Scrum fails. Spectacularly. Or does it?
In reality, most teams that I’ve seen fail at Scrum aren’t actually failing because of Scrum, they’re failing because they don’t understand what agile really means. Agile project management and processes are designed to be adapted and modified to respond to the particular environment in which they’re used. People who try “Scrum by the book” rarely find that it works, because they’re too focused on following the process and not focused enough on improving/adapting it for their particular needs.
On the flip side, there are also all those who practice ScrumBut1. I.e., they’re practicing Scrum but they left out some important pieces or deviated so far from Scrum as to break some of the basics. Maybe they aren’t doing daily status meetings or they’re not estimating and committing as a team. Either way, by leaving out or modifying some of the very important core principles, they’ve done themselves a disservice… but they’ll still blame Scrum.2
So obviously, the way to succeed at Scrum then is to modify and adapt it to our needs, but don’t change it?
It is a small conundrum, but easily explained: as with all things, moderation is the key. Also, if you’re going to practice Scrum, it’s important to adhere to some of the core principles. Do have a daily stand-up meeting. Do have planning sessions and retrospectives as a team. Do have fixed-length, consistent iterations. Do have a Product Owner and a Scrum Master. Beyond that, feel free to tweak things. Change up the questions asked in the daily meetings. Play with different styles of planning and estimating. Have one week iterations instead of thirty days. The possibilities are endless and completely mutable, so stick to the Scrum guns as it were, but don’t stifle your ability to adapt by refusing to make changes.
How do we know when an aspect of Scrum is succeeding? That part is actually pretty easy: watch what people do in the absence of controlled direction. If the daily stand-up meeting is succeeding, people will continue to participate in the absence of direction from the Scrum Master. If planning methodologies are succeeding, velocity will increase and estimates will become more reliable, and the team will be committed of their own volition. Good habits will be copied from person to person and team to team.3
Lastly, remember that Scrum is not a “magic potion that heals leprosy and cures blindness.”4 Keep your expectations, and remember that moving from waterfall or other rigid, top-down methodologies to agile methodologies Scrum is a learning experience and a culture shift. Successful implementations come from the ability to react and adapt to the organization, not enforcement of strict policies.
1http://blogs.msdn.com/ericgu/archive/2006/10/13/scrumbut.aspx
2http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=319545476&blogId=472222118
3http://www.noop.nl/2010/02/the-success-of-the-agile-memeplex.html
4http://www.implementingscrum.com/2010/02/26/scrum-challenge-1-over-scrum-is/
posted on April 28th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
← Back to articles