Scrum newbies: how long do we have to wait for you to get started?
It’s OK if it isn’t perfect.
Procrastination. Everyone does it, and falling in love with creating the perfect plan is often the culprit.
For instance, I spent two days thinking about how to write this post instead of simply taking action. I deliberated on the title, planned points to cover, and thought through arguments. And this cycle continued as I researched and built my writing plan of attack.
Most of my delay tactics result from being afraid of writing something that sucks. I fear my post will not resonate and will fall flat. So I focus upfront to get everything right before I start.
But procrastination delays action, and I know taking action is how I learn. When I finally start to write, I break through the planning barrier and move into the real work. The work, not the planning, is where the magic happens and where I emerge my best writing.
Often, teams and organizations new to Scrum fall into the same trap as I do with my writing. But I have found a way to help them beat the procrastination trap, break through their fear of trying, and get into Scrum flow.
Stop trying to get it right the first time
Many organizations trying Scrum for the first time start from a command-and-control culture. Trying new things is not allowed. Rewards result from following top-down plans and standard ways of working.
Scrum’s empirical approach flies in the face of this traditional management behavior.
Scrum is founded on empiricism and lean thinking. Empiricism asserts that knowledge comes from experience and making decisions based on what is observed.
So most organizations freeze when faced with the new adaptive mindset of Scrum. Their fear of failure drives them to get it all right up front before starting to Sprint. They procrastinate in many ways.
- “We need to deep train every team on Scrum.”
- “Let’s roll out a Scrum playbook with all our standard practices for all teams.”
- “All teams need a full backlog.”
- “Let’s create an estimate and plan for our backlog.”
- “We need to practice for a few Sprints.”
- “Let’s understand how we will build features so we can complete everything we plan.”
- “We don’t know our velocity, so let’s plan every small detail of our Sprint work.”
Let me tell you a secret: no team has a perfect first Sprint. And no team has a perfect 500th Sprint. It’s a never-ending improvement journey, enabled by cycles of try, inspect, and adapt.
Don’t try to get everything perfect before the first Sprint. Use your first Sprint to figure out where you need to improve in your second Sprint. Rinse and repeat.
In other words, get started. You will start seeing value out of Scrum as you do Scrum rather than thinking about it.
“It’s easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than think your way into a new way of acting.”
— Jerry Sternin
Form your team, create a team charter, read the Scrum Guide, and get into your first Sprint right away. Start your path without delay. Avoiding the procrastination trap with your first Sprint is this simple.
Find your focus
Many teams find it difficult to start Scrum because they have so much work in flight. Having a common goal for an entire Sprint, much less an entire day, is a fantasy to them. Every work item is open, and finishing work is an elusive rarity.
Let’s take an example of one of my recent teams. This team had many features for many stakeholders. It had an ever-increasing pile of deferred defects. On top of this, it experienced a constant barrage of production incidents.
All this work was in flight at the same time, and this made finding a focus difficult. When faced with the structure and heartbeat of Scrum, the team members found it a difficult fit.
Forecasting a Sprint’s worth of work was impossible for this team. Due to the chaos of the current way of working, thinking ahead was limited to a few days. Creating a Sprint Backlog for the entire first Sprint seemed like a joke. Instead, we did something unconventional and, to be honest, scary for the team.
We decided to slow down and focus.
The defect pile was only getting bigger and causing the rate of production incidents to rise. So we decided to halt all new feature development. We set the Sprint Goal to pay down defect debt in a particular area of the product.
Next, the team faced a typical problem: how much debt could it pay down in the Sprint? It had no prior velocity to use as a guide, and the defects were not sized.
Given the uncertainty, I suggested the team learn by doing. The team broke tradition and did not estimate all defects and create a detailed plan. Instead, we took an incremental, experimental approach.
We first identified the highest priority defect aligning to the Sprint Goal. Then, we made a plan for this defect and no others. This focus allowed team members to start work on one defect together, as a team.
For the first time in a long time, all minds focused on one item with minimal distractions. Within a few days, the team fixed the defect and deployed it to production. This process was repeated with more defects one at a time until the end of the Sprint.
The benefits from this approach were many:
- Instead of being a collection of individuals, a real team emerged.
- A finishing culture was practiced rather than a starting culture.
- Finishing felt good.
- Making incremental progress toward the Sprint Goal increased momentum.
- Impediments became visible fast and the team removed them without delay to keep the defect moving to a “done” state.
- Team members started to learn and cross-skill by interacting with each other.
- Velocity started to emerge to aid in planning future work.
- With each defect, the team tweaked its approach, creating a micro-retrospective rhythm.
- A flow state emerged faster since all the extra noise dissipated.
- The barriers to trying Scrum became lessened.
This is not the first team with which I have tried this approach, and it works every time. Finding flow and purpose are some of the best things about Scrum. And this technique brings them front and center.
Level up your Scrum initiation
Having a “try” mentality and creating a laser-sharp focus will take you far with Scrum. But a few extra steps can take it into overdrive and ensure a long, fruitful journey.
1. Get leadership support
Having a leader that supports your experimentation builds your courage. It will give you a safe space to get Scrum rolling. And, to be frank, without it, your success will be short-lived.
Explain to your manager you want to learn by doing and you want to focus on getting things done sooner with focus. Ask your manager to support you when you fall. Request help in removing obstacles when you encounter them.
I guarantee your manager will not turn you down. And your experiment will have a safety net and the might of management support.
2. Consult an experienced guide
Why reinvent the wheel? You gain an advantage when you can rely on experience already gained by someone else.
In the end, you need to customize the techniques you try to your context, but it is a good idea to have a starter pattern to try. Using an established pattern to practice a new behavior is a great way to form new habits.
Use the experience of an Agile coach, another team’s Scrum Master, or another team’s developer. Ask these guides to coach you as you try out new patterns. Once you have the pattern down, you can then experiment on your own to evolve your unique patterns.
3. Use the wisdom of crowds
Your team is more powerful and knowledgeable together. This is also true for a team of teams.
Find a community of others on the Agile journey. Share and cross-pollinate knowledge. These communities can be internal or external to your company. For instance, you can find a great community on the Serious Scrum Slack channel.
A community will support you on your journey. And you will provide support for others on their journey. It’s a win-win scenario.
When you find yourself trying to make your situation perfect before you try Scrum, stop. Remember that Scrum itself is a framework built for experimentation. Use experiments for your specific Scrum journey and evolve as you learn.
Nobody gets it right on the first try.
Focus is a key element. Eliminate all distractions, and the benefits of flow will wash over your team.
One day, not too far after you start, you will realize the simplicity of this framework. And you will be glad you took the journey without pause.
Don’t procrastinate with Scrum. What are you waiting for?
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