Here are some things I have learned from Scrum.
- Cross functional teams are good. Just having them achieves a three to tenfold improvement over a group of people working on several projects at once. And they improve innovation by the team.
- Time-boxing increases discipline, visibility and the ability to pivot.
- Small batches are good and breaking work down into small pieces is essential.
- Smaller release cycles improve most everything.
- It is useful to have a team coach.
- Do not expect people to figure out what they need to do just because you have put them in a framework.
- Focus on learning the practices of a framework makes learning what you actually need to accomplish (flow) harder.
- People like to be given a set of practices to use.
- Defining a simple set of practices to use can lead to rigid dogma.
- Take an approach that transitions you to the behaviors you need.
- Approaches that work well in one context may not work well in another even though people them everywhere without noticing this.
- And, just because you can put whatever you want into a framework, that doesn’t mean the framework is not prescriptive. In itself, the framework has things you must do.
And finally, it is best to think of frameworks as tools, not solutions.
-AMAZONPOLLY-ONLYAUDIO-START-
This is Al Shalloway. Visit us at www.netobjectives.com.
-AMAZONPOLLY-ONLYAUDIO-END-