Chapter 2
Why Scrum Goes Bad

Scrum itself doesn’t go bad—it’s the ways that organizations implement it that can be problematic. We frequently see people changing the Scrum framework to fit their organization rather than the organization itself changing. Changing an organization can be slow and frustrating, but the whole point of adopting Scrum is to switch to a more efficient and empowering way of creating products, so change is a must.

We’ve experienced, and sometimes even promoted, many of the Scrum anti-patterns that we’ll describe in this book. The root cause of these anti-patterns is typically policies that have been in place since long before the company adopted Scrum. Such longstanding policies can sometimes make what Scrum brings to light seem counterintuitive. For example, the idea of having a dedicated product owner who is fully empowered to make all decisions about a product can feel really foreign to many organizations, but having someone in that role is crucial to the success of any Scrum team.

As Scrum masters, part of our service is to the organization, and that means one aspect of our role is making sure the organization is fully embracing the Scrum way of doing things—which may require changes. Organizational change can come in many forms, such as:

• Working with HR to redefine job roles.

• Working with Finance to understand how budgeting processes impact the way teams work.

• Helping Management adopt agile leadership principles.

• Removing the divide between IT and business partners.

In order to know which change(s) your organization needs to make, you first need to understand the underlying causes of bad Scrum.