“We have a Scrum team (or several teams), and we would like to understand how effectively these people are working.”
We often come across such requests. Agile practices often emerge within companies from a grassroots initiative and develop over time based on their own understanding. In such situations, the desire to validate their own implementation of Scrum is quite reasonable. In most cases, asking just one question to one of the developers is enough to understand what is going on:
Please describe the Sprint Goal of your previous Sprint.
This is a very important question. The answer to it immediately reveals most of the Scrum imitations. Here are the most common responses we hear:
- Unknown goal:
“We need to ask the PO or management about that.” This is most likely a low-quality imitation of Scrum. Such a response immediately exposes a multitude of dysfunctions. The knowledge of goals remains outside the team. Developers have no connection to the product or its users. There can be no empathy towards the product. And, of course, in this case, there is probably no Scrum team at all. - Heap of tasks as a Sprint Goal:
“We need to implement tag-based search.” This is a slightly better situation. This “mechanical imitation” provides developers with some focus in the form of a set of tasks that someone expects from them. However, it is still far from real Scrum work. - Pathetic phrases as a goal:
“Increase user happiness.” In this case, the positive factor is that such goals remind developers why they started this sprint. However, most of these goals are not achievable within a single sprint and lack clear metrics for success. How will we measure the change in user happiness at the end of the sprint if they have only seen the increment created during the sprint? - The Sprint Goal formulation implies creating understandable (measurable) value for the user and is a step towards achieving the Product Goal or testing a product hypothesis. In this case, we are likely dealing with real Scrum work.
When diagnosing the effectiveness of your Scrum implementation, understanding the clarity and alignment of the sprint goals is crucial. It reveals whether the team is truly working in an agile manner or merely going through the motions. By asking this question, you can uncover the gaps and dysfunctions within your Scrum practices and take steps to address them, ultimately fostering a more effective and value-driven Scrum team.