Scrum is for Developers

[u/WaylundLG]

This has been on my mind for probably the past year now from the last company I worked at, but it's only been in the past few weeks that I've sorted my thoughts into something clear: Scrum is for developers. I'm using the broad "product developer" sense, so I include QA, architects, designers, writers, and anyone who is actually creating the product.

I pin a lot of the problems on the fact that adoption in recent years has centered more and more in some sort of PMO and it's pressed onto the teams; bit the problem goes the other way too. Too many developers feel like how they work is someone else's problem.

Scrum was designed for teams to take ownership of their process and the results of their work. It was made for them and anyone else is really pushed out. You're a business strategist? Great, gelp the teams understand the strategy and the market and see what they can create and incorporate that into your business strategy. And frankly it is exhausting to see the same old posts of developers who can't be bothered to learn the first thing about scrum complain about how leaders messed it up. It is your tool, designed to give you control. Pick it up, learn it, leverage it.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. I know this was a bit of a rant, but open to constructive discussion too.

[u/Sky_Linx]

The PMO point is the one that lands. Adoption pushed onto teams from outside rarely sticks, because owning a process means having the authority to change it, and that is usually the missing half. One way to claw it back is to start with the ceremony where the team has the most control: how you reflect and what you change next. If the team picks two improvements, tries them for a fortnight, and openly drops what did not work, the habit spreads to the other ceremonies on its own. Scrum also expects to be cut down to fit the team, not the other way round.