Demystifying Scrum - Part 2 - Scrum is for hippies

Scrum Myth #1: Scrum is for hippies!

Second article of this series: "The five myths that make you think Scrum is so bad."

One of the main features of SCRUM is that it has no hierarchical structure whatsoever.

Whaaat? Yep. None. Nil. Sorry notsorry.

And it gets even worse! Listen up: the SCRUM Guide reads:

“[the SCRUM team is] self-managing, meaning they internally decide who does what, when, and how.”

What the hell man? This is anarchy! No project managers, no bosses, no one telling those clueless engineers what to do, how and when? I mean, this is obviously a recipe for a horrible train wreck, right??

Or is it?

Well, first of all: every Company I have ever worked for, took a pride in hiring the smartest people from the best technical universities, and rightfully so. We always carefully select our future colleagues among the most brilliant students, graduates and professionals available. And this is great! In Moviri, my current Company, we have a very thorough hiring process and I think this is one of the reasons Moviri is an incredibly special place to work.

But think about this: you hire the smartest people in the room and then… you treat them like kids, leading them by hand, telling them what to do and how, assigning homework, not involving them in the definition of the strategies??

I don’t think this is a good idea. First of all... well, it’s patronizing. Plus, it’s ineffective: if you want to nurture an environment where someone make decisions and someone else just execute them, you might as well hire mid-to-low level professionals: the hiring process is way easier and you can get them for a lower salary.?

But I don’t think this is the kind of environment we want to spend half of our waking hours in.?

And as a side note, empowering people help retention. It you treat brilliant people like kids, what do you think they’re gonna do? Either you give people the “right to vote” or they will vote with their feet, walking out the Company and bringing their talent where they feel appreciated and empowered.

That said, back to Scrum: YES, Scrum absolutely forbids hierarchy, and NO, it is not for anarchists. At all.

It is quite the opposite, actually:?

Think about a soccer team, or a basketball team, or whatever other discipline you like, where a group of people must deal with a complex problem that changes in real time:

A soccer team has no hierarchy, and still can perfectly manage itself on the playground.

Why? Because it has rules and accountabilities.?

In Scrum, rules and responsibilities are clearly defined and observed. For example:?

The Product Owner is the only person with the authority to decide what to do, in which order and they have the last word on whether an increment is releasable. He or she doesn’t work in a vacuum, of course. All the planning is discussed by the whole Scrum team, the goals are negotiated with the stakeholders and customers, etc. But the product owner has always the last word when it comes to the product backlog: their responsibility (accountability) is to maximize the value of the backlog by prioritizing the work that brings the highest possible value to the customer.??

The development team as a whole, on the other hand, is the only authority when it comes to deciding how to implement a deliverable increment and to estimating how long it will take. They work together with the Product Owner and the stakeholders to better understand what they really need, then they use their in-depth technical knowledge to figure out the best way to make it happen. They know their drill better than anyone else, remember? They’re the top tier guys, thoroughly selected, remember?

Last but not least, the Scrum Master is the only one responsible for removing impediments for the team, on their way to the project goals.

See? Scrum teams need no hierarchy because rules and accountabilities are clearly distributed, and everybody takes care of the things they can do better.

In this scenario, hierarchy isn't only useless. It is actively destructive.

Next episode in a few days: "Scrum Myth #2: In Scrum you never plan anything!"

Take care!