Developing software using Scrum – What’s missing?
Scrum is powerful but deliberately incomplete. What it leaves out on purpose — and what teams add from XP, Kanban, and lean thinking to make it whole.
Scrum/Agile Projects introduce several challenges/forces that are easier to deal with when leveraging agile engineering practices.
On a daily basis I see teams struggling with questions around how their engineering practices are compatible, or most of the time incompatible, with the Agile mindset.
These teams face two options – Either improve their engineering practices so they can continue their Agile journey, or continue to struggle with Agile, feel it is like running with a ball chain, and with time, regress to their old ways – use longer sprints, later testing, etc.
Another way to look at it, is that Agile engineering practices can provide a form factor improvement in the ROI on your Agile adoption project. This is achieved by enabling quicker and quicker delivery, sustainable development pace, higher quality earlier, which all drives flow, removes waste, and allows the team to work as effectively as possible together on the most important things.
The problem manifests when teams start Scrumming. The Scrum framework prescribes fast iterations and PSP increments. As Scrum DOESN’T prescribe the development practices/methodology, teams continue with what they currently have. Results vary…
About this series
In this series of posts we’ll examine the various aspects of agile project development, focusing on Scrum, and their interaction with the software engineering practice.
Practical thinking on turning AI pilots, adoption, and portfolio work into business impact - by finding the constraint, changing the work, and proving value as you go.
Yuval Yeret helps product and tech leaders move from agile theater to evidence-informed delivery. Work with Yuval →
- 01 Scrum and Kanban — Stronger Together 5 min
- 02 Actively Managing Portfolio Flow 6 min