AGILE QUESTIONS
Why keep doing (or trying) it?
I have been practicing SCRUM for the past 15 years or so:
- as both Pig, PO and SM
- on some 20 different teams
- all software teams
- using all kinds of variations on SCRUM
I always experience that:
- sprint planning is a killer, nobody wants to spend days at planning
- sprint planning is never complete, there is always one or more PBI’s that need “further investigation”
- no one on the teams really bothers to update the scrum board during the sprint (meaning: they see no value in the scrum board?)
- half-way through the sprint the burndown flatlines
- at the end of a sprint we do all kinds of hacks to prepare a demo
- no PBI’s are never really “done-done” at the end of the sprint
- the burndown never ends at zero
What actually does work is:
- gather a small group of skilled developers
- put them close to the customer
- trust them to do their job
I’m not trying to bash SCRUM or anything, just sharing my experiences from many years in the business.
So my one question could be: most developers don’t like SCRUM – so why do we keep doing it?
Independent Software Developer / Denmark
Agile coaches answer:
What you described may have the label “Scrum” attached to it, but it is far away from what Scrum should be.
What do the Product Owner and Scrum Master of this Development Team say about Scrum? The Scrum Team is a self-organized team, so if everybody on it doesn’t like Scrum, stop doing it.
Or - if the team(s) you are / have been working with do Scrum like you describe it - try proper Scrum with them, not mechanical / zombie / flaccid Scrum.
Answer by Peter Götz