Modifying Scrum is a bad idea.
Do you hear me? Do you REALLY think modifying Scrum is a good idea?
Why?
Scrum is a simple framework. It works.
Yet, in most places I get called into for consulting with clients around the world, this is one of the major causes of projects failing.
People try to mess with it. Because they know better.
OK… do that… then call me to come in and tell you to go back to the basics. I make a great living doing this — but this is FREE advice. Hey… if you still want to bring me in, call me and I will happily deliver this message to whoever you want (heck — I can even do this over the phone for you — what’s the worst that can happen, the receiver can hang up on me — not too bad for a five second telephone call!).
There is a reason that Scrum is a simple framework.
It’s supposed to be.
Think about it.
Most organizations — from very small to the largest enterprises — hire, employ, or contract very smart and intelligent people. These very well-meaning very smart and intelligent people then think they can improve Scrum… before even understanding what power Scrum as a framework brings to the table.
Think about it.
Your organization is probably a political quagmire. Most are.
If you are luck enough not to be in this situation, think of one of your favorite Dilbert Cartoons and laugh — this does happen in most places.
So… you have this political bullshit going on in the organization before Scrum. As dysfunctional as it is, people have learned to thrive and succeed in this environment. Actually the people that are dysfunctional created this dysfunctional system. This could be you (ouch… hard to look in the mirror sometimes — trust me — I KNOW!!!).
Then you introduce Scrum. And then an amazing thing happens.
Take a guess?
“Mike – Scrum is causing a lot of problems so we HAVE to modify it and make it better.”
“Mike – WE are different.”
OK.. on the first one… really really really look at what problems you think Scrum are causing. I do a root cause analysis workshop with clients and usually almost ALL of the problems were there before Scrum was implemented.
Scrum exposes existing problems.
Get over it. As a ScrumMaster, this is something you get paid to work with the Scrum Team, the Product Owner, and outside stakeholders to manage. Put on your big kid pants and start having those tough conversations.
Yeah.
You are different. And special.
But.
Um.
Use Scrum as the basic framework.
Watch. Observe.
Inspect and Adapt.
Sound familiar?
Now does this comic strip make sense?
Let me know your thoughts!
Or… do as the majority of organizations who try to implement Scrum and fail — go back to what you were doing before and blame Scrum. It’s a cop-out the industry (read: meaning people like you and me) still allows to happen. Sad… but true.
Grow a spine and try to have a tough conversation TODAY!
[By the way - the original posting for this cartoon is located at http://www.implementingscrum.com/2008/05/06/kiss-keep-it-simple-stupid/
Welcome back to another week at www.implementingscrum.com.
I hope you enjoyed last weeks posting and are looking forward to learning something new this week with me. This is an important concept — we learn together (thank you!). Please post comments below or tweet about this (or whatever other social media thing you use today!).
One of the big problems I see people talking about (and talking and talking — NOT DOING) is the concept of planning in Scrum.
Bottom line. Instead of talking about it (and becoming stuck in analysis paralysis and NOT DELIVERING), do it.
How much time?
Enough to get started.
Really. Get started on Delivering Working Software.
The original posting for this comic strip was about 2.5 years ago and um… wow… it was pretty politically incorrect. Oh well… Blogs are timeless (smile). That original posting talked about the rules for planning poker, about being on Fantasy Island (you may or may not be old enough to remember that show — google it), and quickly devolved into possible sexual innuendo. Oops. Or you are welcome (smile). You can take a look at the original posting here.
So what really is “enough” to get started?
When you look at Scrum, there are so many opportunities to plan. And execute. And Deliver.
Remember the reason for using Scrum — DELIVER something of value to your customer and end users. Reduce Risk. Whatever. Deliver. Inspect and adapt. Really. Hmm… Seems like I may be over using the words DELIVER and REALLY. Wonder Why? It needs repeating. Really (smile).
You can do long range Release planning at the Product Backlog level.
You can do short term Sprint Planning at the Sprint Backlog level.
You can do Daily Planning and adjusting at the Daily Standup level.
You can track all this planning on different Burn Down Charts.
Plan plan plan.
Bla bla bla.
What does your customer really want?
Really?
Really?
ASK.
You can get stuck PLANNING for a long time.
DELIVER. Get to DONE.
Yeah… you still need to PLAN in Scrum.
But what is REALLY important to your end users and customers.
Do they really care about the plan?
Hmmm… not if you keep missing deadlines and deliveries. Plans then become a CYA (cover-your-ass) thing that opens the gulf of distrust even more between the team, the customers, and other stake holders. Traditional Project Managers then use it to beat people over the head about missing dates. You know the cycle.
