Want a Successful Agile Project?

Start with Why Before How

I’ve been speaking with several possible clients. They’re having trouble with Scrum. The managers don’t believe the teams need product owners, so the teams don’t have POs. The managers think a Scrum Master can support at least four teams.

The teams start a lot and finish very little. The teams think they have too many meetings. And everyone works alone — the teams collaborate very little.

What’s wrong — aside from everything?

The managers (often with the assistance of a consultancy) decided Scrum was the answer. However, the managers didn’t define the problem(s) they want to solve.

They started with how — and the answer was Scrum. Scrum is a useful framework as long as you use the framework. Scrum is not the problem. (I’m not sure Scrum is right for some of the teams, but they could make it work.)

The problem is this: No one defined the necessary why — the business outcomes they want. Those outcomes can help teams decide which agile approach(es) to start with and adapt.

Let’s start with who wants the teams to use an agile approach.

Who Wants the Teams to Use an Agile Approach?

Even back in my early days of teaching and consulting about project management, teams decided on their own approach to their project. I explained how various lifecycles worked and when it made sense to…