Often in my classes, I’m asked for a clear comparison between the various traditional roles and the new roles in Scrum. Here is a high level summary of some of the key responsibilities and activities that help highlight some important differences between these four roles:

ScrumMaster	Product Owner	Project Manager	Team Lead
NEVER	NEVER	Assign Tasks	YES
NO	PARTICIPATES	Create Schedule	NO
NO	YES	Manage Budget	NO
Remove Obstacles	PARTICIPATES	YES	YES
NO	Define Business Requirements	PARTICIPATES	NO
NO	YES (Deliveries)	Define Milestones	NO
Facilitate Meetings	NO	YES	YES
YES (process and people)	YES (business)	Risk Management	PARTICIPATES
Organizational Change Agent	NO	NO	NO
NO	Accountable for Business Results	RARELY (just costs)	NO

Of course, there are many other ways we could compare these four roles. What would you like me to add to this list? Add a comment with a question or a suggestion and I will update the table appropriately!