Aren't scrum masters usually individual contributors on the team as well?
End of the day, we fill the client's need, as efficiently as we can without letting them run wild in expectations and keeping cost in line with budget: it's common sense and I dont get what the agile religions bring really. Turn idiots into mediocre people, maybe ?
ScrumMaster = NULL;
I can understand why the idea of hiring someone to handle that role would be appealing, but it really isn't a full-time job.
Plus, the last thing that BigCo engineering teams need is more politics; they have more than enough of that between the overlapping layers of engineering, project, and product managers.
That said, I've never actually seen it in practice.
At best, it has been a role someone in product takes on so they can act as a shit shield from above and let us know if there is something urgent, but otherwise stays out of the way.
At worst, it is a frivolous salary that takes the book-keeping notes from stand-ups and puts them in a report noone reads.