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“Won’t all this process stifle freedom and creativity?”
This is a familiar question from leaders who first learn the Scrum framework. They are feeling overwhelmed by the new roles and events in Scrum.
It’s an understandable reaction, but I’d like to share three responses to this kind of concern.
- Clearer, not more
- Constraints that inspire provide freedom
- A malleable system
Clearer, not more
Something interesting happens when teams implement Scrum or even just pivot toward adopting some of its practices. They actually spend less time in meetings and are initially surprised by this. So what’s happening here?
Scrum brings a higher level of clarity to meetings. There’s clarity around frequency, purpose, agenda and duration.
When first learning Scrum, most people see all the meetings at once and think there are more than they had before. But think about the typical meetings; staff meetings, status meetings, prioritization meetings, project planning meetings, project re-planning meetings, and other ad hoc meetings.
Scrum often leads to less time in meetings, but the purpose and timing of the sessions are more transparent.
Scrum brings a higher level of clarity to meetings. There’s clarity around frequency, purpose, agenda and duration.
The other common pitfall is that people try to overlay Scrum on top of what they are already doing. They’re thinking, “I don’t have time to add all of these meetings to my schedule. You shouldn’t be adding. You should be swapping.
This shift can be challenging for people to envision. “How can we not have a staff meeting?” If this is what you’re thinking, I encourage you to consider the outcomes of a staff meeting or any of the other meetings you’re concerned about losing, and then look to see if that outcome is realized with the sessions outlined in the Scrum framework. Evaluating these meetings provides the needed insight to adjust to the new cadence in Scrum.
Constraints that inspire provide freedom.
There’s a common conception that constraints limit creativity, but the contrary is true. Think about when you’re staring at a blank page. Whether writing or drawing, it can be hard to know where to start. In one sense, anything is possible, so we’re not inspired to move in any one direction.
Constraints actually inspire creativity because they force us to think of a new way of doing something. When constraints are in place, it stimulates creativity by placing us in problem-solving mode.
When I layout a landing page for a website, I have millions of colors and fonts to choose from and pixels to align by. But if I don’t constrain some of this, it will be a mess. When I constrain the alignment, it gives more freedom with color and weight. When I constrain the color and weight, there is more freedom with alignment.
The same thing is happening in Scrum. The way work is defined and prioritized is constrained. But this gives greater freedom in how the work gets done.
Related Guides
A malleable system
While Scrum is clearly defined, it is not rigid. One of the pillars is adaptation. Every sprint, every day even, there is an opportunity to inspect, evaluate, and adapt. The system is designed to serve the team and the organization, not the other way around.
Let’s look at how the system can still be malleable.
When implementing Scrum within a creative department, an area we quickly recognized as needing some adaptation was video production. It was a more linear stepped process of ideation, development, pre-production, production, post-production, and delivery. Some of those steps fit within a single sprint and would need to be spread over multiple sprints.
Then there was the question of where the director or producer's role fit within the Scrum system. Adapting it took several iterations. We eventually landed with a template for video production user stories, and people’s work capacity could be allocated across the stories within each sprint. To bring continuity to an individual video being produced, we treated it like a sub-product, a product within the larger product, where the director and producer acted somewhat like a product owner within that limited scope.
I would encourage a team or an organization to begin with a more pure implementation of Scrum and after they are up and running, adapt as needed.
But be careful. Sometimes when too much adaptation occurs before even the first sprint, it’s a veiled attempt to continue doing what we’ve always done and call it Scrum.
Leaning Scrum for the first time can be a bit overwhelming. There are many new terms and concepts in Scrum.
Well we’re here to help.
Related Guides
Action Plan
Hopefully, this post introduced you to how Scrum holds freedom and flexibility in tension.
If you want to learn more about Scrum in general, check out my What is Scrum? A Guide for Everyday People to Learn Scrum. If you have more questions, please feel free to reach out on LinkedIn.
Still not sure about your next step with Scrum? I offer a couple of free coaching sessions each month. You can signup for a free 30-minute coaching session, and we can work together to identify a good next step for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Scrum?
