How I Get Value from Agility by Getting Rid of Agile (From Words to Actions)
You cannot tame complexity by quoting the Scrum Guide or whatever other Agile framework (you need something more refined)
It’s the Monday morning of a starting sprint. The scrum master steers the sprint planning, and the product owner explains what she wants. The development team asks for clarifications.
Then, the drama breaks into this ordinary scene.
“Now, it’s up to you, team. How many story points for each user story I’ve presented?” The product owner asks.
“Remember, team, that story points measure complexity. Don’t think of effort.” The scrum master recalls.
“What’s complexity? I attended many courses, but it’s still a fluffy idea in my mind. The planning poker is what its name suggests: a bet! Why do we still waste time playing useless games?” An annoyed developer asks.
The drama gets its heroes. The scrum master and the team start an infinite discussion. Ultimately, the compromise is to assign story points to some already-done user stories and use them as a reference to estimate the new ones. Planning ends with estimates that no one believes in.
