How should a Scrum Master deal with an angry stakeholder during a PO meeting?

Question

As a Scrum Master, recently attended a meeting set up by PO with stakeholders, one stakeholder was concerned that the budget was not being spent properly. It got heated.

At the meeting, I was not sure how to intervene since it was the PO's meeting and since it was the PO's meeting did nothing.

I was thinking at the back of my mind to either:

• defend the PO and budget
• defend the team, since they were kept busy delivering items from the backlog
• Bring focus to the meeting by telling POs to keep focus on delivering high value items in the following sprints

I am slghtly confused about what to do in this type of situation, what is the best way to handle it? Am I allowed to participate if it is PO's meeting?

Answer 1

I am drawing assumptions on your PO's agenda, based on my experience of other PO meetings, and discussing a stakeholder's objections on spend would not be consistent with that agenda. The PO, or you, or another leader of the team, should acknowledge the issue, validate the issue, and then table it with a promise of an immediate meeting to discuss further. Defending anything in the meeting would be unwise and allowing the debate to get heated in front of the rest of the team is unproductive.

There are obvious reasons why a stakeholder would be upset with the spend: spending on the wrong things, over budget, or no controls over the budget to even know we you are in the spend. It would be good for your project's overall health to listen to the complaints and then run each one down so the stakeholder can get on board with the project, or if unable to run down, then escalate to the project's sponsors to intervene at that level.

Answer 2

TL;DR

I was thinking at the back of my mind to either:

• defend the PO and budget
• defend the team, since they were kept busy delivering items from the backlog
• Bring focus to the meeting by telling POs to keep focus on delivering high value items in the following sprints

The correct answer is "none of the above." Your goal as Scrum Master isn't to defend anything except the process. A good Scrum Master acts as a coach, an educator, and (when necessary) a process referee.

The problem you're describing is one that often results from poor process transparency, or from a product/portfolio management methodology that lacks rigor, objective metrics, and (most importantly) stakeholder buy-in. There are a number of existing approaches for dealing with that, which I addressed in a previous answer.

Below, I offer a process perspective and an interpersonal perspective on what the problems may be. I also offer some practical suggestions on how to address them within the role of Scrum Master.

The Process Perspective

From a process perspective, a Scrum Product Owner is responsible for managing the Product Backlog. In practice, this often means managing stakeholder expectations about how priorities are being set and (indirectly) how project budget is being allocated.

There are a number of techniques for getting buy-in for prioritization and budget, but they all ultimately boil down to good communications and selecting metrics everyone can agree on. If stakeholders are not already on board with the Product Owner's priorities, or if the project sponsor isn't backing the budgeting process effectively, then this is certainly an area where a good Scrum Master or agile coach can facilitate communications and help the organization to collaborate on budgets and priorities more effectively.

The Interpersonal Perspective

While it's not your job to defend the budget or the Product Backlog priorities, there are some interpersonal techniques that can make it easier to defuse this sort of unproductive meeting. In general:

• Don't get defensive or pick sides.
• Capture any concerns or objections raised by the people in the meeting.
• Be willing to (politely) observe that the meeting has created action items for the participants, and that it may be time to adjourn to consider them.
• Discuss the meeting with the Product Owner afterwards, and work together to evaluate alternative approaches.
• If welcomed by the Product Owner and the stakeholders, offer to coach the organization on agile prioritization and budgeting techniques.
• Suggest hiring an agile coach or consultant if the process is so far off the rails that it endangers the effectiveness of the project.

In all cases, your goal is to facilitate communication, not defend or change the current process. As long as you're continuously improving team and organizational communication, visibility, and transparency, then you're fulfilling the Scrum Master role properly.

Answer 3

In my experience, these situations happen due to a lack of understanding from all sides. It is probably a good idea to recommend that the team (or only the PO/yourself) start by listening very carefully to the stakeholder and ask as many questions as necessary until you are 100% sure you understand their reasoning and then you should prepare to explain why the budget was used in the way it was as well as coming to an agreement on the course of action to solve the issue