What is the definition of scrum?
Scrum is founded on three essential pillars leading teams to ask the following questions:
- How does this make things more visible? (Transparency)
- Where does this create space to evaluate? (Inspection)
- When does this encourage growth? (Adaptation)
Further explore the definition of scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Is Scrum hard to learn?
This is because Scrum’s simplicity makes learning easy, but Scrum truly changes how you work, and that adjustment can be difficult. It changes power dynamics and expectations within the team and between the team and the rest of the organization.
You can explore further is Scrum hard to learn, along with the pros and cons of Scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
When did Scrum start?
Scrum was initially used as a term related to project management in 1986 by Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka in their paper “New New Product Development Game” In the Harvard Business Review. The first recorded Scrum project came a little later in 1993 from Jeff Sutherland.
You can learn more about Scrum’s backstory. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
What do all the scrum words mean?
Learning Scrum for the first time can be overwhelming. There are a lot of new terms and concepts in Scrum. I’ve listed the most common terms in a Scrum glossary.
How to use Scrum
Why use Scrum?
It forces clarity and prioritization, which provides the focus necessary for teams to be effective. Scrum embraces complexity and change by keeping many things simple and iteratively evaluating and adapting.
You can learn more about why to use Scrum and three challenges Scrum solves. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
When does Scrum not work well?
Scrum isn’t always the best option for teams. Scrum can fail when there is a substantial mismatch between organizational culture and the Scrum values. It also depends on the nature of the work you do. If you work if very linear, predictable and tightly defined, you may not experience many benefits Scrum provides.
Find out more about aligning your organizational values with Scrum or how Scrum might fit in your context. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
How do I know when to use Scrum?
Scrum functions at its best when you have a dedicated team focused on developing a singular product. Its agility shines when there are time constraints combined with uncertainty.
Explore the pros and cons of Scrum along with expectations vs. realities with Scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Learning to apply Scrum
How to choose between Scrum and Kanban?
Important factors include your team size and the type of work you do. Kanban is very process-oriented, so you should consider how defined, static, or long your process is?
You can explore Scrum and other agile approaches. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
How does scrum help an organization?
Scrum forces clarity and prioritization, which are critical to organizational effectiveness. It provides a competitive edge by allowing teams to adapt as the market or priorities change. Teams operate more effectively because Scrum combines empowerment of the team members with alignment to top priorities.
Learn more about scrum’s impact on organizational culture. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Is scrum a methodology or a framework?
Scrum is more of a framework than a methodology, and it helps teams adhere to Agile principles and get stuff done. Scrum provides basic rules but doesn’t prescribe how to do the work. It provides principles, values, rules, and some core structure but still leaves a lot undefined.
Learn more about scrum as a framework. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
What’s the difference between scrum and agile?
When people say “agile,” they usually refer to it as a mindset. Scrum is a framework for how to organize people and work in an agile way. If you’re practicing Scrum, you’re working in an Agile way.
Learn more about the relationship between scrum and agile. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Scrum design
What are the three pillars of Scrum?
Scrum is founded on three essential pillars, and each leads the team to ask a critical question.
- Transparency. How does this make things more visible?
- Inspection. Where does this create space to evaluate?
- Adaptation. When does this encourage growth?
Learn how to apply the three pillars of Scrum and then explore the most common terms in a Scrum glossary.
What are the values of Scrum?
There are five values critical to the practice of Scrum: commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect.
- Commit to achieving the goals of the Scrum Team.
- Courage to do the right thing and work on challenging problems.
- Focus on the Sprint's work and the Scrum Team's goals.
- Open about all the work and the challenges with performing the work.
- Respect each other to be capable, independent people
Learn how to align Scrum values with your organization and then explore the most common terms in a Scrum glossary.
What is the sprint goal in scrum?
The sprint goal encapsulates the product owner’s vision into a concrete statement for the development team to measure the sprint against. The sprint goal provides a theme for the sprint’s work helping the team see how all the parts come together.
Learn more about the role of the sprint goal in scrum and explore the essential Scrum glossary.
