When Does Scrum Make No Sense?

Submitted by Sebastian Lauber on 09/07/2015
When Does Scrum Make No Sense?

Some time ago there was an Open Space event of SAQ (Swiss Association for Quality) and Swiss Agile Leaders Circle entitled "Managament Wake Up Call". The aim was to find arguments and ways how you can convince management to support a Scrum Transition.

One of the outcomes of this meeting was the "checklist" which helps to answer the question: "To Scrum or Not to Scrum?".

One of the outcomes of this meeting was the "checklist" which helps to answer the question: "To Scrum or Not to Scrum?".

If you'll feel addressed looking at the following list, be sure, your organisation should NOT introduce Scrum.

When it makes no sense to introduce Scrum?

  • If no transparency is desirable.
  • When everyone is happy with the status quo.
  • If there is fear of conflicts.
  • If the system in question is a monolythic one: a fully equipped system, where no changes are expected.
  • If you know everything better than the market and the customer.
  • In experienced bulk production.
  • In unmanageable Mamut projects.
  • If the management does not want it, or if the management does not want to yield the control and responsibility/ or when there is no one who is ready to accept the responsibility.
Yuliya Mijuk

About the author

Yuliya Mijuk

Yuliya’s professional life started with Scrum. She is a Certified Scrum Professional and received her certification as ScrumMasters in 2006. She studied Computational Linguistics at the LMU in Munich. After the graduation in 2004 she came to WEB.DE where the transition to Scrum was taking place. Later on Yuliya worked as a ScrumMaster and Scrum Coach at SPRiNT iT and billiger.de (solute GmbH).

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