If you could teach just one thing about Scrum, what would it be?
I wouldn’t teach anything about Scrum if I only had one thing to teach, I would focus on the underlying principles that underpin scrum. Empiricism and navigating complexity effectively.
Empiricism.
When I’m delivering the
APS course (Applying Professional Scrum)
or talking to clients about how to effectively develop products in complex environments, I spend a great deal of time talking about the concept of empiricism, also known as Empirical Process Control.
Empiricism is built on three (3) pillars:
Transparency.
Inspection
Adaptation.
Transparency.
We make language, jargon, terms, and work transparent and we ensure it is visible to everyone relevant to the product. So, for example, if we use the term Minimum Viable Product, we ensure that everybody knows what that means, and what we, specifically, mean when we use that term.
So, a shared language and understanding is the first element of transparency.
The second element is making work transparent.
That may be:
Our working hypothesis.
What outcomes we are hoping to achieve.
What work is planned.
What criteria must be met before the work is considered complete.
What the flow of work throughout the system looks like.
What problems or impediments exist.
How the work is progressing.
What outcomes have been achieved.
And so forth.
Every element of the work is transparent and visible. Every element of our process and systems is transparent and visible. Every problem we experience and every impediment, large or small, is transparent and visible.
Inspection.
We frequently inspect our work.
In scrum, we have a daily scrum where the team inspect what has happened in the past 24 hours, discuss any impediments or problems that stand in the way, and articulate what is planned for the next 24 hours.
We inspect the work to ensure that we have met the definition of done. The criteria that must be met for the work to pass from one phase of development to another, or to be delivered to a client.
Our clients and product stakeholders inspect our working product near the end of each sprint and provide feedback and reviews. We also gather data through the sprint and inspect what the data is telling us about our processes, systems, and capabilities.
Finally, we inspect ourselves, as a team, and review our performance in the sprint retrospective with the objective of identifying what is working, what needs work, and how we are going to improve in the next sprint.
Frequent inspection with the purpose of gathering data, reviews, feedback, and evidence that we can learn from.
Adaptation.
This is the core of empiricism and agile.
The ability to adapt and respond, to opportunities and threats, to gaps in the market or disruption from competitors, from legislative disruption to international lockdowns for Covid.
Adapt and Respond. Adapt and Respond. Adapt and Respond.
The data we gather, the feedback and reviews we receive, and the evaluation / analysis we compile ourselves informs what needs to adapt. Informs what decisions we take moving forward. Informs what the next best step would be, given what we have learned and experienced.
These three things are the core elements of successfully navigating complexity and uncertainty.
Complexity
A key to understanding why agile is so successful at navigating complexity, is to understand what complexity is and why the traditional approaches don’t work in a complex space.
Traditional project management works just fine in a simple or complicated space because we have built the product hundreds of times before, and we have solved the problem some time ago, so we know that following a simple formula or pattern will deliver the outcome that we desire.
It’s known, tested, and proven.
In a complex space, we have never solved the problem or built the solution before. Added to this, there are so many unknown variables that could impact the success of our product or project, and we can’t possibly know what they are or where they will come from.
We don’t and can’t know what we don’t know.
Even if your brought the brightest, most experienced people in the organization into a room, they still wouldn’t know the answer. They still wouldn’t be guaranteed a positive outcome. These people would need to figure out the answer through trial and error.
They would need to design a hypothesis, run an experiment, validate what is true or untrue, and then design another hypothesis based on what they have learned. Small wins build momentum, and roadblocks encourage us to retreat to what we do know and develop a different hypothesis on how to progress from there.
Like a ship constantly correcting its course, in alignment with a compass, despite the changes in weather and currents. In agile, we have values and principles as guardrails, and we have a product vision and product goal and customer collaboration to guide us.
That is the primary difference between complicated and complex environments.
So, for me, this would be the primary skillset that a team need to acquire and develop. The ability to navigate complexity and uncertainty, using empiricism as a guide, to make the breakthroughs and solve the complex problems that they encounter.
Scrum is an agile framework that enables teams to do this, but it doesn’t solve the problem for you. In fact, scrum tends to reveal problems rather than solve them. It makes problems transparent and visible so that you can solve them and move forward.
If there was only one thing I could teach a product development team in a complex space, it would be this.
