Implementing Scrum Without Talking About Scrum

Don’t focus on a framework but on what you need to change

Originally published in GoRetro

During my journey, I’ve seen many Scrum implementations stall or die. Yet, I wouldn’t be able to name a specific reason for that, but I realized that an extensive focus on the framework tends to lead to pointless discussions and distractions from what matters most: creating value.

When teams focus on doing Scrum better, they trap themselves into questions like the following:

• How could we plan our sprints better?
• How could we refine our product backlog items more precisely?
• How could we optimize our velocity?

Although these questions have value in them, they won’t yield action for significant improvement in how you benefit from Scrum. My approach is a little counterintuitive; let me share it with you:

Focus on changing the attitude first without talking about frameworks. Changing the mental model is more important than deploying a framework.

Allow me to share a story where I observed a company thriving with Scrum without talking about it.