Scrum – Don’t implement it without being trained in it

Imagine you are just about to start on a very important project – big budget, all eyes on the team, the kind of project you dreamed of. The whole team is all geared up and ready to get on with the work. When on the first day of the project, the project manager walks in with a lot of enthusiasm and says – ‘Guys, I just read this article about this really cool methodology called Scrum. Everyone has these daily standup meetings every day, decide what they will be working on, do it, and then meet again the following day. I think we should give it a shot.’
It just got better, didn’t it? A big project and a cool new methodology! Not quite, as is often revealed on so many projects. Admittedly, the dialogue of the project manager was simplified, but essentially, this is how a great methodology is set up for failure. Cut to a week later:
Team member 1: ‘Why do we need to stand around? There are chairs around. We can just sit, right?’
Project manager: ‘That is what the methodology says.”
TM 1: ‘But why?’
Project manager: ‘Something to do about if people stand, meetings are shorter’
TM2: ‘But our meetings typically last for an hour or so and it is so tiring.’
Project manager: ‘We have to discuss so many issues. Obviously it will take time. If it is such a big deal, then you can sit.’
Thus begins a slow, but steady twisting of the tenets of Scrum and the team embarks on a slippery slope. As the team now begins to sit during ‘Daily Stand Ups’, the meetings increase in length from 1 hour to 1.5 hours, and sometimes stretching to 2 hours. With less time available for actual work, tensions increase. Team members start questioning the need to meet on a daily basis when on earlier projects they met once a week and things were more or less fine. Then from ‘Daily Stand Ups’, the format changes to ‘Alternate Day Sit Downs’. This affects coordination and as the gap increases between meetings, the meetings start taking a bit longer, or issues increase.
Slowly, other changes start taking place – the whiteboard where tasks were updated in the first week stop being used by team members. Instead, they revert to sending email updates. The project manager, not realizing the critical importance of each of these tenets of Scrum, not trained in Scrum methods and never having practiced Scrum, also starts questioning himself and accepts these changes. He keeps a track of ‘To be done, In Process and Completed’, but only at his desk. Other team members start to become more confused.
Now as the team had dedicated itself to Scrum in the beginning, switching to alternate traditional project management methods in the middle of the project leads to an even bigger mess. End result – a poorly managed project which started off with good intentions of using Scrum as a methodology, but failed because of lack of understanding of Scrum.
Scrum is a simple methodology but needs training in Scrum and guidance for first time users. Without it, critical elements end up getting twisted and the project heads towards failure.
Moral of the story – Scrum training is not optional. If you want to get the best out of it, get expert help in the beginning and only after thorough training, should you use it at work.

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How does Scrum ensure Success of a Project?

As with all other additional certifications which ensure success in a Project according to the business needs, Scrum also provides assurance that the end result of a product or service will always be better than the initial stages of its development. This is due to the fact that quality is emphasized as top priority in Scrum to meet the Acceptance Criteria and satisfy the business needs of the Customer.
In order to ascertain that a project will meet the requirements of quality as defined, in Scrum, the process adopted is that of continuous improvement in which the teams have the benefit of learning from experience. There will also be regular interaction with stakeholders for keeping the Prioritized Product Backlog constantly updated with any changes in requirements. This Product Backlog will be never complete until the project is closed or terminated. Unless the requirements are changed according to the customer, then internal and external changes will have to be brought about for allowing the team to continue working and adapt according to the new developments.
As the work has to be completed as increments in the duration of Sprints as per the Scrum rule, the advantage is that errors, faults or defects can be located in the early phases by continuous tests of quality than while the final result of the product/ service are on the stages of completion. Another advantage is that other valuable tasks related to quality such as testing, development and documentation will be completed in the same phase, that is, same Sprint also by same staff members. By following this method, a project can be ensured of specific quality in any release product or service as per part of a particular Sprint. The end product or deliverables from these kinds of Scrum projects which can be worked on, are usually described as “Done.”
By following the principles of Scrum, continuous improvement with consistent testing of quality can increase the chances of attaining the anticipated levels of quality in a Scrum project. Regular interaction between the stakeholders which includes users and customers and Scrum Core team can decrease the gap regarding the expectations and actual deliverables of the product by valuable suggestions at the end of each Sprint.

Valuable suggestions and guidelines can also be obtained from Scrum Guidance Body regarding the quality which might prove useful for all the Scrum projects in the organization. The Scrum Guidance Body usually consists of a group of experts typically involved in defining objectives that are related to government regulations, security and various organizational parameters.

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