I'm one of three program managers tasked with improving the delivery cadence for a product, but there's no alignment among us, and it's affecting our work. My manager is hands-off and only has individual 1:1s, so we're expected to figure things out ourselves. Each of us has clearly defined roles: the senior PM manages strategy and stakeholders, I'm in charge of Scrum processes and delivery, and the junior PM handles coordination and release support.
I started running workshops to understand our current practices and to implement Scrum methodologies to help reduce change fatigue and engage the teams. However, the other PMs keep meddling in my area. They not only attend my Scrum meetings but also throw in competing suggestions and plans to coach teams on processes without including me. The senior PM wants to push a strict Scrum process immediately and plans to announce changes without consulting me first, which I find undermines my role.
I've addressed these issues directly, and while they've acknowledged the situation, their behavior hasn't changed. Since I'm based in the UK and my manager, along with the other PMs, are offshore, I'm hesitant to escalate the situation too aggressively for fear of being labeled as difficult. What can I do to protect my delivery responsibilities without jeopardizing my role?
2 Answers
You really need to bring your manager into the conversation more directly. It seems like he’s not realizing the chaos his hands-off approach is causing. Keep him in the loop about any ongoing issues you have with the other PMs. If they keep disrupting your responsibilities, escalate it every time until there’s a change!
If the PMs are behaving like project managers, it’s a classic case. Scrum philosophy suggests getting rid of project managers altogether and replacing their roles with Scrum Masters who facilitate rather than manage. It’s worth digging into those principles and showing how they could improve your team’s delivery process.
Interesting! It’s funny how this company went for ‘efficiency’ by replacing Scrum Masters with program managers. That seems counterproductive if they’re just creating this kind of confusion!