Object Mentor Blog: Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels

Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels

Uncle Bob — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:50:14 -0600

So we’ve finally found the answer. We know who’s to blame. It’s SCRUM! SCRUM is the reason that the agile movement is failing. SCRUM is the reason that agile teams are making a mess. SCRUM is the root cause behind all the problems and disasters. SCRUM is the cause of the “Decline and Fall of Agile.”

Yeah, and I’ve got a bridge to sell you.

Scrum is not the problem. Scrum never was the problem. Scrum never will be the problem. The problem, dear craftsmen, is our own laziness.

It makes no sense to blame Scrum for the fact that we don’t write tests and don’t keep our code clean. We can’t blame scrum for technical debt. Technical debt was around long before there was scrum, and it’ll be around long after. No it’s not scrum that’s to blame. The culprits remain the same as they ever were: us.

Of course it’s true that a two day certification course is neither necessary nor sufficient to create a good software leader. It’s also true that the certificate you get for attending a CSM course is good for little more than showing that you paid to attend a two day CSM course. It’s also true that scrum leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to engineering practices. But it is neither the purpose of scrum nor of CSMs to make engineers out of us, or to instill the disciplines of craftsmanship within us. That’s our job!

Some have implied that if all those scrum teams had adopted XP instead of scrum, they wouldn’t be having all the technical debt they are seeing. BALDERDASH!

Let me be more precise. ASININE, INANE, ABSURDITY. BALONEY. DINGOES KIDNEYS.

Let me tell you all, here, now, and forevermore, it is quite possible to do XP badly. It’s easy to build technical debt while going through the motions of TDD. It’s a no brainer to create a wasteland of code with your pair partner. And, believe me, you can such a Simple Design that You Aint Gonna Maintain It. And I’m not speaking metaphorically.

Do you want to know the real secret behind writing good software? Do you want to know the process that will keep your code clean? Do you want the magic bullet, the secret sauce, the once and for all one and only truth?

OK, here it is. Are you ready? The secret is…

The secret is…

Do a good job.

Oh, yeah, and stop blaming everything (and everybody) else for your own laziness.

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by free cna training

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:56:12 -0500

This post could have been just a one liner and it could have been the best advice that I have got in the last 18 months since I started blogging about cna training. “Just do a good job and stop complaining”. Awesome. I am going to print that statement and hang it on my wall.

Thanks

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by plot at karjat

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:46:42 -0500

very nice post. keep up.

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by sheena

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:45:42 -0500

Thank you very much for sharing your experience. http://jokes-adda.blogspot.com/ http://karjatland.blogspot.com/

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by Chimp

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:14:53 -0600

Ok already…

X Ray Tech Courses

Radiology Classes

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by certified nurse aide

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:07:15 -0600

Great work done there. Thanks for sharing your story. certified nurse aide

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by CNA Training

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:43:48 -0600

Getting a certification that shows you just listened to some speaker doesn’t mean much. I agree with you there. If you actually take a test which you have to score a percentage to pass in order to get a certification, that makes more sense.

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by Fuel

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:08:05 -0600

Dugg for SCRUM! hahahaha yeah that the right way! :)

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by Energy

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:12:33 -0600

Scrum is not the problem. Scrum never was the problem. Scrum never will be the problem. The problem, dear craftsmen, is our own laziness. – Damn Its so true :)

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by Endep

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:07:51 -0600

Dugg for SCRUM!

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by cna training

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:57:34 -0600

hahaha I love Ron JEffries

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by health002

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:25:52 -0600

Ron Jeffries is one of my heroes too. Many thanks!!

-Andy-

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by Noble

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:32:00 -0600

Although Scrum was intended for management of software development projects

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by Noble

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:31:42 -0600

Although Scrum was intended for management of software development projects

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by Jurgen Appelo

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 11:02:12 -0600

I wrote my own reply to all agilists who are preaching that certain agile practices are required to be called ‘agile’:

The Decline and Fall of Agilists http://www.noop.nl/2009/02/the-decline-and-fall-of-agilists.html

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by David James

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:08:55 -0600

I fear that Mr. Panasonic’s assessment may be too close to the truth, that management in the west may be based on power instead of responsibility (I think, you do).

At my current job we recently had a management change. My previous manager was constantly controlling but never in control. It was the worst for me. However, the new manager, on our first meeting together (after I had suggested a plan of attack for part of our application) said, “hey, sounds great, why don’t you just run with it”. Wow! Management based on empowerment. What a difference. But not just for me (happier, more productive, employee of the month!) but for the whole company. People are interacting, talking, thinking and moving forward together.

