Update: We are a very small team (3 people) and thus I (Scrum Master) and the Product Owner are also developers doing some coding.
We are aware of this situation and we are actively trying to recruit some new talents. But it's hard!
Meanwhile… we need to adapt… so my question:
The Product Owner complains about having too much outside noise (mainly stakeholders feature requests), and he can't focus on the sprint realisation.
We agree that we should try to educate people on our process implications (sprint durations and product backlog), to reduce the noise.
But as a Scrum Master, how am I supposed to shield a PO from outside? Isn't he supposed to be in contact with the management and business?
Also, if people outside don't want to waste too much time learning agile, what is the best way to educate them?
Best Answer
I feel that assigning the role of PO to a developer is usually the wrong choice. As you noted, the PO is supposed to communicate a lot with external parties, precisely to shield the development team from interruptions, to filter and enhance incoming feature/bug requests (again, via extended discussion with users / stakeholders) and to prioritize stories.
So apart from this role requiring lots of communication, IMHO prioritization should not normally be the task of a developer.
Of course, if your team is very small, someone may need to do it nevertheless, but than (s)he should understand the requirements for this role and not complain too much after accepting it :-)