Beyond Protection

The Scrum Master is often described as a 'protector of the team'

"Protect them from internal and external distractions" says the Scrum Alliance

"Protect them from over committing themselves or from their own complacency:" ?Mike Cohn

"Protect from scope creep, disruptive PMs and management" says an Atlassian blogger, presumably with good intent.? (atlassian ?. ?com / agile/scrum/ scrum-master)

In a recent webinar, the 'protector' thing came up and the message chat took a turn which prompted me to ask "is there an enemy to protect from ?"

Yes, was one reply. ?"The enemy is external forces, stakeholders, other requirements from the Product Owner"

I left it there, avoiding a keyboard debate and thinking about whether 'protector of the team' is the right language at all.

Yes, there are forces which can distract and disrupt a team, forces which appear to be running counter to what the team is trying to achieve. ??But another way of looking at those forces is as the energy of the system, the hum of the machine doing its thing.?? ?

Step into a different perspective and those forces are just as valid as the team's.? Another perspective again, and the team in question could be seen as an 'enemy', resisting what someone else is trying to achieve. ??Multiply that across a company and all that crossfire isn't good.

Reframing Protection as Integration

Rather than protecting from forces that threaten, a more integrated approach could be better. How about a deliberate, default view that the team is an essential part of the whole rather than something that needs protection from it ?

If your foot has pain, you wouldn't try and protect yourself from it (although, granted - a painkiller tablet is a temporary version of doing that). ??But you would soon try and address the underlying cause to restore harmony within the entire body.?? A similar system-level awareness should apply to a Scrum team within an organisation. ??The team isn't a separate entity with a life of its own, it is a connected part fulfilling a particular function.

When a team encounters pressures, the Scrum Master’s role will often include shielding their team from the worst of that, but also must facilitate an understanding of these issues in the context of the broader environment. ???Like a localised pain, challenges in a Scrum team often signal a broader problem.

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Facilitating Collaboration, Not Isolation

Protectionism and isolationism go together.? We hear this in economists terms describing approaches to trade policy.?? If a Scrum Master focuses too much on shielding the team, there’s a risk of creating a new silo where the team becomes disconnected from the organisation’s goals and needs. ??

Don't overlook the needs, even if they aren't necessarily what you would choose to do personally. ???One mistake I made some time ago was to 'protect' the team from a messy and slow code review process; 3 months later whilst our code worked, we'd had no peer reviews and now there was a significant bridge building effort needed.

I remember a semi humorous Scrum Master advice video which showed a big intimidating ox of a man roaring down the corridor to quash a new requirement or something. The metaphor was pretty strong; crush the distraction.? Despite it not resonating much, it stuck in the mind as wrong - not just because of the physical dissimilarity, but I think instead of being a battle scarred protector of the team, a great Scrum Master would demonstrate a holistic approach.

A team facing constant interruptions or pressure to change priorities mid-sprint, is unlikely to be the only one experiencing it. ??This indicates something - anything from the need for better communication between two people, a portfolio adjustment, or a wholesale cultural change.

A great Scrum Master will call out these systemic issues and work with both the team and the relevant parts of theorganisation to find solutions that benefit everyone.

Facilitator of Integration

It's a mouthful of syllables, but mentally reframing the role of the Scrum Master from 'protector' to 'facilitator of integration' can lead to more effective, harmonious outcomes.

In the critical inspection of Agile in 2024 we're seeing that Scrum 'implementations' haven't always delivered what was expected, so that should sharpen our awareness even more against inadvertently building barriers between a team and the organisation in which it lives.?

Explore the underlying needs.?? Ask, what is going on for the system (or this person) that's creating this apparent need for interruption, late change, attention etc.? It'll take some digging but there lie the root causes.

Think of ways to actively demonstrate that the Scrum team is an integral part of the system.

Sprint Reviews are an obvious one; build meaningful harmonious relationships with stakeholders there.? It doesn't always happen; too often they come, spectate and leave.??

Extending the invitation to refinement conversations can be a useful, often overlooked opportunity.? Openly and demonstrably use the organisations OKRs in the team.?

Use or start communities of practice, share learning and share stories.

Scrum Masters can show they are protecting both the team and the organisation's shared goals rather than only protecting? the team.?? That needn't exclude asking to respect focus time, to be patient for attention, ignoring systemic noise and using policies for incoming work;? many of the things a great Scrum Master will 'protect' the team from anyway, but it may help stop the foundations of new silo walls being laid.