

Scrum – False God of Innovation - bdehaaff
http://blog.aha.io/index.php/scrum-your-false-god-of-innovation/

======
rhundhausen
Just a few points about Scrum that you have wrong ...

* Scrum is not a methodology or a process, just a framework

* There is no product manager role in Scrum, but there is a Product Owner role

* There is a big difference between "ownership" and "management", which could be the source of some of the dysfunction you are seeing

* There is no formula for a Product Owner to follow. Remember, Scrum is just a framework, and the Scrum Team gets out of it what it puts into it.

* You make the POs sound like victims by saying "... have not been able to really do anything about it". I think they were the wrong person for the job.

* Product Owners should not attend the daily Scrum. It's just for the development team. Instead they could spend this time innovating!

* A product's vision is manifested in a properly refined backlog.

* It sounds like the first two struggles you listed (MVP and complaining customers) were caused by the PO being ineffective. The next three are just aspects of a PO's job responsibilities

* Effective POs should be focusing on competitive research, market assessment, positioning, go-to-market readiness, etc.

* I'm not sure where you came up with the notion that POs should be heads down. The Scrum Guide describes just the opposite.

I do agree with your antidote at the end, that a PO should start with the
goal, be transparent, and trust the dev team. If your article just these
points, readers might find it valuable.

I know you want to sell your product, but if you are going to bash Scrum in
the process, you might want to up your game, and your facts.

Richard

~~~
bdehaaff
Thanks for taking the time to respond.

------
Bhardwaj
This is what happens when Scrum is not treated as a framework, but as the
Bible. The whole point around agility (Including the Scrum framework) is
Inspection + Adaption. Scrum does not solve problems - it merely brings them
out in the open. It's a tool - not the goal. It's driven by the value, not the
process.

A seasoned agilist would ask you to build a great product with a great value
even if it breaks the process. If somebody asked you to follow Scrum to the
dot at the expense of the value then s/he has a problem in understanding
agility.

Wrong implementation of Agile is worse than the wrong implementation of a
traditional approach!

~~~
bdehaaff
Agreed. It's fundamental to address the "whys" and "whats" in addition to the
"hows."

