97 Things Every Scrum Practitioner Should Know

Chapter 3. Actually, It’s Not Really About Scrum

Stacia Viscardi

Scrum is a seemingly simple creation that tells us how to run Sprints, create burn-down charts, and define “Done,” among other things. You’ll recall reading about Scrum phrases like, “Scrum is easy on the surface but difficult to implement.” That is because, on the surface, the Scrum façade is simple, like a perfectly lined-up row of bricks. Dig a little deeper, however, and find the gnarly, twisted roots of managing complex and chaotic situations, the cornerstone of people and motivation, and remnants of Lean foundations. They are like ancient aqueducts running under a modern street. Scrum is ultimately a balcony from which we may view reality, whatever it might be, so that people can make higher-quality decisions based on a newer and improved version of that reality.

I tweeted some time ago that “Scrum is a system integration test to see if it’s possible for an organization to deliver value in a Sprint. That test reveals the system’s failures, or impediments, that we then must go and fix.” These “bugs”—bumps in the road, impediments—hold the key to what constrains an organization’s ability to deliver what really matters: functionality to make its users, customers, and/or market happy.

All of a sudden, you go and implement Scrum, this exposer of reality, this big test, and it’s no surprise that you encounter ...