Scrum Master Burnout – It’s Real, I’m Tired, So Let’s Talk - Because the Conversation is the Point
Photo by David Wirzba on Unsplash

Scrum Master Burnout – It’s Real, I’m Tired, So Let’s Talk - Because the Conversation is the Point

The point is that the conversation takes place and it’s a safe conversation to have. – Aaron Bjork, The Age of Agile by Stephen Denning

I love being a Scrum Master, and I hope it shows in the quality of my work and my dedication to teams. Nonetheless, I have struggled with Scrum Master burnout. Luckily, I am with a great employer and with open dialogue, empathy and commitment to our future together – we have been able to identify the symptoms and implement strategies for our success.

Burnout, according to Psychology Today, is a state of emotional, mental, and often physical exhaustion brought on by prolonged or repeated stress. When I google ‘burnout”, 60 million results are returned. That makes sense because 51% of workers have felt burned out at least once. Googling “Scrum Master Burnout” with quotes returned a mere SIX results.

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I should consult our most veteran Scrum Masters for their keen insights into this problem. Personally, I have less than five years experience, and I am in good company. According to the Scrum.org Scrum Master Trends Report, 78% of participants have less than five years of experience and 35% less than two. Of course, as agile transformations increase, the open roles for Scrum Masters increase and the workforce transitions to fill those roles. Thus, the onset of many new agile transformations equates to many new Scrum Masters. Okay, but where are the veteran Scrum Masters?

Mountain Goat Software (Mike Cohn) discusses the emerging career paths for Scrum Masters and notes that the skills learned in becoming a great Scrum Master will serve that person well. Huzzah! I always appreciate Mike Cohn and often think back to my original Scrum class and his wise words about the necessary skills of a Scrum Master. I still remember a poster that had various cartoons representing all the characters that a Scrum Master might play just before I serve as a wizardly gate keeper and say “None shall pass” to protect my team.

To Mike Cohn’s point – it takes years to hone the craft of a Scrum Master and acquire the experiences that guide us in working with teams. Through acquired experiences (often in tandem with failures), Scrum Masters could become gurus of their role and mentors for those joining the journey. Those gurus are a rare gem, with fewer than 17% having more than 5 years experience.

Why do Scrum Masters leave the role?

Could the root cause be Scrum Master burnout? What are the costs to constant servant leadership?

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Emotional Beast of Burden – aka “Compassion Fatigue”

‘‘One can give nothing whatever without giving oneself, that is to say risking oneself’’— James Baldwin

Servant-leaders empathize, commit to developing their teams, and actively listen to identify with the welfare of their teams. Constant empathy is emotionally draining and can lead to burnout, especially if there is no reciprocity.

Numerous studies (especially for healthcare workers) suggest that over-empathizing may lead to burnout. Humans are wired for empathy and caregiving can take a toll both emotionally and physically (Flarity, 2011).

Stopping Downhill Flow

“Manure flows downhill” — Everyone

Servant Leaders may be connected to limiting burnout within organizations. By constantly serving others, there is evidence that burnout reduces within the organization (Lohrey, 2016).

Servant Leaders protect others from the inevitable downhill flow of manure. They build a dam and protect the valley so that the team can continue their work free of distraction.

If Scrum Masters serve as one in a series of dams in the organizational structure, there can be great synergy in protecting the greater valley. If Scrum Masters serve as a dam alone, there could be structural failure over time.

Change Fatigue

 “True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not to enrich the leader” — John C. Maxwell.

Back to the Scrum Master trends report, 58% said that they have launched an agile transition. A Scrum Master often serves as a change agent driving change and ought to do so with influential persons in the organization. If the Scrum Master acts as a primary agent for change and constantly experiences change themselves – burnout ensues. Often, there is external pressure to aggressively push the change and the change agent feels it keenly which accelerates exhaustion.

Stuck in the Middle

“Clowns to the left of me! Jokers to the right! Here I am stuck in the middle with you” — Stealers Wheel

Scrum Masters provide structure and team coaching in all directions. The Scrum Master collaborates with the product owner and the development team as well as senior management, and the business groups. Scrum Masters are often stuck between various stakeholder groups, which can produce “relentless and conflicting demands”. Thus Scrum Masters experience many challenges faced by middle management and are constantly exposed to conflict. Even when conflict is ultimately productive, a Scrum Master expends energy to guide the conflict towards resolution. In a given day, a Scrum Master can expect to experience conflict with their own team, a product owner, a project manager, a technical lead, and beyond. This conflict is integral to their role and the Scrum Master hopes to pivot all conflict into productive, positive progress.

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If you’re in leadership, what strategies can help your Scrum Masters?

·      Facilitate the change from the perspective of the whole organization - lead the change with them and offer them a community of change agent and influencers.

·      Offer them a change in scenery - Mother Teresa ordered her nuns to take a year off from their duties every 4 to 5 years to allow them to heal from the effects of caregiving.

·       Celebrate their successes - Scrum Masters use retros to celebrate their teams and energize, encode, and elevate the ending of a sprint, and while Scrum Masters celebrate their teams they may forget about themselves. – So gift the celebration back to them.

If you’re a Scrum Master, what strategies can help you?

·      Contribute to the conversation and help the community - As a community, we are not alone. I confess, it’s scary to talk about my own burnout on LinkedIn. I love my job, and I hope that my frank admission will not be construed as distaste for my job or my teams. In a community, we protect each other and have a louder voice.

·      Be vulnerable and courageous, be authentic - How can your leadership help you if you haven’t communicated your burnout?

·      Change your scenery – If you have worked with the same team(s) for over a year, try to lend your hand to a new team. The change of scenery is a great way to reflect and honor the achievements of past teams while digging into new challenges.

·      Find ways to go back to the fun stuff! - I take great solace in going back to basics and putting focus into the great, fun stuff that made me fall in love with the job. For me, ensuring that I invest time into fun retrospectives or hosting dojos to learn and implement new agility concepts brings me great joy.


Thanks for reading,

Stephanie McCormick - Purveyor of Agile Enthusiasm and Harbinger of Continuous Improvement

All photos courtesy of Unsplash

Lohrey, Sven (2016). The effects of servant leadership on follower performance and well-being: underlying mechanisms, boundary conditions, and the role of training. PHD thesis, Aston University.

Flarity, K. (2011). Compassion fatigue. ENA Connection, 35(7), 10

Lennie Noiles

We walk, You talk, I listen, and the world changes. The leading expert and foremost Nature-based, Leadership, and Midlife Coach.

3y

Put on your oxygen mask first. One of the best things a scrummaster / Agile coach can do to help prevent burnout is to hire a professional coach. A good coach will partner with you on your journey and help you navigate your path.

Brock Argue, CEC

Agile Coach @ Superheroes Academy | Certified Enterprise Coach

3y

Stephanie - thanks for sharing. I appreciate your courage in starting the conversation and the insights you share on what ScrumMasters might do about this.

Richard Knaster

VP - Chief Scientist, SAFe Fellow, Author, Value Stream Management in the Digital Age, Co-Author, Amazon Best Selling SAFe Distilled: Achieving Business Agility with the Scaled Agile Framework

3y

Very good article Stephanie! And this can article can be useful to many other roles as well. Thanks for sharing!

Erkan Kadir

Co-Founder | Speaker | Leadership Development | Facilitation | Agile Consulting

3y

Great article, Stephanie! Such an important topic.

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