This is what Scrum introduces and succeeds with: empowered teams based on trusted and motivated individuals. Conversely, the failure of Scrum (at least from my experience) is the failure of management and employees to be rid of their comfort zones (the thinking and the doing zones, respectively).

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by Gabrielle Benefield

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:59:43 -0600

When I first read Jim’s blog I was a little shocked. Jim for me stood in the camp of being a practical Agilista – the group that really understood how to help people solve issues at many levels from team, system, technical etc. The term of “War” was also a surprise as I had trouble tying in “War” and “Jim Shore” (nice though they rhyme). Instead of a community of like minded people trying to improve the lot of teams we were at war with “One methodology to rule them all”.

I’m a practical Agilista. My aim is to help people with their challenges of creating great products and having fun while they do it. I am a Scrum trainer but started with XP, Scrum and Lean at the same time and blended them as a recipe for good results. I’ve been bought into XP teams who aren’t seeing results as they build good quality code fast, but they aren’t necessarily heading in the right direction with their product. In essence they are building more waste, even if it’s good quality waste. I’ve seen Scrum teams not adopt the engineering practices amongst others (the “Scrum but…” approach), I’ve seen so called “lean” teams take some Japanese words, put up a kanban board for the developers and run waterfall for everyone else.

What happened to creating a learning organization with the relentless pursuit of perfection? It is hard. Two days of any training won’t make you Agile, reading a book won’t make you agile, having a coach onsite won’t make you Agile…alone. It does take more, but like anything people need to start somewhere. Rather than looking at the negative side and what’s missing, how about reaching out and working together. Here is a novel idea. Could XP’ers who believe the Scrummers are missing something and vice versa help each other out? Instead of worrying that the other methodologists (or is it Methodists?) are the competition, go out and help organizations do better with their implementations, and build on success so that it increases the pie rather than scrapping about who owns the pie or gets to eat the biggest piece.

I’m now glad that Jim and Bob have posted their blogs this week. We talk about visibility a lot so it’s nice to see we are tackling these issues. The Agile community is going through its storming phase and it’s still a new community under its current identification so this is all natural. Thanks, you both made me think more this week.

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by Paul Beckford

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 13:26:49 -0600

@Peter

Ron Jeffries is one of my heroes too. Thanks for the correction.

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by Peter Hundermark

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 09:44:14 -0600

Ron Jeffries, one of my heroes in the world of software development, has said; “My advice is to do it by the book, get good at the practices, then do as you will. Many people want to skip to step three. How do they know?” Quite in keeping with Shu Ha Ri, I think.

As many have already stated Scrum, XP and Agile are not the problem. Our individual weaknesses and failure each day to do what is right as opposed to what is easy condemns us to mediocrity. Our courage and willingness to try and to fail and then to get up and try again is what is needed for continuous improvement.

@Paul: Your biblical quote is incorrect. The correct version is “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” 1 Timothy 6:10 (New International Version).

Peter

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by Paul Beckford

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 04:39:15 -0600

Hi Guys,

We need to be careful how we use language here. Agile is not Scrum or XP for that matter. These are just labels for branded methodologies/practices. Infact Agile itself is just a label. What we all care about is the “thing”.

The thing is multi-faceted, and is embodied in people who share certain values and principles which they apply to their working lives. Those of us who get it and are part of this culture know the thing when we see it, and we also recognise when “labels” are being misapplied.

Here is a quote that I think is relevant here:

“The Map is not the territory, the label is not the thing.”

S. I. Hayakawa, Language in Thought and Action

Agile, Scrum, XP have been successful labels as far as marketing is concerned, but they are not the thing. Infact I for one wished these labels would go away so that we can focus on the thing, but alas marketing seems to be a necessary evil.

I come form a TQM background and I have seen this all before. The Japanese have an approach to learning which they call Shu-Ha-Ri. In the 80’s and 90’s western companies decided to try and adopt the management philosophies of the Japanese. The problem was though is that they didn’t understand Shu-Ha-Ri and focused on buying Labels like TQM, Six Sigma, etc instead. The result is they didn’t grasp the thing, TQM went through the Gartner adoption curve like everything else and we moved on to the next buzz. I think it was “downsizing” or was it “right sizing”? I can’t remember.

The Japanese think that us in the west will never “get it”.