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If you could teach just one thing about Scrum, what would it be? I think it wouldn’t be Scrum at all; that would be the first principles. Right? It would be empiricism and complexity. That’s what I would teach, and in fact, that’s probably what I spend the majority of my time in the EPS. When I’m just talking to people, engaging with leadership, that’s what I spend the majority of my time talking about: empiricism and complexity.
If you have those fundamental ideas of empiricism and complexity, the understanding, the realisation that no matter what way you choose to do stuff, it might not always work. It might have different outcomes depending on the current circumstances, the prevailing wind, right? Then you realise why people realise why things don’t always work out for them. They realise why things are different. They realise why things are difficult. They realise why you don’t always get a successful Sprint, no matter how hard you try. You realise why you can’t normalise your number of story points delivered per Sprint. You realise why story points become ultimately ineffective.
Beyond the team, you realise why for a lot of those things, people and teams can take those ideas and run with them themselves. I don’t believe that Scrum should be forced upon teams. I think they should choose themselves how they work, and if they want to take and use principles of Scrum, then I’m here to help them. But if you want to use other stuff, I’ll help them with that too. They should be making those choices with a clear and concise understanding of complexity and empiricism so that they can ultimately make more of the right choices and less of the wrong ones.
I think that’s hard, and I think that’s missing in a lot of the—I don’t know a better word than boilerplate—teachings of the mechanisms in Scrum. Doing mechanical Scrum is not useful at all. People have to understand why each of those things in Scrum is in place, why it provides them with value, why taking it away—what’s the result of taking it away? What happens? What doesn’t happen? And why we want to keep those things. I think that’s so important.
Thanks for watching the video. If you enjoyed it, please like, follow, and subscribe. I always reply to comments, and if you want to have a chat about this or anything else Agile, Scrum, or DevOps, then please book a coffee with me through Naked Agility.
Die Frage, wenn Sie nur eine Sache über Scrum lehren könnten, was wäre das? Ich glaube, es wäre gar nicht Scrum, sondern die ersten Prinzipien, oder? Es wäre Empirie und Komplexität. Das ist es, was ich lehren würde. Und in der Tat verbringe ich wahrscheinlich die meiste Zeit in der APS damit, wenn ich mit Leuten spreche, mich mit Führungskräften auseinandersetze, verbringe ich die meiste Zeit damit, über Empirie und Komplexität zu sprechen.
Und wenn man diese grundlegenden Ideen von Empirie und Komplexität hat, das Verständnis, die Erkenntnis, dass, egal welchen Weg man wählt, um etwas zu tun, es nicht immer funktioniert, dass es unterschiedliche Ergebnisse haben kann, je nach den aktuellen Umständen, dem vorherrschenden Wind, richtig? Dann versteht man, warum Menschen verstehen, warum Dinge nicht immer für sie funktionieren. Sie erkennen, warum Dinge anders sind. Sie erkennen, warum Dinge schwierig sind. Sie erkennen, warum man nicht immer einen erfolgreichen Sprint hat, egal wie sehr man sich bemüht. Sie erkennen, warum man die Anzahl der pro Sprint gelieferten Story Points nicht normalisieren kann. Sie erkennen, warum Story Points letztendlich unwirksam werden, und zwar über das Team hinaus. Sie erkennen, warum das bei vielen dieser Dinge so ist. Menschen und Teams können diese Ideen aufgreifen und selbst umsetzen.
Und ich glaube nicht, dass Scrum den Teams aufgezwungen werden sollte. Ich denke, sie sollten selbst entscheiden, wie sie arbeiten. Und wenn sie die Prinzipien von Scrum übernehmen und anwenden wollen, dann bin ich hier, um ihnen zu helfen, aber wenn sie andere Dinge anwenden wollen, dann helfe ich ihnen auch dabei, aber sie sollten diese Entscheidungen mit einem klaren und präzisen Verständnis von Komplexität und Empirie treffen, damit sie letztendlich mehr richtige und weniger falsche Entscheidungen treffen können. Und ich denke, das ist schwierig und ich denke, das fehlt in vielen der, ich weiss nicht, ich weiss nicht, ob ich ein besseres Wort finde als “Standardlehren” über die Mechanismen in Scrum, denn mechanisches Scrum ist überhaupt nicht nützlich. Die Leute müssen verstehen, warum jedes dieser Dinge in Scrum vorhanden ist, warum es ihnen einen Wert bietet, warum es weggenommen wird, was das Ergebnis ist, wenn es weggenommen wird, was passiert, was nicht passiert, und warum wir diese Dinge behalten wollen. Ich denke, das ist sehr wichtig.
