The Dogma Defence
The biggest challenge Scrum faces (IMO) is that the number of poor implementations of Scrum far outnumber the right ones, and that, by far, the number of poor implementations of Scrum is representing Scrum.
It’s like a team just getting started playing football, realizing they are shit at it, then proceed to change the rules of the game and lines on the field, rather than improving their play. Then… instead of training/improving, they’ll (rather lazily) stick to complaining about not getting premier league results, whilst abandoning practices that should have made them great over time.
Ron Jeffries explained this well in his article We tried Baseball, but it didn’t work.
Perhaps the business isn’t a game (or is it?); at least I bet that just like in a game:
when participants play by different rules, interpretations thereof, or are confused about all the unwritten house rules, you’ll have conflict and chaos.
Those starting Scrum should understand it takes time and training to get the hang of it to experience benefits from it.
Teams should try to get better at it; there is plenty of room in the field to experiment.
I would agree that a statement like ‘because the Scrum Guide says so’ doesn’t cut it and indeed sounds ‘dogmatic’. One would have to argue the ‘why the Scrum Guide says what it says’ and question if that purpose matches the intended purpose. Scrum will likely not work for organizations applying Scrum for purposes it is not designed for, even when implemented ‘dogmatically’.
But what is ‘dogmatic’ anyway but an invasive negative term introduced to Scrum. For example: is ‘the ambition to practice something well’ dogmatic? is ‘playing by the rules’ dogmatic? is ‘honoring your team agreements’ dogmatic? Is ‘trying to be good at Scrum’ dogmatic?
This is actually at the core of what our community is about: working to improve practice and understanding of Scrum and helping each other. Follow Scrum to the letter ‘no matter what’. That is not helpful.
The critics
When engaging critics of Scrum and learning they aren’t actually doing Scrum, #dogma is played. Aka: “You shouldn’t follow Scrum by the letter, just because the guide says so because that would be #dogma”.
I do agree that you shouldn’t follow a guide just because the guide says so, yet if you choose to adopt the framework then at least learn to understand why the guide says what it says. Be open to try it, be dedicated to trying to do it well, before you deliver judgment. Call this approach Shu-Ha-Ri if you like.
Teams may well choose not to follow the guide and are thus bound to get lost. This is okay as long as you are there to help them back on track.
Many will say Agile is only a set of ‘guidelines’, or that it is a ‘philosophy’. No, it isn’t. It is a manifesto! It is something bold that should be upheld. It contains ‘principles’: a fundamental proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning. It should be desirable to follow it if you want to battle, escape, remedy toxic environments. Taking out or modifying elements that make up the foundational framework, without a proper understanding of its impact, will weaken the whole.
Some will argue that ‘whatever the team wants’ can be considered Agile because of #self-steering or # self-organizing. If you do, please consider the Agile Principles, Scrum’s Values, and the reasoning behind them, to challenge that, what the team wants, is actually outweighing the benefits of that which it seeks to adjust/abandon. This is the value of coaching.
The value of adding ‘yet’
Don’t get me wrong though, there can be valid reasons why teams abandon or adapt certain values, principles, or practices, but surely this can be done without bashing the manifesto or framework that helped you establish that. For example, if your team isn’t able to deliver qualitative value within a timeframe, please note that they just can’t do it ‘yet’.
Their is a major difference to saying “I can’t do it”, versus saying: “I can’t do it yet”
Those that utter those three letters will reveal a totally different mindset. A mindset that is far more likely to deliver better results and experiences.
Stop lowering bars and abandoning principles, just because you aren’t good at it yet. Instead, use those principles as a means to improve. ‘Yet’ is far more powerful than ‘But’.
Frankenstein terminology
Unless you are a skilled practitioner, stop introducing Frankenstein terminology to hide ineptitude; it doesn’t make you sound creative or innovative.
Stop adopting Scrum, then deciding to not actually do Scrum, but still call it Scrum. Stop saying Scrum doesn’t work if you haven’t done it properly yet. It says more about your ability and commitment to Scrum rather than Scrum.
Stop saying “Scrum doesn’t work” if you should be saying “I have trouble doing it right”.
You can choose to avoid change, uphold a status-quo, keep doing what is comfortable and upholding your convictions that Scrum doesn’t work, or Agile is just a fad, or that learning how to do it right is dogma, and dogma is bad m’kay. OR…. if you can set aside your ego, you might actually show some courage by saying/asking things like:
- “I have trouble getting it right”
- “Why am I not getting the results I expected”
- “How can I do it better”
- “What am I not doing right”
- “Why do I think this will not work”
- “What’s one step I can take that will make it slightly better”
Feel free, go beyond!
Look, with Scrum you’ll end up dragging the organization through its own mud. It’s painful. No one said it would be easy or painless.
The benefits will only be experienced by those who persist, not by those who give in.
Having said all this, please don’t imply that I am telling you to limit yourself. Plenty can be done on the canvas which the framework supports. Use that canvas, introduce your values, principles, practices, workshops, training, and tools. Nothing is preventing you from going ‘beyond’. In fact, please do go beyond. Scrum is a framework designed so teams can find freedom on their canvas.
I wrote this with a genuine urge to help others, like myself, battle defects, rather than submit to status quos and toxic cultures and environments. Feel free to ignore it all. Feel free to tell me why I am wrong to write all this. Feel free to give me a new perspective so I can learn, adapt, improve.
Thank you for taking the time to read my rant. It would mean a lot to me if you let me know what this made you feel and think.
After posting this, I’ve kindly been referred to these blog articles by Ken Schwaber.
