Copping Mechanisms for this Scrum Master

Being a scrum master is hard.

Being a scrum master is living a life of servant leadership.  It requires others to follow your direction without having any authority over them.  It requires the patience of Job and the wisdom of Saul.  It is long hours and emotionally taxing.  This week on the blog I want to discuss some of the emotional coping mechanisms I use.

Dealing with Sleep –

Agile teams work anywhere in the world, and if you are a large corporation, any software solution requires an off-shore team.  Development teams are located in India, Northern Ireland, and Russia.  All of these places are numerous time zones away which means to communicate with them you need to be up early in the morning or stay up late.

I have decided to take the early morning route.  My day begins at six and ends at three in the afternoon.  I am usually in bed by 8:30 PM and the process starts over the next day.  This time shifting allows me to deal with the off-shore teams.  It also grants me two hours of “me” time to do administrative work and writing before others get into the office.

Working with Others – 

Servant leadership requires mental toughness because you work with messy people; individuals who don’t follow instructions or won’t take coaching.  Each day, I am forced to work with these messy people.  It is the most difficult part of my job because I am accountable for these individuals.

Lately, I have punted in this responsibility leaning on my human resources professionals and upper management to deal with these situations.  I go about my day attempting to serve as an example to others and trying to be kind.  Sometimes, it is all you can do.

Unwinding –

The hardest part about working in technology is that your mind is always attempting to solve problems.  You may be out of the office, but your mind is still wrapping around that gnarly data issue holding up the project.  You are attending a family function, but mentally you are back at the office.

It is why weekends are so important to me.  I do not respond to mail from the office or offshore. I try to enjoy lighter activities.  Finally, I avoid my computer for a full day.  This little bit of unplugging goes a long way.

So these are some of the strategies I have to deal with the emotional stress of being a scrum master.  I would like to learn some of your techniques.

Until next time.