Challenges as a Scrum master

We have two backlogs. One for all BA work and another for all technical work

That's one challenge you can help your team with. The Product Backlog is the sole source of truth for your Product. Is your Scrum Team aligned around 1 Product, multiple products, or projects? If your projects don't align with one Product, each project should have its own Product Backlog.

BA work can take a couple of sprints to materialize into technical work

Can you describe the type of BA work going on? If the BA work is gathering stakeholder, customer, or end-user desires, we call this Product Backlog refinement. Most of the refinement should be completed before the next Sprint Planning. I would recommend involving the Developers if needed in these discussions to break the work down so that you always have enough 'ready' Product Backlog items ahead of each Sprint.

it's gotten to a point where we have decided to drop estimation for BA's work.

That's right, it isn't recommended to size this work if it is for refinement work and writing Product Backlog items (PBIs). The Developers should focus on sizing the PBIs they intend to turn into an Increment of value for the Sprint.

other things like system support which isn't captured as part of our sprint work

Why isn't this support work made transparent on the Sprint Backlog?

a project delivery manager(just another term my manager decided to call the PO)

Does this so-called PO have a Product Goal? Is he/she able to come up with an ordered Product Backlog to keep the team focused?

I am facing some challenges as a scrum master

The challenges you describe aren't really the challenges. They are merely the symptoms. The challenge, and the situation which needs resolving -- if better outcomes are to be achieved -- can be found in the background you outline. 

It seems that nothing has really changed, or is allowed to change, and Scrum accountabilities are not recognized. For example, the Product Owner ought to be accountable for value...but rather than delivering value at all, somehow projects are delivered instead. Where team members ought to self-manage, they have a manager attempting to control them and the way work is structured and organized.

Who in senior leadership actually wants Scrum to be implemented, and can create a sense of urgency for deep and genuine change, so different outcomes will be achieved? Addressing the symptoms you describe will only kick this can further down the road.

@ Chris Belknap, thanks for your comments

Our Product Backlog

We work with multiple products which are mostly third party products. Most of the work is around integrating these 3rd party products with each other and streamlining our processes around them.

Can you describe the type of BA work going on? 

BA work is centered around streamlining processes. They are heavily involved in analyzing the needs of the different business units within the organization to find solutions to address these needs. some of the activities include but are not limited to process mappings, writing used cases, creating wireframe documents, brainstorming solutions with developers etc. It could take one or two sprints for the BA's to get these requirements ready. Developers only come in once all these necessary info is ready otherwise there's so much back and forth with information flow which can lead to inefficiencies within the team

Why isn't this support work made transparent on the Sprint Backlog?

There's no structure around support work at the moment so that's something management is looking into

Does this so-called PO have a Product Goal?

This is another challenging area as we have multiple projects spanning across multiple products. I help the PO prioritize and tidy the backlog. As the scrum guide calls for a single sprint goal each sprint, what we(team) decided to do was set objectives for each BA in a sprint then the PO will decide what is the one most priority in the sprint backlog and that thing becomes our sprint goal. Again not sure if there's a better approach to this.

@ Ian Mitchell, very grateful for this and couldn't agree more

You hit the nail on the head. It's satisfying to hear this as I've tried to make my manager see it this way to no avail. We're a small scrum team within the whole organization which for the most part people aren't aware we exist. I know it's the scrum master's duty to establish scrum within the org but how do I do that when there's been no decision or structure around how scrum should be rolled out across the business. My interpretation is my manager uses scrum for our team as an approach to delivering value because he understands and believes in it rather than it coming from senior management as a valuable framework that the entire organization will benefit from. 

We're like the guinea pig where the hope is if it works and senior management can see this value we're bringing to the business through scrum, then they can be moved to roll it out across the organization

Hi Rita,
I can relate to some of the challenges you are facing as a scrum master. It sounds like your team is not aligned on the same goal and vision, and that there is a lack of collaboration and communication among the team members and the stakeholders.
Some suggestions that might help you are:

Clarify the roles and responsibilities of each team member, especially the project delivery manager. Make sure everyone understands what the scrum master, the product owner, and the development team do and how they work together.

Create a single product backlog that contains all the work items for the team, regardless of the department or project they belong to. Prioritize the backlog based on the value and urgency of each item, and involve the stakeholders in the process.

Estimate the work items as a team, using a common unit of measure, such as story points or hours. Use a technique like planning poker or affinity estimation to facilitate the estimation process and reach a consensus.

Conduct regular sprint reviews with the stakeholders and the whole team present. Showcase the work done in the sprint, collect feedback, and update the backlog accordingly. Encourage the stakeholders to ask questions and share their opinions.

Track and monitor the team’s progress using metrics like velocity, burndown charts, and sprint goals. Use these metrics to identify and address any issues or impediments that might affect the team’s performance or quality.

I hope these suggestions are helpful for you. 
Mohammad zaripour 

@mohammad Zaripour, thanks for your feedback. Most of what you suggested are already in place.

I guess it's the agile mindset across the org which is the missing piece which as a scrum master one of my responsibilities is to establish scrum within the org but I am struggling to do that without the support from top management. 

As Ian rightly asked ''Who in senior leadership actually wants Scrum to be implemented, and can create a sense of urgency for deep and genuine change''

that's the million dollar question I need to work with if any improvements are to be felt