Stakeholder Guerrilla Warfare
What is it?
Stakeholders bypass the Product Owner and go directly to Development Team members to request changes, new features, or report bugs, disrupting priorities and the planned workflow.
Common symptoms (how does it manifest?)
- Developers receive constant interruptions with "urgent" requests.
- Planned Sprint work is frequently disrupted.
- PO loses visibility or control over what the team is actually doing.
- Tension between the PO and stakeholders, or between the PO and the team.
Impact and consequences (why is it a problem?)
- Loss of focus on the Sprint Goal.
- Unpredictability in deliveries.
- Team overload and frustration.
- Undermines the PO's authority and the integrity of the Scrum process.
Frequent root causes (why does it happen?)
- Powerful stakeholders who do not respect the PO's role or the Scrum process.
- Lack of a clear and single communication channel to the team (through the PO).
- Team doesn't know how (or cannot) say "no" to direct requests.
- PO with little authority or organizational backing.