Many organisations today are implementing agile practices to deliver projects successfully. Many roles function to deliver product value. Organisations that implement agile practices often compare an advanced Scrum Master who has completed SASM certification and a SAFe Agilist in terms of generating business ROI. They are two key roles that make the teams function effectively and deliver value. While both are essential for successful product development using agile practices, they handle unique responsibilities. The current article highlights the key differences between the roles and the role that generates better ROI for the organisation.
Difference Between SAFe Scrum Master and SAFe Agilist
The SAFe Agilist aims at scaling agile practices at the organisational level, whereas a scrum master takes the responsibility of facilitating agile development at the team level.
An SAFe Agilist will have a deeper understanding of the Scaled Agile Framework, and a Scrum Master will focus on implementing it at the team level.
SAFe Agilists act as change agents in the organisation and guide leadership teams through agile transition. They are responsible for creating an organisational environment that fosters continuous improvement and adaptability. The SAFe scrum master is responsible for handling impediments at the team level.
SAFe Agilists are facilitators of ART and look after the team’s activities in these ARTs and ensure proper alignment with organisational goals. The scrum master will serve as a guardian for Scrum values. They foster a culture of collaboration at the team level.
SAFe Agilist provides training to the scrum masters and other agile roles in the organisations so that they can execute their responsibilities effectively. Scrum masters, on the other hand, embrace servant leadership and serve the needs of the team to help them achieve their goals.
ROI of SAFe Advanced Scrum Master
The advanced scrum master generates return on investment for the organisation by improving the team’s performance. The role of Scrum does not generate revenue for the organisation directly, but it creates quantitative business value by improving the team’s performance. They facilitate successful scrum events and remove blocks at the team level to deliver faster value to the market. The advanced scrum masters play a key role in proactively identifying risks and resolving them. The SAFe scrum master will also improve product quality through continuous improvement and collaboration. They also contribute to the ROI of the organisation by managing the risks and enhancing employee engagement.
ROI of SAFe Agilist for the Organisation
A SAFe agilist generates ROI for the business by aligning business strategy with execution. The influence of SAFe Agile spreads beyond the team level and impacts the entire organisation. The SAFe Agilist establishes effective coordination across multiple teams and ensures faster time to market by managing delays. The Agilist ensures that development efforts by multiple teams are aligned with business goals and customer needs, increasing the return on strategic investments. They ensure effective allocation of resources and utilise the organisational budgets effectively. The agilist also improves ROI for the business through enhanced collaboration and improved decision-making. They implement standardised agile practices in the organisation and help the teams work productively to improve return on investment for the organisation.
Who should you choose?
Both job roles, advanced SAFe scrum master and SAFe Agilist, play an important role in generating ROI for the business. No job role is superior to the other in generating return on investment. However, your choice between SAFe Agilist and Advanced SAFe Scrum Master depends on the unique circumstances of the business.
Advanced SAFe Scrum Master
Few Scrum Teams
The advanced SAFe scrum master is an ideal choice for teams. If the organisation is in the early or mid level of agile adoption, an advanced scrum master will be a good choice to improve the ROI of the business. The objective of your organisation right now is not to scale agile practices at the organisational level but to build a quality product using an agile approach. The scrum master enhances the needed collaboration and improves delivery practices among the team members before scaling agile transformation.
Improve Delivery Quality
The scrum master is a great choice if you want to focus on improving the delivery quality of the product. The scrum master can help the business reduce defects and improve sprint predictability to build a product that meets customer requirements. The SAFe scrum master will improve the ROI of the business by reducing operational costs.
Team Coaching
The scrum master will be a choice for the business when your team needs coaching to adopt scrum practices.
SAFe Agilist
Manage Dozens of Agile Teams
Businesses can consider SAFe Agilist to improve ROI when the organisations have multiple teams. The SAFe Agilist can coordinate these teams effectively by implementing SAFe. The framework helps the leaders collaborate across multiple teams and drive them towards common objectives while aligning with the organisational goals.
Need Alignment across Multiple Departments
The SAFe Agilist can be a good choice when your business needs alignment between multiple departments to deliver customer value. These leaders will keep the teams across multiple departments synchronised throughout the product development cycle.
Conclusion
Both the advanced SAFe scrum master and SAFe agilist generate ROI for the business at different levels. The SAFe scrum master improves the ROI of the business by improving the team’s performance, whereas the SAFe agileist does the job at the enterprise level by aligning business strategy and execution and coordinating multiple agile teams.
