Sjoerd Nijland (Sep 15, 2022)

The Truth About Agility and Rigidity in

Scrum
The actual ways in which Scrum is both adaptable and
immutable.
How can a lightweight framework with rules and an immutable
definition promote agility and empiricism?

The Frame and the Canvas —by the author through Midjourney

I want to invite you to explore and reflect on these statements:

● Scrum offers regular opportunities for individuals to

interact so that they can self-manage their plans,
 processes, and tools. Scrum offers these as opportunities
for the team to inspect and adapt autonomously.
● A cadence encourages a sustainable pace. Routine breeds
excellence. It's a simple way to navigate a complex,
dynamic environment while staying focused.
● The scope of the Sprint is not fixed, and the team can adapt
it at any time as more is learned.
● Even the Sprint Goal may be cancelled if it becomes
obsolete.
● The limited rules of Scrum are there to *guide*
interactions between individuals, not enforce them.
● Scrum acknowledges that the more rules you have, the
fewer people will think and act independently. Rules and
policies may rob specialists of their individualism,
creativity, and resourcefulness. When you're worried about
what the rules say, you are not really thinking creatively.
That said, Scrum also acknowledges that rules are needed
to safeguard self-management and empiricism.
● In Scrum, we respect individuals to be independent and
encourage them to act out what they believe is right.
● A game without rules is not possible. All games have rules.
And breaking rules can be a part of the game. Likewise, all
forms of collaboration are guided by rules, written or
unwritten, aware or unaware.

If Scrum is neither understood nor practised that way, it would

indeed be rigid and untrue to its spirit.
 finding a way out of a confined and rigid place —by the author through Midjourney

The Scrum Guide offers a lightweight framework with rules,

events, artefacts, and accountabilities to guide the interactions
between individuals. More fundamentally, it provides a free canvas
on which you can create a world of your own. Explore the Road to
Mastery which has a playbook for coaches with over a hundred
creative ways and plays.

Adaptability in Scrum

Let's explore all the creative and adaptable possibilities with Scrum
while remaining true to the spirit and definition of Scrum.

First of all, the Scrum framework is "purposefully incomplete". Go

paint on its canvas. Paint your wonderland.

“Adaptation becomes more difficult when the people involved are

not empowered or self-managing.” — The Scrum Guide
 Scrum is not a process or methodology. It is a framework within
which you can self-manage your processes and methods. You are on
a rigid path if this isn't understood or lived.

Scrum is founded on empiricism and has three essential pillars to

uphold it. It all revolves around acting on what is observed. We
share an understanding of what is happening (transparency) and
continuously inspect and adapt. It's all about uncovering better
ways, by doing it, and helping others do it. In that spirit, the Scrum
approach is both incremental and iterative.

“Inspection without adaptation is considered pointless. Scrum

events are designed to provoke change.” — The Scrum Guide
[emphasis added].

Sprints are where ideas turn into value. That means Scrum is not
just a development and delivery framework for predefined
solutions. It is very much about creativity, exploration, and
discovery. Unfortunately, teams are often bound and
constrained to focus merely on production, which impedes agility,
creativity, and effectiveness.

As for the artefacts in Scrum: The Increment, Sprint Backlog, and

Product Backlog are "designed to maximise transparency of key
information. Thus, everyone inspecting them has the same basis
for adaptation." — Scrum Guide.
 All artefacts are emergent, not definitive. They are continuously
defined, refined, inspected, and adapted as more is learned. This is
not done in phases or stages. It happens throughout the product life
cycle.

Rigidity in Scrum

Not everything in Scrum is flexible, adaptable, and mushy-wushy.

Arguably, its constraints are designed to promote creativity and
adaptability. Naturally, that can be confusing.

Scrum — by the author through Midjourney

“The Scrum Guide contains the definition of Scrum” — Scrum

Guide [emphasis added]
 Now, this seemingly meaningless and obvious statement is very
profound. Consider separating the 'game' of Scrum from the
'definition' of the framework.

In spirit, the Game of Scrum has only three essential objectives:

● Delivery value every Sprint;

● Inspect and adapt continuously;
● Team decides. They self-manage.

There is much more to the game. The game is what happens on the
field: Practise and play. We practise so that we can improve at
something. This means that the game of Scrum is anything but
immutable. We continuously adapt our play and practice to
whatever advances us. We play it to become more effective at
tackling complex challenges and achieving more valuable objectives.

Unlike Scrum practice and play, the Scrum Framework's

definition is immutable.

“Scrum is free and offered in this Guide. The Scrum framework, as

outlined herein, is immutable.”

The Scrum Framework, as defined in the Scrum Guide, is what it is,

not what you make of it. It's like the definition of a 'beech tree'. Just
because it has a commonly shared and agreed-on definition, doesn't
mean each beech tree grows in the same way. Each tree remains
unique, regardless of its single shared definition. It's what
characterises it so that we may all recognize it when we see it and
understand what it is when we speak of it.

Seeing the tree through the forest — by the author through Midjourney

It's not really all that immutable. It's been updated several times.

Scrum embraces context and aims to be as least prescriptive it can

be without surrendering its empirical spirit. So Scrum is not all
'may'.

It's no good to keep bringing your hockey sticks to a football match.

To play the game, you must change your ways. But isn't it
wonderful that this game is all about finding better ways?

Here are the 'musts' in the Scrum Guide:

 ● The emergent process and work must be visible to those
performing the work as well as those receiving the work.
● The Scrum artefacts and the progress toward agreed goals
must be inspected frequently and diligently to detect
potentially undesirable variances or problems.
● If any aspects of a process deviate outside acceptable limits
or if the resulting product is unacceptable, the process
being applied or the materials being produced must be
adjusted. The adjustment must be made as soon as
possible to minimise further deviation.

These three rules uphold the empirical pillars of transparency,

inspection, and adaption.

What else is a must?

● For Product Owners to succeed, the entire organisation

must respect their decisions.
● The Sprint Goal must be finalised prior to the end of
Sprint Planning.
● The Product Goal is the long-term objective for the Scrum
Team. They must fulfil (or abandon) one objective before
taking on the next.
● In order to provide value, the Increment must be usable.
 ● If the Definition of Done for an increment is part of the
organisation's standards, all Scrum Teams must follow it
at a minimum.

A few more things are ensured:

● The Product Owner ensures that the Product Backlog is

transparent, visible, and understood.
● The Scrum Master ensures that all Scrum events take
place and are positive, productive, and kept within the
timebox.

Pretty much everything else is a may, should, or could. It's generally

a good idea to follow the guide, but ultimately you are accountable
for your journey and where you end up. Just because you could,
doesn't mean you should, and just because you may, doesn't mean
you can or know how to.
A Guide for Complex Environments

corporate jungle — by the author through Midjourney

If you allow Scrum to guide you through complex environments, it

is generally rewarding to heed its advice and follow the guidelines.

A Scrum Master can lead a team through a complex corporate

jungle. A Scrum Master is a leader, guide, coach, facilitator, and
sometimes an instructor. A Scrum Master should encourage you to
try something new. But heed the significant difference between
'enforcing' and 'guiding'.

It's helpful to assume that Scrum does not enforce Scrum. Scrum is
not ignorant of other possible ways. It's a way to find better ways,
not the way.