "traditional project management" style
In all both aspects a project manager is expected to lead by influence without authority and in this lean and agile world, the PM must become a servant leader. The transformation into a servant leader is difficult when previous experience has been a command-and-control model. The realization of becoming an agile PM provides a value that enables continual learning and improvement to members in the organization.
If a project manager is doing multiple roles - this becomes a more complex ask.