Our team has been using pseudo-scrum for approximately 1 year, and real
scrum for approximately 3 months. Jeff Sutherland gave us “real” Scrum with Scrum
Master training for many of the people on our team. Jeff’s training
smoothed our daily routine by providing guidance on the devil-in-the-details
issues that we used to get stuck on.
Scrum Really Works
Our productivity is much higher than it was before we introduced Scrum. And, since
Jeff’s training, teams no longer get bogged down on implementation details of Scrum
like whether or not initials get put on cards, or how to estimate with points, or
what does it mean to be done.
Scrum promises transparency, focus, higher quality, and simplicity. While Scrum
certainly delivers these things, the constant focus can be a drain on individuals.
Observing the effect Scrum has had on individuals has been a real eye opener, and
a genuine surprise. Other promises that Scrum makes are job satisfaction, sustainable
pace, and no burnout. I expected Scrum to deliver these things first, but these
important qualities of Scrum continue to elude us.
Organizational Dark Matter
Teams select the work they are willing to commit to finishing in an iteration,
but in an organization where the lines between new product development and operations
sometimes blur (like ours), new work invariably leaks into the teams mid-sprint.
It may come in the form of “favors”, little crisis events, or even training.
It is the job of the Scrum Master to prevent the work from leaking in, but many conscientious
developers usurp the Scrum Master because they hate to say, “No”.
Let’s call this mystery work Organizational Dark Matter (ODM). In theory, teams
account for ODM by committing only a percentage of their time during planning.
While this might end up working some day, I have not seen it yet. Optimistic
and well-meaning development teams accept more work than is reasonable in the
amount of time available. In my experience, a more effective technique is to field
a dedicated ODM Team so that the other teams can focus on Scrum for the complete
iteration.
The end result of Sprinting teams trying to accommodate ODM can be self inflicted
burnout. The teams get pressured by the Scrum Masters to focus and by the
ODM, which they try to hide because they know the Scrum Master will identify it as
an impediment to the team.
Conclusion
ODM has been piling up around here lately and Scrum is taking the heat for
it. Our team is taking a richly-deserved, week long break from Scrum next week
in order to deal with ODM. We don’t yet have a dedicated ODM Team, but as we
plan the next iteration it is an idea that I hear mentioned more often.
While the ODM backlog gets worked, I will be studying the nature of Organizational
Dark Matter and looking for ways to curtail it.