The Dark Side of Scrum
The goal of this article is to describe cases in which the Scrum framework is misused — on purpose sometimes —, leading as a consequence to the exploitation of the development team. We will cover the following topics:
- What is Scrum?
- Scrum in a Nutshell
- The Scrum Events
- The Scrum Artifacts
- What is a Sprint?
- The Scrum Values
- What is a Scrum Master?
- Is there really a Dark Side of Scrum?
- Estimations
- Daily Scrum
- Sprint Retrospective - Final Words
Ready? Let’s begin!
What is Scrum?
According to scrum.org — the home of scrum — Scrum is a framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value. Think of it as a way to get work done as a team in small pieces at a time, with experimentation and feedback loops along the way.
Scrum replaces a programmed algorithmic approach with a heuristic one, with respect for people and self-organization to deal with unpredictability and solving complex problems.
Scrum in a Nutshell
This graphic represents very well everything that the Scrum framework involves.
The Scrum Events
Prescribed events are used in Scrum to create regularity and to minimize the need for meetings not defined in Scrum. The Scrum Events are:
- Sprint
- Sprint Planning
- Daily Scrum
- Sprint Review
- Sprint Retrospective
The Scrum Artifacts
Scrum’s artifacts represent work or value to provide transparency and opportunities for inspection and adaptation. The Scrum Artifacts are:
- Product Backlog
- Sprint Backlog
- Increment
What is a Sprint?
Sprints are the heartbeat of Scrum, where ideas are turned into value. They are fixed length events of one month or less to create consistency.
All the work necessary to achieve the Product Goal, including Sprint Planning, Daily Scrums, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective, happen within Sprints.
The Scrum Values
Theses values are the following:
- Courage
- Focus
- Commitment
- Respect
- Openness
Despite being a very famous framework, the Scrum Values are not always taken into account.
What is a Scrum Master?
According to scrum.org, the Scrum Master is accountable for establishing Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide. They do this by helping everyone understand Scrum theory and practice, both within the Scrum Team and the organization.
Let’s break it down. When they say “…establishing Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide” you must know that no one should invent his own rules. Everything must be according to the Scrum Guide.
Now, when they say “…helping everyone understand Scrum theory and practice…” they mean that the Scrum Master can act as an instructor (a person who teaches something) or a coach (a person who supports a learner in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance). Based to the above, the Scrum Master must guide the Scrum Team to improve its practices within the Scrum framework and make sure everyone follows it thoroughly.
What does a Scrum Master do?
The Scrum Master, in addition to serving the Product Owner and the organization, also serves the Scrum Team in several ways, including:
- Coaching the team members in self-management and cross-functionality;
- Helping the Scrum Team focus on creating high-value Increments that meet the Definition of Done;
- Causing the removal of impediments to the Scrum Team’s progress; and,
- Ensuring that all Scrum events take place and are positive, productive, and kept within the timebox.
Is there really a Dark Side of Scrum?
Yes, if used in a bad way as we will see.
Estimations
The purpose of the estimation process is to create a shared understanding of the task ahead among all members of the Scrum Team. This estimation can be done any time before or even during the sprint planning, as long as it allows the team to commit on a forecast for the upcoming sprint.
Estimation helps us know that an item is small enough to bring it into a Sprint.
Suppose you have to estimate for the following tasks:
- Migrate a process that involves 10 data sources that you don’t know.
- Implement an Open Source tool that you haven’t tried before.
- Build a data pipeline with services in a cloud that you do not master.
How confident do you feel about estimating those tasks? One way to do it is to use poker planning.
In poker planning the number on each card represents relative estimates of effort (a.k.a. story points and you better be careful not to take them as hours or days). The idea here is to encourage discussion. If I said 1 and you said 5, what should happen? Many teams tend to take the average (3 in this case). Big mistake. By doing that, the essence of this technique is lost, which is to discuss and reach a consensus. In this scenario, the junior who said 5 story points would be expected to accomplish that task within the time a 3 story point task normally takes, which will bring him frustration if he don’t meet expectations.
Beware of treating estimates as deadlines. If very few story points were estimated for that task, it is possible that it will not be completed in the Sprint, and therefore the Sprint commitment would not be fulfilled. If the developer is forced to take the work home, what kind of respect for people are we talking about in the Scrum Values?
Another case is when only the judgment of the gurus is taken. For juniors, this can feel like playing on hard mode.
Daily Scrum
The Daily Scrum is an event (just 1) of 15 minutes a day for the Developers of the Scrum Team. The purpose of the Daily Scrum is to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the Sprint Backlog as necessary, adjusting the upcoming planned work.
Contrary to popular belief, the Daily Scrum is not a status meeting.
In a Daily Scrum each team member must answer these three questions:
- What did you do yesterday?
- What will you do today?
- Is there any impediment?
Imagine that you say that you are going to finish a task today. Due to social pressure or whatever. However, you don’t get to finish it. What will happen the next day? Two alternatives:
- You tell the truth but you’ll be labeled as inefficient.
- You tell lies in order to be worthy of continuing to work on the project or to keep your job.
A Darth Scrum Master or even a Evil Product Owner can use this situation to make you feel that you’re behind schedule and that you must work extra hours in order to finish those pending tasks and thus support the team reach the Sprint goal.
Sprint Retrospective
The Sprint Retrospective is where the Scrum Team look for improvements in their processes and collaboration. If something is wrong it is important to bring it to the table. Whether related to the process, to the team, or to the team’s relationship with its leaders. But, if the leaders have been behaving like foremen and then ask the team for feedback… little or no useful feedback will be obtained. Like all things are rosier than they really are.
Another case that can be presented is the so-called Blaming & Naming in which the fingers are pointed at the person responsible for the scrum goal not being reached. This definitely lowers the morale of that person, don’t you think?
Final Words
- To obtain precious feedback, work must be done to provide an environment of psychological safety, an environment where no one is afraid of retaliation.
- If the leaders go around bullying the team, the team’s motivation will be affected, and this will affect productivity and therefore put the fulfillment of the Sprint goal at risk.
- The Scrum Master must be aware of the degree of toxicity of the work environment, because if it is high, it would be affecting the performance of the team to the point of becoming an impediment.
- The Scrum Master must also be aware that having a Sprint Retrospective where no one points out things to improve is having an unproductive meeting.
- When implementing Scrum, let’s not forget the Scrum Values, especially the respect and openness.
- To avoid blaming and naming I recommend start the Sprint Retrospective with this phrase in mind: ”We did what we could with the resources we had at that time”.
- And finally, when thinking about Scrum think more in terms of adaptability and less in terms of velocity.
For more information, I recommend the following reading:
- What is a Scrum Master?
- Unlock the Power in the Five Scrum Events
- Agile Simulation — Part 20 | The Daily Standup
- Is Planning Poker Bad for Software Development Teams?
- The Most Important Thing You Are Missing about Estimation
- When do we estimate in Scrum?
- Why do we use Story Points for Estimating?
- From Product Backlog to Sprint Planning
- About the The Scrum Events and The Scrum Artifacts
- As Your Team Gets Bigger, Your Leadership Style Has to Adapt
- War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength, Scrum is Agile
And yes, I’m also a Scrum Master
And I can help your organization not to fall into the Dark Side of Scrum.
Do you want more?
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