If It Is Labeled Scrum, Is It Scrum?

This is a guest post by Boris Gloger,  Scrum Evangelist and Scrum Trainer, author and founder of borisgloger training KG and borisgloger consulting GmbH.

A project or project management method is entitled “Scrum.” Then the project manager is automatically called a Product Owner and the team leader becomes a ScrumMaster. That means we are doing Scrum, right?

Agility is a Mindset

If only it was this simple. The biggest hurdle is understanding that the name alone does not ensure agility. Real agility is closely linked with a paradigm shift in thought. Agile methods free your motivating elements, that lay hidden in every person and are hence disruptive to many traditional structures and organizations. Many managers do not want or cannot recognize how deeply agility interferes with thinking even if the initiative was started by them. Agile thinking attacks, is provocative, often creates chaos and uncertainty. It means that old and sometimes obsolete ideas are falsified through scientifically based procedures. This also contradicts the accusation that agility is a confession of belief: The god of agility does not exist. Agile thinking is deeply rooted in the empirical method. Originally Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland insisted that Scrum had been developed out of Empirical Process Control. Scrum is a scientific method if you define it as having been “verified or falsified through experimentation.” For exactly this reason I like to compare Scrum with the age of the renaissance.

Rediscovery

During the renaissance observation was the key to knowledge about nature, and its laws were eventually rediscovered. Rediscovered because the middle ages had ignored what the ancient thinkers had already known.

Scrum, with its agile thinking is connected to the origins of software development. At the beginning of software development there were only a few – like there were only a few in the ancient world – who really thought scientifically. After that time the church reigned supreme over the world of science. For about 1200 years Augustian thinking ruled. Only in the 13th century did they begin to reflect on the ideas of Aristotle again. This is the same today in the area of product development. Fifty years ago products were developed by scientists with excellent educations. They even included Noble Prize winners, for example, at Bell Labs. However, they were difficult to control. At that time, management came in with their ideas and tried to create stability with their high levels of cautious thinking. Today, it is again the scientifically educated and creative people who use design thinking to show that the old ideas from the 1960’s are still correct. They again know how to develop products that work very well.

Success with Agile Thinking

Agile thinking begins with a clear recognition that you will always achieve the results that the organization is set up for. If you do not create a good product, it is not because of a bad market, a bad client, the situation, or something else. It is simply a result of the organization in its actual form not meeting the demands of its environment.

Reality is not wrong, the universe is not wrong, nor is society or the market going in the wrong direction if my product is not successful. No, it is just the simple fact that I was not successful because the context does not fit with my product. Because the development methods were not suitable, the wrong employees were hired, and the processes were too slow, etc.

The designer Tom Ford expressed this wonderfully: He was lucky enough to recognize a little earlier than others what the market would want. So he had what the market wanted, when the market recognized what it wanted. He had positioned himself in the market in such a way that he was ready when it needed him. Obviously, he did not simply position his product at the right place, he also created the right infrastructure so that his business model worked.

Success with People

Agile thinking clearly recognizes that work processes have to do with people. It recognizes that people have emotions, wishes, and needs and works with and not against them. Agile thinking places interaction between people above the course of processes. It leaves room for intuition, inspiration, and improvisation.

Agile thinking is based on collaboration, dialogue, communication, context, and the confidence that people want to create something together. A few months ago, during a presentation, Mitch Lacey spoke about a conversation he had with a customer: “If I make a proposal to you in the beginning without thoroughly analyzing what I really need, that is very unprofessional. Let’s work together by having me deliver something to you.” [1] The spirit of agilty can be seen in every word of this story. Take things as they are, without glossing over them. Be sure what is realistic and know your limits. Those are the basic elements that can also be found in Scrum values.

Agile thinking is conscious of framework and commercial implications. Agile managers (managers, because there is no project manager in agile thinking) naturally know there are constraints and recognize that these constraints should not restrict anybody, that restrictions need to be overcome if they are there. Always keeping in mind that much more is possible than most people think.

This is what I used to and still identify as a paradigm shift for most thought processes in a company.

A Trip to and through Scrumland

Whoever takes a trip to Scrumland must expect many obstacles, dangers, and low points. There are no smooth roads, no detours, no set solutions out of a box. But we are also no longer in the Scrum jungle. The first paths and trails are starting to appear. In some areas you can even find guesthouses and settlements where you can learn how to continue. The first road signs are in place and the pioneers have built the first rope bridges. Even a few travel guides have been written and the first do-it-yourself books are on the shelves. But you still have to find your own way. Roll up your sleeves, smooth out your path, develop your own best practices, develop your own creative solutions, and adopt Scrumland bit-for-bit for you. If this is the way you want to go, you can call your plan Scrum and will certainly be able to claim success for yourself and your company.

 

We are still only at the start – But – only to stick a label on something or to steal the feathers before killing the bird … does not work. Guaranteed.
[1] Mitch Lacey at his talk at the Agile Tour 2011 in Vienna. Not literally quoted.