Should the BI Scrum Master report to the team or the PMO?

In most enterprise organizations where do the Scrum Masters report? Project Management Office (PMO) or within the same management structure as the developers?

If the organization is new to agile and has a PMO, then you might do better working from there.  If the organization has been practicing agile for awhile, then follow their protocol.  That said, there are pros and cons of each.

Scrum Master (SM) in the Project Management Office (PMO):

– Pro: If the organization is new to agile and you are one of the first SMs in the organization, then you may be able to do a better job at removing impediments organization-wide if you’re in the PMO. (see the “con” for SM in the Team, below).

– Pro: If the organization is NOT new to agile and has an established practice of having the SMs report to the PMO, then it could be good to be a part of that “community of practice” and work with other SMs to remove organizational impediments for all teams.

– Con: If the organization is new to agile and the PMO is not convinced, you might get more wrapped up in convincing them and dealing with the overhead of that organization… meanwhile missing the opportunity to be effective for the team (your number one priority).

– Con: You’ll could find yourself further from the heart of the team and over time could lose touch with what’s really going on with them.  Where will you sit – with the team or with the PMO?  If you reported to the PMO but sat with the team it might not be so bad…

Scrum Master (SM) in the Team:

– Pro: You’ll continue to be a member of that team and be driven by the same management guidance and metrics as the team, which keeps you aligned well with them.

– Con: If you’re not in the PMO and the PMO itself provides impediments to the team (e.g. requesting Gantt charts and milestone commitments, etc.), then it’s harder to remove them from outside the PMO.  Being in the PMO might give you more influence over that organization as a whole.