Building Steps for Success With Scrum

Discussions about Scrum keep deviating into things that aren't part of Scrum: user stories, story points, burndown charts, velocity, status meetings, tasks, sprint zero, etc. That doesn't mean those following Scrum can't use them; however, one should not perpetrate the myth that they're part of Scrum.

The goal of Scrum was never to do Scrum, and it's certainly not a tool to "implement Agile." It's an enabler —  and when the environment is right and the right things are in focus it will work to deliver results. 

Below is a list of things one can do to get Scrum (and maybe even Agile!) to work for them, the team, and the organization and eventually find success. 

Step 1: Stop Obsessing About the Mechanics

The best way to make Scrum work is to explore what we need to do to improve and maintain customer satisfaction through frequent and repeated delivery of quality products that provide business value to users.  

How will we do that?

One should stop thinking in terms of "things to be done," or "delivery dates to be met," but should start thinking in terms of "outcomes/goals to achieve." If the outcomes are overwhelming, break them down into smaller milestones that tell what percentage of the outcome is met and pursue them each iteration. 

Step 2: Do Not Entangle With Processes and Checkpoints

Scrum Masters are expected to be coaches and facilitators. Most times, they are expected to set the process as well! 

It is enticing to come up with a process for everything or end up tying up the knots even tighter for already set checkpoints. This will make us focus less on outcomes and value and more on the gating criteria of the checks. The best bet would be to adopt minimally sufficient guardrails for consistency. The path to success is to revisit them in real time and make the necessary changes as more is learned.

Step 3: De-Scale To Scale

Scaling Scrum (or even agile) is not about just copying what was done in a team or a group of teams across the organization. De-scaling of enterprise functions will be needed before even one team can achieve a true Agile way of working. Scaling with poor team practices and low-performance teams amplifies the problem throughout the organization. 

To scale correctly, we must first ensure that the individual teams are practicing Scrum well. Focus on making the team make strides in frequent deliveries and engagement with users can help achieve teams master Scrum better. 

Step 4: Seek To Create Knowledge

To create knowledge that is useful, we need a proper knowledge management setup. The managers are great enablers here. The best management style to adopt is neither top-down nor bottom-up. In their Scrum research paper, Nonaka and Takeuchi call it  "middle-up-down," where the middle managers form a bridge between the ideals of top management and the chaotic realities of the frontline. Middle management should become the driving force for organizational change to meet the strategy of the business. 

Because of the competitive environment and dynamic customer preferences, knowledge becomes stale quickly. Effective knowledge management that goes beyond documenting UI flow or capturing release notes is necessary for success.  

Step 5: Foster a Leadership Culture

Culture is the tacit social order of an organization. It defines what is encouraged or discouraged and accepted or rejected within a group. To stimulate creativity and create purpose, it's important to embrace change. Risk mitigation already happens to some extent in Scrum with shorter iterations. The relationships between the team and its leaders should be that of trust and mutual interdependence and should be less directive. This, of course, requires competency beyond software development. Soft skills play a major role in ensuring leadership is a stance adopted across roles and does not become an expectation from a few people up in the hierarchy. 

Conclusion

The steps above are only the beginning but they ensure to take you on the right path towards success. How convenient it would have been if this could be just defined as a "process" or a "methodology" and connect people with it?  Historically, we have seen that whenever this is done Scrum is blamed for "not working" for them. 

When you embark on the steps, many more will be encountered, but the ideas and lessons learned when taking the first steps will help guide you to the next best action to be taken to stay on the right course.

Do you think you have the next step figured out? If yes, please do not hesitate to share.