Fact: Scrum is not a development Issue
Most scrum initiatives come from the development environment. The development manager or initiated people within the development organization are seeking change and improvement and scrum has during the second half of the last decade been where to look for it.
This initiative may or may not have the buy-in from the top management which of course is important but will not ensure success. The problem with this is that scrum is not a development issue. Introducing scrum locally in the development department will not bring the full value.
Introduction of Scrum is much more than changing the development department. We need to change the way the business stake holders view the development. We need to change the way we work with requirements and empower the teams to be able to take responsibility for the delivery and the value. Without introducing the methodology trough out the organization the initiative is bound to run into brick walls as the areas of improvement is outside the scope of the actual development department. The most obvious key learning is missed in most of the literature:
Most books fail to address this. Comments like: “The Scrum Master is also responsible for showing the Product Owner how to use Scrum…” clearly defines this focus and cements a difficult and dangerous way for introducing the Scrum methodology. Of course the Scrum Masters are not unimportant in the Scrum introduction, but we are looking for a “big play” here. To really get the improvements, we need to address it in a way that actually is capable of reaching these goals.
And this leads us to the next big question:Where will the improvement come from?
1. Fact: Scrum is not a project methodology 2. Fact: Scrum is not a development issue 3. Big Question: Where will the improvement come from? 4. Fact: Scrum does not remove all problems in an organization. 5. Myth: The Scrum Master is key 6. Myth: Scrum is more important than common sense