Making Scrum Not Suck

Scrum Isn’t Dead but Its Mutation in the Wild Today Needs a Cure

Here are my top 4 root causes and treatments.

A healthy Scrum Team sitting around a desk collaborating | Photo by fauxels on Pexels

I’m not keen to give up on Scrum.

Scrum has been my trusted ally for over 20 years, helping me deliver effective software and products. I’ve written 57 articles on it and edited as many for Serious Scrum. Despite its faults, such as a glaring gap in addressing technical excellence, I hold a deep affection for Scrum.

Yet, seeing its current state in the wild today, I’m deeply saddened.

• Sad to see its potential wasted.
• Sad to see it become what it aimed to fix.
• Sad to see the feature factories it often produces.

Scrum is a pale shadow of what it should be.

Why have we arrived here?

You will hear many explanations if you pay attention to social media.

• “You can’t simply install it and expect it to thrive.”
• “It’s easy to understand but difficult to implement.”
• “Everyone has a certificate, but nobody has experience.”
• “It can’t match the scale required by today’s organizations.”