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The questions, if you could teach just one thing about Scrum, what would it be? I think it wouldn’t be Scrum at all, it would be the first principles, right? It would be empiricism and complexity. That’s what I would teach. And in fact, that’s probably what I spend the majority of my time in the APS, in when I’m just talking to people, engaging with leadership, that’s what I spend the majority of my time talking about is empiricism and complexity.
And if you have those fundamental ideas of empiricism and complexity, the understanding, the realization that no matter what way you choose to do stuff, it might not always work, it might have different outcomes depending on the current circumstances, the prevailing wind, right? Then you realise why people realise why things don’t always work out for them. They realise why things are different. They realise why things are difficult. They realise why you don’t always get a successful sprint, no matter how hard you try. You realise why you can’t normalize your number of story points delivered per sprint. You realise why story points becomes ultimately ineffective, right, beyond the team. You realise why for a lot of those things. People and teams can take those ideas and run with them themselves.
And I don’t believe that Scrum should be forced upon teams. I think they should choose themselves how they work. And if they want to take and use principles of Scrum then I’m here to help them but if they want to use other stuff I’ll help them with that too but they should be making those choices with a clear and concise understanding of complexity and empiricism so that they can ultimately make more of the right choices and less of the wrong ones. And I think that’s hard and I think that’s missing in a lot of the, I don’t know a better word than boilerplate teachings of the mechanisms in Scrum, doing mechanical Scrum is not useful at all. People have to understand why each of those things in Scrum is in place, why it provides them with value, why taking it away, what’s the result of taking it away, what happens, what doesn’t happen, and why we want to keep those things. I think that’s so important.
Thanks for watching the video. If you enjoyed it, please like, follow, and subscribe. I always reply to comments, and if you want to have a chat about this or anything else Agile Scrum or DevOps, then please book a coffee with me through Naked Agility.
Las preguntas, si pudieras enseñar una sola cosa sobre Scrum, ¿cuál sería? Creo que no sería Scrum en absoluto, sería los primeros principios, ¿verdad? Sería el empirismo y la complejidad. Eso es lo que enseñaría. Y de hecho, eso es probablemente lo que paso la mayor parte de mi tiempo en la APS, en cuando estoy hablando con la gente, la participación con el liderazgo, eso es lo que paso la mayor parte de mi tiempo hablando de empirismo y complejidad.
Y si tienes esas ideas fundamentales de empirismo y complejidad, la comprensión, la comprensión de que no importa la forma que elijas para hacer las cosas, puede que no siempre funcione, puede tener diferentes resultados dependiendo de las circunstancias actuales, el viento predominante, ¿verdad? Entonces te das cuenta de por qué la gente se da cuenta de las cosas no siempre les salen bien. Se dan cuenta de las cosas son diferentes. Se dan cuenta de las cosas son difíciles. Se dan cuenta de no siempre consigues un sprint exitoso, por mucho que lo intentes. Se dan cuenta de no se puede normalizar el número de puntos de historia entregados por sprint. Se dan cuenta de los puntos de historia se convierte en última instancia ineficaz, a la derecha, más allá del equipo. Te das cuenta de muchas de esas cosas. Las personas y los equipos pueden tomar esas ideas y correr con ellos mismos.
Y yo no creo que Scrum deba ser forzado en los equipos. Creo que deben elegir ellos mismos cómo trabajar. Y si quieren tomar y utilizar los principios de Scrum, entonces estoy aquí para ayudarles, pero si quieren usar otras cosas les ayudaré con eso también, pero deben tomar esas decisiones con una comprensión clara y concisa de la complejidad y el empirismo para que en última instancia puedan hacer más de las decisiones correctas y menos de las equivocadas. Y creo que eso es difícil y creo que falta en muchos de los, no sé una palabra mejor que… no conozco una palabra mejor que enseñanzas repetitivas de los mecanismos en Scrum, hacer Scrum mecánico no es útil en absoluto. La gente tiene que entender por qué cada una de esas cosas en Scrum está en su lugar, por qué les proporciona valor, por qué quitarlo, cuál es el resultado de quitarlo, lo que sucede, lo que no sucede, y por qué queremos mantener esas cosas. Creo que eso es muy importante.