So.
Stop it.
Plan enough.
This is one of the *tough* conversations you need to have with your stakeholders at all different levels.
I can promise you (from experience) — these conversations SUCK at the beginning. Mostly because a traditional Project Manager has been making excuses for the team about missing dates (and using the Project Manager Whammy Stick to do strange things to the team).
As a ScrumMaster though — remember — who is REALLY responsible for delivering on a Scrum Team?
The Team.
Yeah, as a Scrum Master you are responsible for facilitating the process (or framework or whatever you want to call Scrum) AND making sure the Scrum Team understands their roles. Oh… and also working with the Product Owner. And Oh… the outside Stakeholders. Welcome to reality.
This is real world stuff.
So how can you keep it from sucking?
Deliver. Team — do you hear this? DELIVER.
And guess what… once you are delivering on your commitments the conversations shift to AWESOMEness. Really. This is not just my dream fantasy world. It happens. Daily.
It will suck wind at the beginning.
Plan.
Enough.
Execute.
Deliver.
Inspect and adapt.
That’s enough planning in Scrum. Yes… DO IT.
AND.
Deliver!
Scrum is not a Silver Bullet.
Delivering builds confidence.
Try it.
Welcome to 2012.
Here we are. Another year to look forward to.
Another year to look back on.
Looking back on 2011 for the blog at www.implementingscrum.com, I did not publish a lot of information. However, an interesting thing continues to occur — people viewing the content (some of it now almost five years old) and subscribing to the updates has increased dramatically.
So.
Looking forward to 2012, here is my commitment to you, a valued member of this community (THANK YOU) so much.
I’ll take it up a notch and start paddling again.
Like any great ScrumMaster or Agile Coach, I have to keep at it with this blog because there is so much information we all still need to share.
That’s my commitment for 2012. You’ll be hearing from me at least on a weekly basis with new cartoons (or at least new commentaries from me!) and updates on my latest and greatest stuff.
What’s yours?
Are you going to start paddling again?
Good luck. Commit here if you’d like, and let’s see where we go this year together.
Thank you!
- mike vizdos (Follow me on twitter @mvizdos and Facebook)
PS – You may remember this original comic strip from 2008 (wow time flies), it is located at: www.implementingscrum.com/2008/04/21/up-the-creek-without-a-paddle/
Scrum Training today is available in many different flavors and formats around the world.
People are always debating the values of “certification” and this will be an endless discussion. While everyone is having these discussions (yawn to me), I continue to travel the world training people on Scrum. And other agile techniques. I also *use* this stuff daily to run my company (more on this in another posting) and coach individuals to help us both keep improving our skills.
Welcome back to the ImplementingScrum site. If this is your first time here, take a peek around. There is a TON of information here. This site has been around for almost five years now, and while some of the ways I implement techniques today are different (they keep improving) the comic strips here usually start some good conversations.
So I selected one of the most popular and un-politically-correct comic strips from a posting I published a LONG time ago (take a look at it here — cute, and wow that was so long ago in this internet age we live in today). I have mostly been using things like Twitter and FaceBook (and others) to get information out — but also realize this channel of communicating with people (via the blog) is important… so it is [again] restarting with more postings of my [possible rants] in the future!
And. I titled this blog posting pretty provocatively.
I know the combination of un-politically-correct and provocative will help open conversations. Who knows what kind of conversations, but hey that is up to you!
THAT is the important thing with this blog. People either love it or hate it, but talk about it.
So… Let’s bring that to the topic of “Certified Scrum Training – Debunking the Bullshit.”
This should be fun, huh? I figure if you are still with me than you are wondering why this is important.
I am a Certified Scrum Trainer and that is a trademarked name from the Scrum Alliance, the body that certifies people who have taken my class as Certified ScrumMasters.
It does not certify competency. It cannot. OK… Like it or leave it, that’s an established fact (that people will debate!).
It does certify people who have taken the workshop have paid their money, the Certified Scrum Trainer has paid the Scrum Alliance a $50.00 fee so that they can take the assessment and become members (all Certified Scrum Trainers must do that). And you can do a lot more with the Scrum Alliance — and should. Here is some good background information from the Scrum Alliance FAQ that tells you how to move forward with them after you are a Certified ScrumMaster.
