Thread by @RonJeffries

This morning’s scripture: “Yes, and”.

There are many things that I don’t like about how “Agile” and “Scrum” exist in the world today. They mostly have to do with folks’ misuse of Scrum, and with the fact that the Agile world today doesn’t do enough for developers.
-1/20

It would be easy to lay the blame for whatever issues we see on individuals or organizations who have been bringing the Agile/Scrum word to the world.

It would be easy. It would also be wrong.
-2/20

It’s never the person. It’s never the people. It’s never some company. It’s never some conspiracy, some cabal.

It’s always the system.

In this case, it’s the system of people wanting help, and those trying to help them.
-3/20

Agile ideas, including Scrum, come from the observations of people who’ve built teams — and companies — that did things somewhat better than were done before, in their experience.

These people saw patterns in how the work was done, and decided to share those patterns.
-4/20

Some wrote books or gave lectures. Some became consultants. Some became serial entrepreneurs or joined companies, helped them improve, and moved on.

And some, with the best of will, packaged their ideas as methods or frameworks. Scrum is one of those frameworks.
-5/20

If a team can and will do Scrum, and they do it mindfully, they will benefit. By and large, at the organization level, they benefit enough to feel that it was “successful”.

At the same time, those of us who know how good it can get know that it wasn’t successful enough.
-6/20

That leads some of my brothers and sisters to blame the people who create or teach the frameworks, for not equipping the students to be more successful. My brothers and sisters know that the students need more understanding than they were given.
-7/20

Yes, and they were given it in two days. Were those the best possible two days? Probably not, most of us, try though we might, can’t provide the best possible: we sometimes manage the best we can do.
-8/20

Would my best two days be the same as your best two days? Again, probably not. Would yours be better than mine? Probably: you’re smarter than I am.
-9/20

Does that make me wrong or evil for offering the best two days I can? I surely hope not, because if so, all but one of us is wrong and evil. Just not you.

No, it’s the system. It’s the relationship between purveyors of knowledge and buyers of knowledge.
-10/20

Few learners go deep. Yes, and that’s as it should be. We may all specialize but most of what keeps us alive is what we know that we do not specialize in. And that’s how it goes with something like Scrum.
-11/20

Millions of people — literally — have learned a little about Scrum. “Enough to be dangerous”, I’m inclined to say, but that’s the nature of the game. Individuals and companies learn a little about some topic, and then move on.
-12/20

This happens, always, with every “management revolution”. Most of the uptake is superficial. Some benefit may be received, but the real benefits are still reserved for the far fewer folks who dig in.
-13/20

Now, this does argue for offering the best training we can, be it in Scrum or Agile or Differential Geometry, because most of the students are going to walk out of here and never dip a toe in the subject again.
-14/20

Every teacher knows that. Let me repeat that: EVERY TEACHER KNOWS THAT. So every teacher teaches the very best version of the subject that they possibly can. It’s not the same as my version, or your version. I’m sure yours would be best. But we all teach the best we can.
-15/20

Now, if I were selling my Scrum training — which I am not — I would try to differentiate it from the others, so that people would choose me. If I had a whole company of me doing the teaching, I’d work harder to differentiate.
-16/20

Yes, and I would know that the other teachers are offering the very best product they can, and, hell, it might actually be better than mine. How could I really know? Either way, they are good and valid people doing good and valid things.
-17/20

And compared to the size of me, or the size of any “Agile” company, the market is infinite. I don’t need to tear down another company for mine to prosper. I just need to reach my market with my story. Step 3: Profit!
-18/20

Yes, and the system. The system will still just scratch the surface. We’ll still want to give the best surface course we can, and we should want as many good surface courses out there as possible, because we are first and foremost about helping people, not about competing.
-19/20

So, well, what? Well, I try to focus on what happens in would-be Agile situations and on what people encounter and what they need. I try to provide what I can, and to influence others to provide what I can’t.

To me, that’s how this stuff should work.
-20/20