Soft skills in scrum teams: A survey of the most valued to have by product owners and scrum masters

Abstract

Software development requires professionals with knowledge and experience on many different methodologies, tools, and techniques. However, the so-called soft skills, such as interpersonal skills, teamwork, problem solving and customer orientation to name just a few, are as important as, or even more important than, traditional qualifications and technical skills. Members of scrum teams, particularly the ones performing the roles of Product Owner and Scrum Master, are not exempt of having these kind of skills because of the distinctive duties and responsibilities of these roles in a Scrum team. In this paper we report a field study in which we interviewed 25 experienced Scrum practitioners from software companies in Uruguay to know their points of view about what are the soft skills they consider the most valued to have by the Product Owner and the Scrum Master of a Scrum team. As a result, Communication skills, Customer orientation, and Teamwork appear as the most valued soft skills Product Owner should have, while Commitment, Communication skills, Interpersonal skills, Planning skills, and Teamwork are considered the most valued ones for the Scrum Master.