The Scrum Master and Emergent Risk Awareness

The Scrum Master as the Risk Immune System for the Organization.

The role of the Scrum Master in Scrum is well-known after 20+ years of working with the Scrum framework. There are however some less obvious areas of working in an organization, that fit into the Scrum Master role, besides the most important thing: delivering value and results from a team. Although secondary to value generation, these activities are important for the sustainability and resilience of an organization.

Stanley McChrystal writes in his latest book, “Risk - a handbook”, about how organizations must become aware of emerging risks and opportunities in a new and vastly more intense way in our modern complex era. He terms this the organization’s “Risk Immune System”.

It is our claim, that much of this was always part of the Scrum Master’s work, albeit not explicitly mentioned in the Scrum Guide or by the fathers. Naturally, everyone in the organization should be observant of emerging threats or opportunities: the Product Owners have a keen eye on developments in the market, and the Teams on their respective technical fields. But the Scrum Masters will often be very well positioned to discover more subtle emerging changes, while all the others are busy in the Value Stream. The Scrum Masters make sure that the organization reacts to these discoveries: that they are highlighted and discussed (taking multiple perspectives into account) and that responsive actions are taken in a timely manner.

Come, explore and discuss the details of this with us on Wednesday, Nov. 23.