Scrum may be difficult to understand and follow
Despite the fact
that scrum framework helps to provide solutions for the drawbacks prevailing in
traditional project management methodologies, in many cases, the company
implementing scrum for the first time may face certain issues associated with
scrum itself. Scrum methodology is highly adaptable and powerful. It can cater
to changing market conditions, and successfully incorporate the changes within
the product development cycle, even while the product is currently being
developed. There are several advantages, which makes Agile scrum a much desired
development methodology. However, implementing scrum in a successful manner can
prove to be very challenging for first timers. The impediments faced are generally
related to the transition process, as the company starts migrating from its
current development methodology to scrum. For majority of people new to scrum, the
environment may appear to be complex, rigid, and difficult to understand and
follow. This is a misconception since scrum can be almost everything but not rigid
in the truest sense. In the initial stage, the team may find it difficult to
understand how scrum works, and what kind of roles the product owner and scrum master play while implementing scrum. In addition, there are certain artifacts
or objects such as the product backlog and the sprint backlog which figure
prominently in scrum. Moreover, scrum events such as the daily sprint meeting,
sprint planning meeting, sprint retrospective meeting, and the sprint review
meeting may confuse novices why they exist, or are needed in the first place.
Scrum can be quite different when compared to traditional waterfall project
development methods, and people often start developing a negative attitude towards
it simply because they fail to understand it.
Not getting the desired results out of scrum
implementation
A company or a business
may decide to implement scrum to reduce the project turnaround time or increase
the productivity and the ROI. There is always a reason why an ongoing process
flow may be required to be replaced by a new one by the business owners. The
management and stakeholders may have “heard” about the obvious benefits of
using scrum, and how their business can possibly benefit from them. The
management personnel may have high expectations, and might even plan their
marketing goals and objective keeping in mind the benefits availed by
implementing scrum in their ongoing projects. However, in many cases, due to
various reasons scrum implementation may fail to produce the desired results
for the particular business, and the entire project may go askew with no clear
indication as to in which direction it is heading for. The reasons may be many
and varied. It is important to know what they are if scrum is to be implemented
successfully.
· Improper
communication channels and feedback
Broken feedback channels and improper communication
processes primarily lead to a void in the learning process which is so very
important while implementing scrum. A major issue is the lack of feedback
availed during the scrum meetings and important information not being transmitted
to the team members in the correct manner, or at the correct time. In scrum,
the entire project is developed in short bursts of development activity called
sprints. Sprints are to be conducted on a daily basis. The daily stand up or
the daily scrum meeting precedes the sprint activity. Three important questions
are to be answered during the meeting. The product increment during the daily
sprint can be affected by the answers availed during the stand up. After the
entire sprint is over, a sprint review meeting is held to evaluate the
development carried out by the team. The product owner and the scrum master
evaluate the entire sprint during the review, and efforts are made to generate
new findings based upon prior experiences. The findings need to be conveyed to
the team.
Result
When the communication channel fails due to some
reason and proper feedback is not transmitted to the team members, they may
start with a new sprint and repeat the same mistakes they made in the prior
sprint. Scrum supports self-learning and self-correction activities which are
possible only when a proper communication channel is set in place, and feedback
is made available to the entire team. If the team members do not receive any feedback
or communications from the concerned personnel, they may proceed with future
activities without any definite aim or objective. This can be disastrous for scrum because
everything is planned, and each activity is carefully regulated in scrum. The
team members fail to perform in the correct manner and the entire project
suffers as a consequence.
· Organization
lacks sufficient scrum knowledge and experience
Project managers are more used to traditional
waterfall methods and are familiar with their process flow. Scrum is very
different, and the framework should be understood in depth before it can be
used or implemented in any particular way or manner. It is essential that the
entire team be educated in scrum and knows how it works. The team members
should be well apprised about the importance of the scrum artifacts and the
purpose of the meetings. They should be made aware about the importance of
sharing information in scrum and collaborating with other team members. At
times, the team may not be clear about how a scrum meeting should be ideally
conducted, and what information ought to be availed from it. A lack of clear
purpose may render the entire meeting as useless. The team members may fail to
deliver productivity in a scheduled or effective manner. The entire scrum
process could be hampered.Read more on
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