97 Things Every Scrum Practitioner Should Know

Chapter 96. Born to Be Agile: A Case for Scrum in the Classroom

Arno Delhij

As an Agile Coach or Scrum Master, you most likely have encountered resistance in your work. We work with people who have established careers in established enterprises and help them to work in an Agile manner, usually by adopting Scrum. And although it can be love at first sight—people immediately and wholeheartedly embrace Scrum—more often than not, we face resistance. We feel we have to teach the people involved new things and to adopt new ways of working. As Agile Coaches or Scrum Masters, it appears that we have to teach people how to be Agile in the sense of being adaptive and self-organizing. But, is that really true? Were we born with no other capability than to act within the traditional context of traditional organizations that know nothing else but a command-and-control way of working? Does our DNA limit us to only being able to follow a plan and instructions imposed upon us?

Did you learn to walk or ride a bike by following a plan? No! You used trial and error: Inspect and Adapt. It is amazing how many human activities until the age of six are based purely upon failing (often) and adapting to the lessons learned. Chances are high that this started changing as you went to school around the age of six. Although schools occasionally use innovative and new approaches, most of them implement ...