In full transparency, I’m an “Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner” which mean’s I’ve had my fair share of the Scrum Kool-Aid. That being said, I’d like to discuss the merits of this framework and where I think it shines, as well as what I think it lacks.

Scrum is all about communication. If done correctly Scrum provides a great opportunity for organizations to align on vision, strategy, and the practicalities of getting the project across the finish line, whatever the project is. For the unfamiliar, Scrum focuses on working in two week sprints where at the end of each sprint, new code is shipped. This can be to fix bugs, create new features, or any other variety of reasons we ship code these days. Like any framework or strategy however, it’s only as good as it’s adoption rate within the organization. If the organization decides to use a Scrum-ish approach, they can still be effective if that’s agreed upon throughout the organization. Things like daily standups, offer great opportunities to check in with the team on any pending blockers or anything that might prevent the team from achieving the deadline. Sprint Retrospectives give the team an opportunity to embrace transparency and communicate clearly on what went well and what didn’t. This provides an environment where accountability is expected, and therefore feedback is welcomed, even if it’s regarding something that wasn’t done quite right. This shared vision of creating a better environment for the sprints of the future aligns the team on airing out grievances in a healthy and productive way.

A system like this demands equal buy in. If even one member of the team sees a retrospective as an opportunity to call out an underperformer and berate their struggles, the trust and accountability is lost along with all productivity of the process of improvement. This is because there is an understanding that retro’s are all about making the team better, not about stroking anyone’s ego. If that spirit is compromised it can be difficult to rebuild.

I think Scrum can be a great way for software companies to get things done. When I think of Scrum I often think of the Winston Churchill quote, “Democracy is the worst form of government, aside from all the others.” I feel this way about Scrum. It’s imperfect, and it’s the best option that we’ve come up with so far. Your results may vary however, some teams are able to do incredible things under Scrum, and some teams see Scrum as cumbersome and having too many meetings. I think at the end of the day each team has to determine for themselves what elements of Scrum are useful for the members of that team together. Like anything else, it’s not a one size fits all solution.