CASTERBRIDGE TENSION

I’m struggling with a thing. Maybe you can help me out. It’s managing the tension between feeling relevant, and becoming invisible.

I’ll use scrum mastering as an example, because I think that captures it. It’s a technical role in software development that defines itself as a sort of ‘servant leader’. I’ve always interpreted that as meaning doing everything you can to make that team function as a team, self-organise and self-review without you enforcing or imposing anything. It’s a nice combination of soft skills and analytical thinking.

“My goal,” I heard myself say once, “is kind of to make myself invisible.”

I still stand by that. I still think it’s an okay thing to aim for, to work behind the scenes to unblock all the obstacles and guide the team into a culture of focus and success. I still believe that can work.

But at what expense to the self?

While that ruminates, I’ll tell the story of an English classroom at my school, somewhere around the year 1992. We were stuck into the grit of The Mayor of Casterbridge, when one of my schoolmates jumped in shock, and pointed at the window. Before long, we were all peering out into the playground.

There, in all his assembly regalia (mortarboard, flowing black gown, shiny shoes) was the Headmaster of all people, gripping a long-handled litter-picker in one hand and a bin bag in the other. He was grabbing crisp-packets and chocolate wrappers and anything else blowing around the concrete.

“Oh so that’s what that man does!” exclaimed a boy near the window.

Is that the end result of invisibility, I wonder? Nobody knows what you do, but somehow it’s critical that you do it? How do you delegate, share, envision, appoint, let go... become invisible... without losing your self along the way? How do you avoid becoming irrelevant?

I don’t think anyone is about to sit in on of our scrum meetings, see our team thrash out what we’re doing and then wonder what on earth they need a scrum master for. I think we’re safe for now. But I would like to prove that I’m having an impact, I think. If for no-one else’s benefit but my own.

I don’t particularly want to end up like The Mayor of Casterbridge.