Scrum Is Dead. Long Live Scrum. [Part 2]

Over the last week or so, Cory Foy and I have been trading posts about the state of the Scrum universe [Click here for Part 1]. In his last entry, he writes with vim and vinegar, and comes to a compelling conclusion: “Get Scrum Working Well in One Industry” BEFORE we “Implement Scrum In [other] Specific Industries”.

That is to say, if the co-founder of Scrum estimates that “75% of those organizations using Scrum will not succeed in getting the benefits that they hope for from it”, then what makes us think we’ll do any better by broadening the scope of what we want to do?

It sounds pretty cut and dry, doesn’t it? Focus on your niche, and don’t overstretch. But there was something about it that left me unsettled. It’s taken me days to digest this, but I think I have some counter-points:

• First, the 75% failure rate of Scrum is one man’s hunch. When Ken Schwaber says only a quarter of those trying Scrum get what they want from it, that’s based on his own implmentations. Certainly most teams would fail to meet Ken’s very high standards. But what if we instead asked “How many of those who tried Scrum or Agile techniques saw at least some positive improvement?” or “How many teams were in on the whole at least a little bit better off for exploring Scrum?” I bet the answer would be much different. There’s no way I would say a majority of my own clients and trainees meet my standard of a high-performing team”. However, I would say that most are HIGHER performing. The goal is improvement, not perfection. Don’t let your ideal take away from the good that is being done.
• Second, defining your niche as broad vs. deep is a false dilemma.
  The Scrum Alliance is NOT a company that has to choose between a narrow vertical industry or a very specific generic offering. Rather, it is a formalized body that supports an organic movement to “transform the world of work”. It is a big tent that provides tools and products to equip any one person’s niche within that movement. Whether offering an article for how to interact with a large company PMO, or supporting a local user group consisting mostly of GUI designers, the SA responds to what its members ask for.

  

  The niche for the SA is not a specific depth or a specific breadth of product, it’s this: “helping teams get better using Scrum”. From Tony Robbins to Colin Powell, many people make the world better by having a similarly broad-based niche. Your niche can be both deep and broad, so long as it is still a very narrow deep and a very thin wide. Tony Robbins can tell you get a little bit better as a person (thin & broad), but will mentor only a few people to become amazing as self-help instructors (thin & deep). Colin Powell will help many many people become better leaders (thin & broad), but will advise only the senior-most generals and politicians on how to become chiefs of state (thin & deep).

ABSOLUTELY, Cory is right that the Scrum Alliance has some work to do to become more effective at this mission. The recent leadership drama, churn over the certification exam, and the delayed transparancy are all problems that need to be fixed. Furthermore, he is right to describe the lack of industry-specific guidance as “magic happens here”. You should read his post. However, I do not think the SA’s execution issues point to having the wrong mission.

Tagged as: scrum