I think you're reading into the answer a little too much. The role of a scrum master is really to shepherd the work through, not micro manage. In software, a

I think you're reading into the answer a little too much. The role of a scrum master is really to shepherd the work through, not micro manage. In software, a manager's job is to help plan work and shield the team. It is critical that they can do this diplomatically with their peers. Planning involves career guidance, budgets, meetings. If you don't have someone doing those functions properly, the dev team is inundated with distractions. Scary-smart is buzzwordy and really isn't needed for a team doing CRUD apps of some kind. You need self-sufficient competent people not some "rock star" or "scary smart" person. There's a reason why stereo-types are there indicating those types are hard to work with.