21 secrets the Scrum Guide doesn’t tell you

Build the right system to get the results you want.

Secrets not in the Scrum Guide— Image by Yvette W from Pixabay

I often get asked to help organizations when they are not getting the results they desire from Scrum. Nine times out of ten, I am asked, in error, to fix the teams. The requests I get go something like this (these may be familiar to you, too):

• “Most teams never deliver anything to a ‘Done’ state in the Sprint. Work spills over all the time.”
• “My teams have tons of defects or technical debt they can’t ever get around to fixing.”
• “I don’t know why my teams don’t adapt. I have empowered them to do what needs to be done. All they have to do is take the reins.”
• “My teams are not motivated to deliver on time. Can you figure out why they aren’t working harder to hit the deadlines?”
• “I never find out about problems until it is too late.”
• “My teams are always getting interrupted to fix problems and can’t complete their work.”

While most want me to fix the teams, the teams are rarely the problem. The teams are stuck inside a system incapable of achieving the desired flow of value. So the system is the problem, not the teams.