The city housing-voucher program considers cutting the Scrum Master and letting the Product Owner run standups and retrospectives. Why is that a poor substitute?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
The Product Owner already has a full-time job: what voucher work is worth doing. The Team Coach's job is how the team works together. Combining those hats looks cheap and usually starves coaching.
Full Explanation
Product Owner accountability is content leadership of the housing-voucher backlog, while the Scrum Master / Team Coach is accountable for coaching, facilitation, and growing self-management. Letting the PO run team syncs and retrospectives as a cost cut collapses those roles and typically weakens both. Team events are not RTE-owned train events, and swapping backlog authorship onto the SM is the same collapse in reverse. Dedicated coaching focus is why the role exists.