Great Scrum Masters Know When Their Team Should Abolish Scrum
Scrum Masters should challenge the use of Scrum
Scrum Masters should challenge the use of Scrum
Scrum is the most popular Agile framework in the world. It started out as an approach to creating software products. These days it is applied to many other areas where people create products or services.
The Scrum Team has a Scrum Master who is accountable for the effectiveness of the team. This includes helping the team move away from Scrum if this helps them to create higher value.
This may seem contradictory. But let me explain.
Scrum’s sweet spot
Scrum is an approach to create valuable products and services in a complex environment with a cross-functional team that can have regular conversations with key stakeholders to inspect and adapt.
This implies the following:
The best way to create value is through discovery, not through using best practices or through analysis. By taking small steps and reflecting upon these steps with their stakeholders, teams gain an understanding of what they should do next.
There’s a team of people that creates the product. This team is cross-functional so they have all the skills to create value in every Sprint.
The team set goals that bring guidance to creating value. The team plan and execute their work based upon their goals.
The team is empowered and able to improve their way of working to increase their effectiveness.
The team embraces the Scrum Values Commitment, Courage, Focus, Openness, and Respect.
Many Scrum Teams will recognize themselves in the above. This is because Scrum is a solution for modern world problems. It is a helpful framework for many.
The Scrum Master — accountable for an effective team
The Scrum Master needs to ensure the team is effective in their usage of Scrum.
“The Scrum Master is accountable for the Scrum Team’s effectiveness. They do this by enabling the Scrum Team to improve its practices, within the Scrum framework.” — Scrum Guide 2020
This is a gigantic undertaking. I already wrote about the magnitude of the Scrum Master accountability here. A Scrum Master should be on the ball constantly. Whenever a team can’t be effective, whatever the reason, the Scrum Master should help the team to address it.
There’s one caveat though:
“The Scrum Master is accountable for establishing Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide.” — Scrum Guide 2020
The Scrum Master must do all this by ensuring the teams works with Scrum as per the Scrum Guide. It makes sense. Scrum has a reason for the values, rules, accountabilities, events and artifacts to exist. Together, they help teams to create value.
Scrum is only effective when teams use all pieces of the puzzle. Hence the Scrum Master’s accountability to establish Scrum as defined.
But what if Scrum isn’t the best way to be effective?
Reasons teams aren’t effective with Scrum
I see many reasons why Scrum won’t work. Below, I grouped them in two:
Scrum isn’t the right framework
Teams can’t use Scrum in its entirety
Reason 1 — Scrum isn’t the right framework
When a product environment isn’t complex (e.g. unpredictable or unstable), Scrum is not a good fit. When there’s no option to work with a cross-functional team, Scrum makes no sense. When there’s no way to inspect and adapt with stakeholders, Scrum is of no use.
These are clear-cut reasons to stop working with Scrum. Here, Scrum isn’t the right fit. Teams should look for other ways to create valuable products.
Reason 2 — Teams can’t use Scrum in its entirety
A Scrum Master should help the team to push the envelope. She or he should help challenge the status quo. But if users, customers and/or the organisation don’t and will not accept Scrum for what it is, Scrum can’t work.
If teams have to plan on output instead of the outcome this doesn’t comply with Scrum. When teams can’t deviate from their plan to reach an outcome, this is not Scrum.
If teams can’t manage the outcome through goals, this is against what Scrum is about. If teams aren’t allowed to challenge organisational rules that block their progress, this causes Scrum to be ineffective.
If the team has been challenging these issues for a long time and there’s no chance of change, should you really continue the charade? Granted, this is a dreadful reason to abandon Scrum.
It also doesn’t bode well for other approaches the team wishes to try. But I believe it is better to abandon half-hearted attempts than continuing with them. With Scrum, you either go all-in or you don’t use it at all.
Effectiveness trumps approach
The Scrum Master is accountable for the Scrum Team’s effectiveness. The Scrum Master is also accountable for establishing Scrum as described in the Scrum Guide.
But when Scrum doesn’t fit the team — for whatever reason — these two contradict each other. By using Scrum, the team is less effective than they could be.
When teams can’t effectively deliver value because they use Scrum, effectiveness wins. A Scrum Master should know when it’s time to abolish Scrum.
Scrum is great, but not always
Scrum is a widely applicable framework. Many product environments are complex and well-served with Scrum. It takes commitment to work with Scrum. Teams are on a journey with ups and downs and they should face challenges and obstructions head-on.
But there are limits to what a team can do in an environment that doesn’t accept the consequences of adopting Scrum. Also, Scrum isn’t suited for every environment.
Scrum doesn’t always work. Then the team needs to make choices, guided by the Scrum Master. Ultimately, it is about achieving your objectives that counts. Not the means to achieve your objective. When this is the case, a Scrum Master should have the courage to help the team to move away from Scrum.