The Deviant Scrum Master
As a consultant for organizations trying to increase their agility, I often have to explain the importance and role of the Scrum Master. My standard go to source has always been the Scrum Guide (scrum.org) and articles by thought leaders in this space. I propose that we add “Deviant” to the library of roles for the Scrum Master.
This is based on the work by Richard Hackman, Organizational Psychology Professor at Harvard (author of Leading Teams) and my own experience observing great teams and scrum masters.
What is a Deviant ?
Hackman in his research found that great teams stay great by avoiding complacency/homogeneity. And the best way to do that is to have an official deviant (“Deviants are the individuals who are willing to say the thing that nobody else is willing to articulate.”)
In the interview published on HBR (https://hbr.org/2009/05/why-teams-dont-work), Hackman compared average and teams that innovate and found that the team that performed above average always had deviants in the team. The deviant questions status quo, and challenges the team and the organization to experiment and be better i.e. avoid complacency
What does a Scrum Masters role have to do with being Deviant?
While reading this, I immediately reflected on the great Scrum Masters I have observed and how the teams and organizations operated . And in all my recollections I could cite behaviours from someone in the team that played the role of the deviant.
I see the Scrum Master as a natural fit for this role because of the need for psychological safety for someone playing this role. Ideally an organization has created a safe space for teams to experiment and challenge current state. In reality many organizations want to support high performing teams but have not yet enabled a safe environment for the teams.
This is where a Scrum Master comes in; as more often that not they support teams and organizations through their journey of agility — Agile Transformation. Cutting across all the confusion that surrounds the interpretation of what a Scrum master does — organizations tend to tolerate a higher degree of upending from a Scrum master. As change consultants or coaches for organizations, they are more empowered (compared to other employees) to speak to and initiate change.
Scrum Masters serve the organization by causing change for the better (infered from Scrum Guide). Scrum masters question the current way of working in an organization and lead them to state of higher agility. Scrum Masters are officially acknowledged Deviants.
What does that mean for me as a leader?
If you are looking to hire a Scrum Master from inside or outside the organization, then I would recommend interview them for the deviancy they have caused, the tension they created and resolved, the change they bought in. Dont focus too much on “what is velocity” kind of questions — anyone can memorize them. Look for deviancy.
If you are looking to see how well a change initiative / agile transformation is progression — look out for how well a Scrum Master is empowered (sometimes it is just tolerated unfortunately) to change status quo. Who is supporting the scrum master in raising hell, Who is not.
If you are a team member, look to the changes/ experiments that are part of your backlog and if your Scrum master is encouraging them.
Look to see if you have other deviants in your organization that will support/lead the change.
Does a Deviant have to be a Scrum Master?
Definitely not… The deviant behavior is not exclusive to a scrum master. Great teams have more than one deviant in a team. The reason for suggesting the boxing of the scrum master role is that if you are most organizations then you are still experimenting with agility and are in need of psychological safety to conduct fail safe change experiments. Scrum Masters are the closest to that role in the conventional sense.
If you are not a Scrum master and are already a team that is inclined to experimenting and challenging status-quo then quite possibly you don’t need a scrum master — all the power to you — you already have a deviant in the team…
Happy Deviancy !!!