There are still a limited number of Certified Scrum Trainers in the world. The market is showing that there is still a pretty strong demand for this type of Certification. Why is there a demand? People want it (possibly not the people taking the workshop — could be their bosses or organizations are forcing them to attend or organizations want to send one person expecting that the newly Certified ScrumMaster can train the rest of the organization). All of those statements are up for debate, and will always be debated.
Fine.
Move on with the debate.
So if it is so controversial, why do I do it?
I LOVE teaching this workshop. I have fun. I learn. Every time. Every place.
Here is a current description of what it is like to take the workshop with me… www.michaelvizdos.com/experiential-csm.
It has evolved (and will continue after each workshop, as no one is ever the same).
People who have taken the Certified ScrumMaster Training Workshop with me are usually satisfied. I know I cannot solve problems for all of the attendees — that is not the purpose.
The purpose of the Certified ScrumMaster Training Workshop that people attend with me today (and remember it continues to evolve) is to learn about Scrum in an experiential way. They should be able to answer questions about Scrum on their own by the end of the two days — using the framework and experiences from attending.
People who attend my Certified ScrumMaster Training Workshop receive a lot of value — because it is an environment where people can learn (from me and mostly the other attendees). My training is different than any other Certified Scrum Trainer. It should be (other organizations disagree and that is OK).
I also tell every attendee that this will not make them experts at being a ScrumMaster, Product Owner, or Team Member.
In fact, I now understand that each individual will walk out at the end of the two days latching onto only one or two things that we discussed AND that fits into their current world paradigm (it used to bug me, now it does not).
Wow.
Two days… and only one or two key things (that was said and they heard what they wanted to hear).
Is this cutting through the bullshit of debates and bla bla bla out there about Scrum Certification?
I am sure there is SO much more that can (and will be) said on this topic. Like I said up front, this is a provocative and controversial topic.
And the purpose of this blog over the years has evolved into learning about how to have tough conversations about Software Development.
Yes… Scrum can be used outside of Software Development (another topic for later again!!) but here’s the thing…
Talk about this stuff all you want.
Get out there and practice it.
Thank you!
Looking forward to hearing comments, suggestions, and ideas on here, in FaceBook, GooglePlus, or however else you want.
Talk.
But do.
Go….
Welcome back to yet another week at www.implementingscrum.com.
And yeah, it’s been a long hiatus from my contributions to this site (by the way… for those of you who do not know… my name is Michael Vizdos and I am solely responsible for all content on this blog… it is not a huge corporate entity or machine — it is a way for the two of us to communicate).
So much has changed since starting this site in 2006. Life — both personal and professional — has changed in many ways for me.
What about you?
In trying to figure out how to get things restarted here, I thought this would be an appropriate comic strip (originally posted as http://www.implementingscrum.com/2008/04/21/up-the-creek-without-a-paddle/ years ago).
See… in all the traveling and working (on personal and professional stuff over the past few years)… I have learned that the stuff I write about and post on this site IS important and DOES have an impact.
And.
I stopped paddling. Stopped posting. And kept watching — in amazement and awe — how this site kept growing and growing without me doing anything.
Yikes. I need to step up and start contributing once again.
Much of the “work work” I do today involves training (still — but not as much as the past!) the Certified ScrumMaster Workshop. It is an aweome experience — described as *life changing* by many attendees and has evolved dramatically.
The major shift of this training workshop is because I am seeing that most people in the industry today seem “OK” with Scrum being almost ho-hum-bla-bla-bla (well… maybe except for Jeff Sutherland, who continues to kick my ass to up my game [and probably does not know he has this impact on me]).
Scrum involves a lot of work.
This is where I am spending most of my time with work today — facilitating teams that are having a hard time with keeping the paddle moving against this never-ending tide of change resistance.
Fun stuff for me.
It is failing all over the place now… and there are a lot of blog entries dedicated to writing and discussing this.
Me… I want to focus on the positive.
And the tough stuff.
Professionally I am now at a point where I can — and DO — select my clients (as much as they select me for whatever reasons [which I am extremely grateful for!].
And.
I am really now only selecting to work with people who WANT to be successful with using Scrum — and the other agile techniques that are also required for a successful organizational change to occur.
It takes time.
It does not happen overnight.
I am proof of that (smile).
So… Here I go again.
I’ve looked at myself and have seen and recognized that I “stopped paddling” and well… it had a lot of consequences (both good and bad).
My choice now with this site is to start paddling again and keep pushing things forward.
It starts with you and me. Just two people. We are all that matters to get things going together.
Are you ready to start again with me?
I’ll ask for feedback continually… much like a great ScrumMaster needs to do.
Time to get back in the boat.
Here we go!
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