Why does Scrum matter?
- Scrum provides structure and forces prioritization in the company
- Scrum provides maximum work transparency at all times
- Scrum provides clear insight into problems within teams
- Scrum eliminates team leaders and administrative non-thinkers
- Scrum enables regular dialog between stakeholders and teams
- Scrum allows teams to make their own commitments and estimates within reason
- Scrum allows teams to work without constant supervision and guidance
- Scrum allows for predictable work increments
- Scrum is easily scalable
Why do successful sprints matter?
Each successful sprint carries a potential production-ready deliverable increment (a new product build, a specs or a prototype for a new tool, documentation, etc.), and as each sprint is time-boxed it is easy to make systematic progress and be competitive as a company
What happens when a sprint succeeds?
It shows that a Scrum team cares about the company success and can be trusted more in the future as the team has delivered what they agreed with the stakeholders
What happens when a sprint fails?
It shows that a Scrum team needs to improve in the future, and gives the team a chance to accept responsibility and address the organizational issues themselves
Is it ok to fail a sprint if it is done for a greater cause / higher goal?
No - saying "greater cause" in this context is an excuse for doing things your way without alignment with previously agreed goals and priorities, and with lack of transparency towards stakeholders
There are no valid reasons why a sprint should fail if:
a) Communication with the Product Owner and all stakeholders was regular
b) All issues with suggestions how to resolve them were raised as soon as they showed up
c) Sufficient effort was expanded
How to ensure a sprint succeeds when unexpected issues show up?
As soon as the issues show up:
1) Consider all possible solutions to keep the sprint on track: additional research, workaround, help from other teams, or just expand some extra effort
2) Contact stakeholders / Product Owner to inform them of the issues and possible solutions
3) Recommend sprint grooming as the last resort
Both the Scrum team and all stakeholders equally wish for each sprint to succeed so consider all related communication as discussion between allies on a common quest for success
