Combining best practices is not always a best practice

This is the first time I write something for a public audience. Usually, I know the audience when I have to prepare a presentation or any other document. I try to target the message and think about the context and outcome.

I can’t answer these questions now. I don’t know who (if anyone) will read these words. If I’m lucky, more knowledgeable people than me will read it. If I’m very lucky, they will share their comments and I will be able to learn from them. This is what it is all about. Sharing experiences and learning.

So this is my contribution. One of my own preferred failures:

Some years ago, I led the implementation of a case management/BPM tool. I won’t be focusing on the digital transformation but the team behind the implementation. We had a limited budget, dozens of processes, and a high motivation to start adding value quickly.

The word “transformation” also applied to my team, so it was a good time to revisit our internal processes, roles, and methodologies.

“We know the high-level process, but we still have to work on the details.” My first thought was: “We have to use Scrum!”

Right, but how can we become more productive? I started working on a theory. When it comes to services, many people could argue that a follow-the-sun model can be very beneficial. So, what if we combined Scrum + a follow-the-sun model? In theory, that was perfect!

Having the product owner in the US, the development team in India, and QA in Argentina, would give us 16 productive hours per day. And we would still have 2 hours for sync up.

This is what happened:

• Roadblocks: Impediments happening outside the sync up window results in losing one or even more days

• Discovery: Sessions to understand business needs and functionalities took longer than expected.

• Management: Having a globally spread team with different languages, cultures, and time zones makes it harder to obtain benefits from using Scrum methodologies

We couldn’t achieve the 16 hours of productivity. In the beginning, we even delivered less than 8 hours.

We learned and adapted this model, and we still use it, but I’ve never promised this level of productivity again.

I would love to hear if someone had any similar experiences. If someone was successful in applying a model like this or just know if you find it interesting.