Scrum is still a good default

If you’re spinning up a new team, Scrum is still a good starting point.

If you’re struggling with a dysfunctional process on your existing team, Scrum is still a good reset.

In either case, make everyone on the team read the Scrum guide. It’s only 14 pages and you can read it in less than an hour. Schedule a meeting where everyone sits and reads it if you need to. But everyone must read it, because when people “hate Scrum” it’s almost always because they’ve only been on teams that weren’t actually doing Scrum.

Scrum won’t solve all your problems, but it’ll solve some. And it’ll expose some others. It may even create some new problems, but that’s why it’s a good default. It doesn’t have to be permanent. Often, a team that does Scrum well eventually graduates from it.

When in doubt, start with Scrum, and let your process evolve from there.

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Related:

• Road trips: a metaphor for Scrum
• A tiny guide to Sprint Planning in Scrum
• Dear Scrum teams, stop planning Mishmash Sprints