Almost everyone I've worked with has heard of Scrum or Agile way of working. Some have adopted Scrum partly (ScrumBut), while others have done so fully by adhering to the rules of Scrum.
Scrum is a framework, not a process or technique
It is common in the workplace to see the application of Scrum as a process alongside other agile or traditional techniques. I do not have the metrics to show the success and failure rates of this pattern. Nevertheless, I've had a first-hand experience on (ScrumBut) projects, and I can say that these projects failed or were delivered with low quality.
Let's say your organization is agile and has adopted several agile methods, for example TDD, Kanban, XP, Lean, etc. These agile methodologies can run smoothly inside Scrum. Scrum is like a container for running processes or techniques, its events allow you to use techniques within it, provided business value is created.
Scrum is immutable
Unfortunately, this is very common today, you hear things like "we use Scrum but...". Another example is a Scrum Team with titles like "Project Manager", "Architect", "Lead Developer" etc. This violates the rules and values, the glue that bind Scrum components together.
Scrum is immutable, that means its values and rules should remain unchanged. It should not be used in part. To reap the full benefit of Scrum, it is recommended that it is adopted fully. You either use Scrum in full (properly) or not at all.
"The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off." - Gloria Steinem.
While Scrum respects domain expertise, there can be ONLY 3 roles in a Scrum Team: The Product Owner, Scrum Master and Development Team (Member). Anyone in a Scrum Team who is not the Product Owner, or a Scrum Master is a Member (software developer, Business Analyst, Architect etc.) irrespective of their expertise and title in the organization. No Leads, Managers, Architects, Testers and what have you. The Development Team works together as a cross-functional unit. One for all, all for one.
Scrum does not take your titles away.
Within an organization, your title or expertise is part of your identification and Scrum is fine with that. But within a Scrum Team, you are a Product Owner, Scrum Master or a member of the Development Team. Nothing more, nothing less.
And that my friend is Scrum 101.
Let's Scrum on together and build great products and people.
Top comments (2)
True. Though with Kanban you can have roles too - Service Delivery Manager and Service Request Manager. The Service Delivery Manager acts like a scrum master - helps the team overcome obstacles. And the Service Request Manager is more like a product owner. I recently wrote an article (blog.codegiant.io/kanban-vs-scrum-...) on the topic Kanban vs Scrum - feel free to check it out.
Great!
I will take a look.
Thanks for sharing.