This "Scrum" Thing Is A Waste Of Time.
Have you ever purchased a diet book or exercise program that promises good things such as getting in shape, losing weight or making your clothes fit better? “Yes, I want all of those things!” you tell yourself and make your purchase.
Have you ever purchased a diet book or exercise program that promises good things such as getting in shape, losing weight or making your clothes fit better? “Yes, I want all of those things!” you tell yourself and make your purchase.
A few weeks into it you complain to co-workers, to family, to friends “This diet is a waste of time. This exercise program doesn’t do what it said it would do. It doesn’t work!”
Your listeners start asking questions:
“It says here what you’re supposed to eat and what you’re supposed to avoid. Did you follow this exactly?”
“No,” you reply. “I needed a cheat day and we have pizza night every Saturday night.”
Your listeners continue with, “It has exercise recommendations listed here. Did you really do these?”
“Well, no,” you reply. “I got busy and nobody can really exercise that much anyway, right?”
The truth is you didn’t actually follow the diet. You didn’t actually follow the exercise program either. But yet instead of taking responsibility for your own choices or actions, you decide to blame the diet. Blame the exercise program. They are a waste of time. They don’t work.
If you follow me on social media, you guessed what’s coming. I tire of people blaming Scrum for not delivering value any faster than their previous way of working. Does it really make sense to blame a framework when the truth is that the people claiming to use it, don’t follow it at all (other using some of the Scrummy words)?
I ask questions:
“So, you have disbanded your component teams and have created cross-functional delivery teams focused on one Product at a time right?”
People blaming Scrum answer, “Well no. We asked our existing teams to try to make Scrum fit into the way they do work.”
I continue with “Even though you know the goal is to change the way you are doing that work, not to keep the same structure but label it as Scrum now right?”
People blaming Scrum answer, “Yes but it’s our leadership that doesn’t get it, not me.”
I continue “So you’ve talked to your leaders and explained the confusion you are experiencing and they have told you too bad, is that right?”
People blaming Scrum answer, “No! I couldn’t possibly tell my leaders I’m confused by what they are doing or saying. Do you know how much trouble I’d be in? Besides since Scrum doesn’t work, they have now paid for us to go to SAFe training.”
At this point I leave the conversation as I have no desire to beat my head against a brick wall. Just the economics alone of this scenario should give every person in this situation great pause. If the company is wasting their money on training and coaching for something they won’t follow anyway, then turns around and spends even MORE money on another framework that they probably won’t follow either, how much cash do they really have to burn? And I’m not knocking SAFe. It’s more expensive and I don’t see companies “really” following it either. How much better off would an organization be if it saved its money and did nothing. Spending money to make change and then choosing not to change anyway and blame what they learned tells me the root cause of the problem isn’t any framework.
So here’s a radical idea. What if in spending all the money on Scrum training and coaching resulted in the company deciding to actually try it. What’s the worst that could happen? Make the minimal changes required by the framework for an agreed period of time. Inspect when that timebox expires. Adapt accordingly.
And hey, if it’s deemed a waste of time or a failure, just go back to the previous way of working. If the organization is meeting its goals and objectives and delighting its customers with the way it does work, why change in the first place?
New diet and exercise fads come and go. New ways of working come and go. If saying “we tried Scrum it doesn’t work” or “we tried Agile it’s a waste of time” resonates with you, take stock of whether you did try them or if you’re still looking for that next great way of working. Please post or comment what that next great work fad will be.
Headline: The Scrum Master Files: Secrets Every Coach Should Know
This book is for anyone in a Scrum Master or coach role who wants to improve their interpersonal skills. Angela shares her 15+ year journey out of project management and into Scrum. She leverages case studies from her experience to immerse the reader into the story.
For Immediate Release
Dateline – Minneapolis, MN August 1, 2021
Collaborative Leadership Team (CoLeadTeam), the Midwest’s premier Agile consultancy, is pleased to announce the release of “The Scrum Master Files” by Angela Johnson.
This book is for anyone in a Scrum Master or coach role who wants to improve their interpersonal skills. Angela shares her 15+ year journey out of project management and into Scrum. She leverages case studies from her experience to immerse the reader into the story. By working through the scenarios, any Scrum Master or coach will acquire improved observation skills and learn how to ask powerful questions.
“I’ve worked with Angela for over eight years. Getting this book into the hands of our students has been a goal of hers for some time,” said Christian Antoine, Vice President of CoLeadTeam, “I hope Angela’s stories can help people who are choosing Scrum as the way to do work. I am proud of what she’s accomplished.”
To learn more about “The Scrum Master Files”, please visit: https://thescrummasterfiles.com/
About CoLeadTeam: Collaborative Leadership Team provides customized training, coaching, and mentoring to individuals and organizations seeking to work in a different way. We guide business agility with the goal of teaching any company how to become a learning organization that can sustain their own agility.
CoLeadTeam’s core values are guided by Scrum values and the Agile Manifesto values. With experience in software, hardware, services, education and manufacturing environments, team members bring a depth and breadth of experience to the clients they serve. For more information, please contact us at: info@coleadteam.com
Contact Collaborative Leadership Team:
Christian Antoine
Vice President
Collaborative Leadership Team
612-845-3802
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