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As perguntas, se você pudesse ensinar apenas uma coisa sobre o Scrum, o que seria? Acho que não seria o Scrum, seriam os primeiros princípios, certo? Seria empirismo e complexidade. É isso que eu ensinaria. E, de fato, é provavelmente sobre isso que passo a maior parte do meu tempo na APS, quando estou apenas conversando com as pessoas, interagindo com a liderança, é sobre isso que passo a maior parte do meu tempo falando: empirismo e complexidade.
E se você tiver essas ideias fundamentais de empirismo e complexidade, a compreensão, a percepção de que não importa a maneira que você escolha para fazer as coisas, ela pode nem sempre funcionar, pode ter resultados diferentes dependendo das circunstâncias atuais, do vento predominante, certo? Então você entende por que as pessoas percebem as razões pelas quais as coisas nem sempre dão certo para elas. Elas percebem as diferenças. Elas percebem as dificuldades. Elas percebem que nem sempre conseguem uma corrida bem-sucedida, não importa o quanto tentem. Você entende por que não consegue normalizar o número de pontos de história entregues por sprint. Percebem que os pontos da história se tornam ineficazes, certo, além da equipe. Você entende muitas dessas coisas. As pessoas e as equipes podem pegar essas ideias e usá-las por conta própria.
E eu não acredito que o Scrum deva ser imposto às equipes. Acho que elas mesmas devem escolher como trabalhar. E se elas quiserem adotar e usar os princípios do Scrum, estou aqui para ajudá-las, mas se quiserem usar outras coisas, também as ajudarei com isso, mas elas devem fazer essas escolhas com uma compreensão clara e concisa da complexidade e do empirismo para que possam, em última análise, fazer mais escolhas certas e menos escolhas erradas. E eu acho que isso é difícil e acho que está faltando em muitos dos, eu não conheço uma palavra melhor do que ensinamentos padronizados sobre os mecanismos do Scrum, fazer um Scrum mecânico não é nada útil. As pessoas têm que entender por que cada uma dessas coisas no Scrum está em vigor, por que elas lhes proporcionam valor, por que retirá-las, qual é o resultado de retirá-las, o que acontece, o que não acontece e por que queremos manter essas coisas. Acho que isso é muito importante.
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问题是，如果你能传授关于 Scrum 的一件事，那会是什么？我觉得根本不是 Scrum，而是首要原则，对吗？那就是经验主义和复杂性。这就是我要教的。事实上，这可能也是我在 APS 的大部分时间，在与人交谈、与领导层接触时，我大部分时间都在谈论的经验主义和复杂性。
如果你掌握了经验主义和复杂性的基本思想，理解并认识到无论你选择哪种方式去做事情，都不一定会奏效，都可能会产生不同的结果，这取决于当前的环境和风向，对吗？然后你就会明白为什么人们会意识到为什么事情并不总是对他们有用。他们意识到为什么事情与众不同。他们意识到为什么事情会困难重重。他们意识到为什么无论你多么努力，都不一定能冲刺成功。你会明白为什么你无法将每次冲刺交付的故事点数量正常化。你会明白为什么故事点最终会变得无效，对，超越团队。你会明白为什么很多事情都是这样。人们和团队可以采纳这些想法，并自行运行。
我不认为 Scrum 应该强加给团队。我认为他们应该自己选择工作方式。如果他们想采纳并使用 Scrum 的原则，我会帮助他们，但如果他们想使用其他东西，我也会帮助他们，但他们应该在对复杂性和经验主义有清晰而简明的理解的基础上做出选择，这样他们才能最终做出更多正确的选择，而不是错误的选择。我认为这很难，而且我认为在很多情况下，我不知道该用什么词来形容这一点。
我不知道比模板化的 Scrum 机制教学更好的词，机械地执行 Scrum 根本没用。人们必须理解 Scrum 中的每一项机制为何存在，为何能为他们带来价值，为何要取消这些机制，取消这些机制的结果是什么，会发生什么，不会发生什么，以及我们为何要保留这些机制。我认为这一点非常重要。
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