Happy Friday,

I posted on LinkedIn the other day that I was interested in writing little booklets on leadership topics, and that my outline grew way too large. Thankfully, someone helped me pick one to start with, and I spent yesterday morning putting together my first draft of my Signals and Measures zine.

That last word, zine, might be a new one. It's a format that's compact, easy to print, and distribute. It also means I have to be very concise.

I want to know what you think of it. Just reply to this email with what you got out of it or what was missing.

The big mistake in Scrum

Most teams I've seen are doing something like Scrum as their main development process. Most people tolerate it but find it clumsy and too ritualistic.

So I want to give you a little insight into why Scrum doesn't seem to live up to any particular promise, why it feels cumbersome, and why folks grumble about it so much.

Scrum, when you break it down, is a feedback engine. Every part of it is built to provide feedback. Daily Scrum provides daily feedback on the choices and progress towards goals. Sprint Reviews provide feedback on the product increment and Scrum team. The Retrospective provides feedback on everything, including Scrum itself. Sprint Planning provides the least amount of feedback, but adds the ingredients for the rest of the feedback in the system.

I hope that makes sense about how Scrum is a feedback engine.

Unfortunately, most teams and companies treat it as a delivery engine. Now I'm not suggesting it must be one or the other. Scrum is built to be both a feedback and delivery engine for delivering working software better.

The hiccup is that most teams and companies dampen the feedback part and ask more of the delivery part. This leaves teams and groups stuck in a rut where things don't improve, the meetings seem constant and of little value, and folks wonder why they're even trying.

Try this

Admittedly, this would be a task for a Scrum Master or Coach, but it always was, so if they can't help, anyone can do this.

Look at each meeting from the perspective of feedback. Now, for each meeting, list 3-5 questions that embody the feedback that the meeting is designed to give. Finally, in each meeting, raise the question and discuss the answers. Initially, there will be dismissal, hand-waving, and frustration as the group struggles to answer the questions. Over time, this can give way to fruitful conversations that lead to improvement.

Stick with this for about 3 months.

Example Questions

Daily Scrum

• How did our work yesterday help us accomplish our goal, and what of our work didn't?
• What work will we do today that will get us closer to our goal?
• Have we seen or learned anything that will enable us to accomplish our goal sooner?

Sprint Review

• Were we able to accomplish our goals?
• Were our goals useful to the business and ourselves?
• Based on what we've accomplished, what would be the next best investment of time?
• What opportunity are we missing?

Sprint Retrospective

• Was there a way we could have organized ourselves or plan to accomplish our goals better?
• What interactions among ourselves or with others aided us or held us back?
• In our Daily Scrum, what opportunities existed to alter our plans that we missed or took advantage of?
• How might we better get feedback in our Review or Planning to help us deliver and understand what is most important?
• What seems to still feel clumsy in how we work?

Be honest with me, if these questions were a serious part of how your teams did Scrum, what do you think would happen?

Sincerely,

Ryan Latta

PS: I make teams exceptional using stuff like this. If your teams are in a rut and work keeps piling up, call me.