Experts Debunk Common Misconceptions About Scrum
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Experts Debunk Common Misconceptions About Scrum
Even with high adoption rates and broad awareness of Scrum, there are still many misconceptions that impact the ability of Scrum teams to be effective. -
Scrum Myth #1: Anyone Can Be the Scrum Master
This rumor comes up all the time, especially in organizations that are new to Scrum. If you know the rules of Scrum, you can be a functional Scrum master, but those with good emotional intelligence can be great Scrum masters.—Benjamin Day, Boston -
Scrum Myth #2: Scrum Is Meeting Heavy
It’s true that the "Scrum Guide" outlines regular events (meetings), but these create regularity and often minimize the need for other meetings not defined in Scrum. Plus, all events are time-boxed, so every event has a maximum duration.—Barry Overeem, the Netherlands -
Scrum Myth #3: Daily Scrum Is a Status Meeting
The Daily Scrum and status meetings might not seem different, but there are important differences that impact the effectiveness of Scrum. Daily Scrum amplifies transparency and enables frequent inspection and adaption, achieving an outcome toward the Sprint Goal and promoting collaboration you’d never get in a status meeting.—Stephanie Ockerman, Ohio -
Scrum Myth #4: Velocity Equals Value
Does velocity equal value? No, because they are very different things. Velocity is a way to measure output (although that can differ from team to team), while value is a way to evaluate the usefulness of the product by different stakeholders.—Alex Ballarin Latre, Barcelona -
Scrum Myth #5: The Scrum Master Has to Be a Techie
The Scrum master isn't necessarily the technical leader of the team. The job is to help everyone stay focused and productive on delivering working software. Scrum masters must be able to get some distance from the technology so they can see the big picture. —Benjamin Day, Boston -
Scrum Myth #6: You Can Run Sprints That Don’t Produce a Done Increment
A Sprint Goal is to produce a Done Increment. The "Scrum Guide" defines a Sprint with this sentence: “The heart of Scrum is a Sprint, a time-box of one month or less during which a ‘Done,’ useable and potentially releasable product increment is created.” Sprints not designed to produce a Done Increment undermine the basics of Scrum.—Alex Ballarin Latre, Barcelona -
Scrum Myth #7: Scrum Projects Are Faster and Cheaper
There are three problems with this: It misses the point of Scrum; it sets teams up for failure because management is focusing on the wrong thing; and it’s impossible to prove. Scrum's goal is to deliver incremental value, and if you are delivering value, you are getting results faster, rather than focusing on the non-value capabilities of a product. —Stephanie Ockerman, Ohio -
Scrum Myth #8: The Sprint Backlog Is a Commitment
The Sprint Backlog is not a fixed list of work to be done; it is a living plan on how to meet the Sprint Goal. It is flexible, and the development team and product owner must be able to discuss the work in the Sprint Backlog so that the overall Sprint Goal—the true aim of the Sprint—is realized.—Alasdair Macleod, United Kingdom -
Myth #9: Quality Is Traded for Speed in Scrum
When teams are given unrealistic deadlines, they may cut corners and lower quality to achieve speed. When there's high pressure on delivery, people tend to pay less attention to processes and standards. That's why the Scrum master is responsible for ensuring that the Scrum team understands and enacts Scrum practices and rules.—Krystian Kaczor, Poland -
Scrum Myth #10: There Is Failure in Not Finishing All Sprint Backlog Items
Success in a Sprint is not defined by whether all of the forecasted Sprint Backlog Items were completed. Success is defined by the Increment that was produced and how the Scrum team inspects and adapts based on stakeholder feedback. Finding a path to “Done” often happens in real-time as the work is being executed. Allow the Sprint Backlog to emerge and leverage the Scrum framework to guide you.—Todd Miller, Maryland
With an estimated 90 percent of agile teams using Scrum around the world, this framework for managing complex projects has become, for many enterprises, the de facto standard in agile team organization. It’s not a surprise, then, that according to both Glassdoor and LinkedIn, scrum master is one of the hottest tech jobs in 2017. Yet, even with high adoption rates and broad awareness, there are still many misconceptions that pop up and impact the ability of Scrum teams to be effective. Many of the common myths about Scrum arise from a poor understanding of the "Scrum Guide," and even more often, from not having read the guide at all. These misconceptions could impact teams that have implemented Scrum, or even worse, they could prevent an organization from adopting Scrum because managers believe many of these misconceptions. The following slideshow features 10 of the most common Scrum myths from Professional Scrum Trainers (PST’s) located around the world, along with their counter-arguments explaining why these misconceptions are baseless.