We will win and you will lose. You cannot do anything because your failure is an internal disease. Your companies are based on Taylor’s principles. Worse, your heads are Taylorized too. You firmly believe that sound management means executives on the one side and workers on the other, on the one side men who think and on the other side men who only work.”

Konusuke Matsushita – Panasonic

Maybe their right?

Another quote:

“Money is the route of all evil.”

Anonymous, The Bible.

Paul.

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by Tom Mellor

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:40:31 -0600

I responded to Jim Shore’s post earlier on his site. I am a Scrum Trainer and train CSM inside my company – a very large company. I teach that Scrum is only part of a solution; a good (agile) work organization approach (Scrum) is meaningless without the use of good engineering practices. They are are symbiotic and most certainly not mutually exclusive.

As for “butts in seats”: what people get out of CSM training is a product of what they invest in it through their time and attention (not money.) But I can say that, as Bob alludes to, we have seen significant increase in satisfaction of our customers and workers – almost all of whom are used to waterfall. We are not married to Scrum; learning its principles, practices, values, etc. has caused us to think differently and choose options along a continuum of approaches.

Diana was correct about managers which is why I strongly recommend “Leading Self-Directed Work Teams” by Kimball Fisher to my students. Management has to appreciate, understand, and embrace this different model of leadership if we are to benefit from this difference from the traditional model. Toyota lives it and they are an example of how it works.

Scrum intentionally makes no presumption about engineering – as Ken has said “If you have crappy engineers and crappy engineering practices, you’ll like produce crappy code.” Scrum is about organizing and delivering the work in an iterative, incremental manner – not in opposition to XP, but complimentary to it. The two can easily co-exist and combined can prove a potent approach.

Bob made the most profound point: “So rather than pointing fingers at Scrum, and the Scrum Alliance, I think we should be thanking them for a job well done, and acknowledging that they have worked hard, and that the fruits of that work have been beneficial.”...and let’s work together to improve in the kaizen way. We don’t need hugs, though those are nice; we to constructively offer ways to improve agile and help people do it as best as possible.

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by Abe

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:10:57 -0600

In Ken Schwaber’s Google Video “Scrum et al” he mentioned that you can be doing Scrum, but if you have a bad team then you’ll consistently produce bad software every 30 days.

When there is a 25-to-1 differential between the best people and worst people, and a 4-to-1 differential between the best and worst teams, you need assess your Peopleware before you decide to adopt any framework/methodology.

The sad fact is that most IT Managers are there due to the “Peter Principle”, leaving little or no chance of hiring people who are “Smart and Get Things Done”!

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by Justice~!

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:13:42 -0600

I think Diana keys on one thing I’ve observed a lot of in our industry – Agile itself, nor Scrum, nor anything else, can solve a pandemic where people don’t want to be accountable or in fact are very comfortable in “the old ways of doing things”. And I’m not talking about devs here. It’s very easy to hide behind waterfall or CMMI levels if you don’t want to be accountable, and that’s a culture that doesn’t just pervade dev.

I’m not trying to blame managers for poor dev practices by any stretch of the imagination, the industry is built on the backs of poor schlubs from IT schools given nominal at best training and then foisted off into the workplace. However, I have found from experience that often times having a dev team that doesn’t have a clue often shields us from the rest of the corporate culture that put the clueless dev team in there in the first place.

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by Diana Larsen

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:09:12 -0600

“A manager of people needs…to understand that the performance of anyone is governed largely by the system that he works in – the responsibility of management.” W. Edwards Deming.

The fault may not lie with Scrum or XP or the practitioners/proponents/evangelists of either. When will we get to examining how the organizational systems influence behavior? If developers don’t improve their skills, it may also be that there are active disincentives for doing so.

Today, the McKinsey Quarterly published an article which states, “Employees can’t change if their managers don’t. Lean leaders act as role models for the mindsets and behaviors they wish to instill in their teams.”

Hey, I know, let’s don’t blame methods or ourselves. Let’s blame the managers! As long as we’re blaming.

Oh wait, Agile hasn’t really talked to the managers much about their role in this whole magillah, have we? Systems thinking, that’s the ticket.

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by unclebob

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:59:14 -0600

Yeah, Mike, I’ve heard about that. If you adopt scrum you won’t have to worry about putting gas in your car, or paying your mortgage. If you help scrum, scrum will help you.

"Dirty Rotten ScrumDrels" by Mike Dwyer

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:38:21 -0600

You don’t understand Bob. The man said this suit of Agile and Scrum clothes would instantly make me be cool, have lots of money, and most of all make me free of any obligations to ‘da man’.