Archive for February 22nd, 2010

• Why do you care so much (about Scrum)?

  Date: 2010.02.22 | Category: Agile, Coaching, Scrum | Response: 1

  I am really passionate about Scrum – I see the Scrum framework as a powerful means for organizational transformation and reconnecting alienated people to their work and their peers.  IMO, Scrum works because of its simplicity of roles and rituals and is transformative because it engages the imagination and creativity of the people who participate.  Scrum is about self-organization, communication, visibility, accountability and what I call the Sprit of Scrum – the sense of camaraderie, common purpose and commitment – drives our actions on Teams.  Where some people see weakness or omission in the framework, I see strength because Scrum relies on individuals and interactions to fill in the gaps, not process and tools that may (or may not) come with the framework.

  However, over the past couple of weeks, there has been a fair amount of criticism directed at Scrum (some deserved and others not so much).  There are a few specific examples that I could link to and write strongly-worded, emotional counter arguments, but that just continues the invective.  What irks me so much about many  Scrum critics is they want to take advantage of the large mindshare of Scrum to gain wider distribution of their ideas.

  Some critics just go over-and-over-and-over-and-over again about how whatever it is they are doing is so superior to Scrum, how Scrum is so bad and how they are so right.    Really?  Who gave these critics the monopoly on right and wrong, better or worse?  If you have a different set of principles, that lead to different set of beliefs and actions, it does not mean the other people are wrong, stupid or even misguided.  Having separate ideas and principles exist side-by-side is called pluralism and is generally considered a strength.

  So I ask the question of these Scrum, “Why do you even care?”  If Scrum is something you do not practice any more, find value from or you have tool that better suits you and your principles, why do you have to come and leave a big crap in my pool?  Why do you have to make things more difficult for the people who really care about this thing called Scrum, the people who really do care and are invested in the outcome?  Why don’t you just go to your side of the room and do your thing and leave us alone and let us do our thing?  It is not that I don’t like your ideas, but I’m focused on my goal and your not helping me, so I would prefer you just stay over there and do your thing.

• Best Links of the Week – Feb 22nd 2010

  Date: 2010.02.22 | Category: Agile, Collaboration, Continuous Integration, Pair Programming, Refactoring, Scrum, Test-Driven Development | Response: 0

  Links to share with your friends and co-workers

  1. Is an Agile PMO possible? – Curt Finch talks about the values of both Agile practices, PMI standards and how to marry the two.
  2. Self-organization: the secret sauce for improving your Scrum team – In this 90-miute video for Google, Jeff Sutherland talks about the role of self-organization and other advanced Scrum techniques.
  3. The Agile Flywheel – a short experience report describing how one company melded Scrum with their mature ITIL processes.
  4. Just do it: a quick intro to Agile’s technical practices – a summary of the technical core of Agile software development by Abby Fichtner.
  5. I love pair programming – Discussion on the effectiveness and the challenges of pair programming after a five month trial.