This series will take you through most of the essentials of the Scrum framework, I will dive into how it could be used better by applying the theory and principles.
It may help you and your teams with a better way of working, it may highlight some gaps for you and your teams. That’s my only true intention.
This first part is to “Set the stage” for this Better Scrum series, Why Scrum?
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I had the pleasure writing and sharing it. All and any feedback is welcome and appreciated.
The Stacey Matrix model was developed by Ralph Stacey in 2011 to help organisations define the domain in which their work is, and how best to approach that work.
Complex work is where Uncertainty outweighs on the scale with respect to Certainty.
Many Product Developments require innovation, innovating is complex work. There is often much uncertainty when innovating before deploying mass production, like a factory production line which is often automated these days compared to the industries of many decades ago.
Computers are very complicated machines, Software Development is not about churning lines of text into a code editor, Software Development is complex work. I would say developers need to innovate by trying, failing, and succeeding constantly every day doing their work.
Have you ever encountered that problem that took days to fix and the final solution after many attempts was less than 5 lines of code? This is the constant daily challenge for software engineers.
The Traditional Approach has always attempted to reduce complexity by creating heavyweight management on requirements and on means by fixing most variables like what is to be done – easily referred to as scope, and like how to do – like architecture, design, algorithms, patterns, copy/paste, best practices, good practices.
While the traditional approach is to create certainty with Project Management, we often fail to deliver on-time, on-budget, on-scope and with Quality. In the few instances we succeed, what Customers get was only what was wanted at the kick-off of the project, many months or some years ago.
In this everchanging world of competitiveness, Customers want value instantly to gain Market advantages.
Waiting many months or even years, and those Market advantages are gone, lost to other competitors that were much more reactive.
The word Innovation is just like a buzz word, pretty much everywhere I look, it is there. Companies are proud to showcase the word, but it is more than just a buzz word or a label, it is essential today for businesses to survive. Many businesses must innovate, it’s what their Customers desire to get an edge on competitors. Without Customers, none of these businesses will survive. Without innovation, none of these businesses will endure.
Complexity should be approached by probing, sensing and responding. It calls for many emergent practices – new ways of working, even with existing structures, learning by doing.
Innovation and Complexity go hand in hand.
Innovation, both in Products and Software, requires people, craftmanship and experience. Innovation is trying things out, experimenting, failing, inspecting, being ok with failure, learning, adapting and succeeding.
As human beings, whatever our level, whatever our skill, whatever our discipline, whatever our professional motivations, whatever our passions, whatever our age, whatever our responsibility, whatever our power and control, we all should shift away from any “carrots and sticks”, like “do this, you get that”.
In 2009, Daniel Pink describes three things that “Drive” motivation, autonomy, mastery and purpose. Autonomy is about giving boundaries and allowing self-direction. Mastery is about challenges, getting better at doing stuff and making a contribution. Purpose is about creating a reason to co-exist, to work together, to know why we are contributing.
Humans working together adds additional complexity. Scrum is for teams collaborating together as one, the bigger the team, the less likely they will work together as a team.
For me, really caring is essential for getting results, caring for people, listening, understanding their needs, serving, elevating, and accepting all outcomes as either a success or a learning opportunity.
Why Scrum?
The Scrum framework may not be for you, for example, if your work is simple, or maybe if you still believe you can control innovation, risk and uncertainty. It’s ok. I do however believe we can work better together as a true team, focusing on intrinsic motivation, collaborating and leadership.
There is a better way of using the Scrum framework, the next part in this series will look at the Definition of Scrum.
There are always more emergent practices and better ways to work, that’s how we all learn, by sharing.
by Elementor Pro
