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Hi I am currently in a Scrum Team where the Scrum Master and Product Owner exclusively decide which stories a team will work on for a sprint.

They are also exclusively responsible for analysing the accuracy of estimations and measuring velocity.

I am in favour of giving this responsibility to the team but I would like some unbiased opinions on the approach, pros/cons etc.

vmg
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Kezza
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  • I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is not about a practical programming problem as defined in the [help]. – JasonMArcher Jul 05 '15 at 19:43
  • I'm happy with that, to be honest I wasn't sure if this was the place to post the question but couldn't find anywhere else... can I vote for my own post? – Kezza Jul 06 '15 at 10:47
  • You should check [Programmers.SE](http://programmers.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic). I think it would be on topic there but check their requirements first. – JasonMArcher Jul 06 '15 at 15:48
  • @JasonMArcher when referring other sites, it is often helpful to point that [cross-posting is frowned upon](http://meta.stackexchange.com/tags/cross-posting/info) – gnat Jul 06 '15 at 15:53
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    @Kezza this question could be on topic on Programmers, but it would not survive in it's current form, because as written it is [too opinion based](http://meta.programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/6483/why-was-my-question-closed-or-down-voted/6491#6491). I recommend deleting the question here, and in the new version use language more like "what problems could arise by giving the team responsibility?" and less like "I would like some unbiased opinions", as the former is answerable but the latter is a poll, which [is frowned upon.](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/57383/) – durron597 Jul 06 '15 at 15:58
  • @gnat This is about moving, not cross-posting. Cross-posting applies when the question is on-topic for more than one SE site. – JasonMArcher Jul 06 '15 at 16:36
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is not about programming. – Vadim Kotov Oct 25 '17 at 09:02

2 Answers2

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You sholud do it togehter as a Scrum Team. It's true that PO set business priorities but also there can be some technical blockers and dev team can support PO in that field. SM shouldn't make dacisions - his role is to support both, developers and PO to find best solution.

About velocity and estimations, that's is also part of SM work to help you identyfy your problems, ex with estimations and in general planing and analysing data helps here a lot to check if your estimations are ex too optymistic

Mateusz Szumełda
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I recommend a review of the scrum guide for a truly unbiased view. It's available from here : http://scrumguides.org/ The scrum guide is very clear on the separation of roles in the areas you've mentioned.

The product owner is responsible for the product backlog, including it's ordering.

The estimation of the items in the product backlog is the responsibility of the people doing the work (ie: the development team).

The selection for work to be taken in to a sprint is a collaboration between the product owner and the development team.

Velocity is a measure of the work completed in prior sprints. It doesn't need to be measured. It simply 'is'.

Derek Davidson PST CST
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  • Ah yes, Velocity just 'is' I get that, I suppose I meant monitoring/analysing or even just knowing as no one in the team actually knows the teams velocity from one sprint to the next. – Kezza Jul 02 '15 at 15:41