Is SCRUM Evil?

These notes from CITCONAsiaPacific2009Sessions. See also Is Scrum Evil? from CITCONEurope2008Sessions and Is scrum Evil from CITCONUS2010Sessions.

Scrum is evil because

• becomes and end in itself - an excuse
• "that's not scrum"
• treated as a silver bullet
• it hides poor estimation
• master as dictator
• master as project manager
• 2 days - certified!

More Evil

• Daily standup = Agile
• Agile by the numbers
• Dessert first - not worring about technical debt or CI
• You lose the baby with the bathwater
• scrum teams don't play well with others including customers
• it has certification
• it is the philosopher's stone

Diagram

• scrum is iterative waterfall
• "I'm feeling sort of damp and ..."
• Scrum is the new RUP
• Jeffrey More - 'Crossing the Chasm'
  • technology adoption lifecycle
• visionaries/early adopters -> early marjority (scrum has crossed over - makes early adopters sad)

Engineering Envy

• After the gold rush
• Other engineering professions have bigger budgets, more risk, more formulae?
• Other engineering professions still have this pain - see the aeronautical engineer who built spaceship One for Richard Branson on lean methodologies
• Delays of Recent Boeing/Airbus Aircraft
• A lot of Agile stuff comes from bottom up - Scrum comes from Top down

Scrum is Good Because

• (not about how to get non-sucky engineers)
• people can get it
• an easy introduction
• a good starting point
• it is better than a cowboy shop people can actually follow it
• improves visibility
• provides a forum for communication
• can engage customers in a much wider way
• blockers are highlighted
• testers can start work early
• states there should be a facilitator
• results focussed
• makes everybody responsible for end result
• better communication from end result

Takeaway

• Scrum is not evil - people are evil