Stakeholders but in Scrum Teams

Some time ago I shared my thoughts on why it is more important to ENGAGE your stakeholder rather than to MANAGE them.

Okay, but what about SCRUM TEAMS?

And what about those situations where "road to hell is paved with good intentions"? (BTW do you also hear Madonna singing this line?)

I have coached many teams and many stakeholders, now let's make a bridge between the two. What can go wrong?

Overcommitment and Delivery Shortfalls:

Occurrence: Teams commit to completing more work than they can realistically achieve within a Sprint, leading to unmet stakeholder expectations.

Stakeholder Perspective: Stakeholders rely on the Scrum team's commitments to plan their activities and set expectations for clients and supervisors. Overpromising and underdelivering disrupts these plans, eroding trust and reliability. Stakeholders may face negative repercussions, potentially impacting their careers due to dependencies on other teams for delivery. The responsibility for failure often falls on them.

What to do: Conduct a comprehensive review of the team's capacity and delivery capabilities to enhance future planning. While precise forecasts aren't expected, stakeholders anticipate reasonable confidence in projections. Transparent discussions with stakeholders about achievable goals considering current resources, skills, and potential obstacles foster trust through realistic planning.

Ignoring Stakeholder Feedback:

Occurrence: Scrum teams neglect to incorporate or address feedback provided by stakeholders during or after Sprint Reviews.

Stakeholder Perspective: Stakeholders offer feedback based on expertise, experience, and understanding of customer needs. Ignoring this input can lead to misaligned outcomes, reducing the perceived value of the team's work.

What to do: Establish a feedback loop mechanism to capture, evaluate, and address stakeholder feedback. Transparent communication about feedback incorporation or reasons for non-implementation maintains mutual respect and understanding.

Neglecting Non-Technical Stakeholders:

Occurrence: Scrum Teams prioritize technical aspects and overlook engagement with stakeholders regarding business or user experience matters.

Stakeholder Perspective: All stakeholders, regardless of technical expertise, are invested in the project's success. Neglecting non-technical stakeholders can result in a lack of support and buy-in, as they may feel their contributions or concerns are disregarded. This perceived dismissal could diminish long-term support for the team, potentially leading to opposition.

What do to: Conduct educational sessions for non-technical stakeholders to clarify the development process and encourage their meaningful involvement. Additionally, adapt communication and updates to be inclusive and understandable, ensuring all stakeholders can effectively engage with the team and its endeavors. Furthermore, it's vital for the Scrum team to comprehend their stakeholder landscape, understanding who to engage with and to what extent to ensure the team's future success.

Misaligned Priorities:

Occurrence: Scrum teams base their task prioritization on internal perceptions rather than considering stakeholder or business value, resulting in outcomes that are not aligned with organizational goals.

Stakeholder Perspective: Stakeholders anticipate the team to prioritize tasks that deliver the highest business and customer value. When priorities diverge, it indicates a disconnect between the team's actions and the broader organizational objectives, causing frustration and doubts about the team's strategic alignment. Furthermore, this misalignment can lead to decreased support for the Scrum team, potentially resulting in funding cuts.

What to do: Initiate a priority alignment workshop involving key stakeholders to comprehend their vision, goals, and expectations. Utilize this insight to shape the Scrum team's Product Goal, Product Backlog, and subsequent Sprint Planning sessions, ensuring that the team's efforts directly contribute to strategic objectives. Effective supportive tools for this purpose include visualization tools such as the Product Strategy Canvas, the Business Model Canvas, or the Product Goal Canvas.

Will all of your problems be solved if you engage your stakeholders enough?

Most probably not.

But you will feel better about them (both stakeholders and problems).

#agilecoach #scrum #projectmanagement #leadershipcoaching