They are everywhere! They can’t be killed and are often in good health. I’m talking about antipatterns, of course .
I would like to start a discussion and find out which antipatterns you meet on a regular basis, and maybe also how you encountered them.
I’ll start with my TOP 3:
- Not all roles within the Scrum team are filled
→ Often the role of the Scrum Master is saved or not filled.
- Delivery model within a multi-project environment
→ a Scrum team has to split up on several projects
- Reporting instead of transparency
→ Instead of transparency and personal responsibility, reporting within the hierarchy is demanded.
Which antipatterns can you share?
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The most annoying antipatter I encounter is: Scrum itself!
I see all too often Scrum being used when there are no conditions for it, stretched and adapted in a silly way.
- I see it when there are no conditions for stable teams.
- Or when the products or services to be delivered cannot be delivered in Sprints.
- Or when there is no widespread product ownership in the product team.
- Or even worse the team is not a product team but a project team.
In these cases I try to create the conditions to reset everything and do an initial training (facilitated, not frontal) to: either bring out the conditions, or change the approach.
In 70 per cent of these cases, the team starts using a Kanban approach guided by outcomes and a market perspective. And excellent results come quickly.
In the remaining 30 per cent of cases, I fail the attempt and do not get the results I would like. Maybe some improvement, but not enough.
Unfortunately, I have not yet found a way to recover that 30%.
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My fav: Scrum master not there.
Instead, PO or disciplinary head fill this role.
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My favorite antipatterns are:
- doing the Scrum Master Job “parttime” next to your “normal” job.
- beeing responsible with 3 or more teams at the same time. (more than 2)
Best way to become ineffective over time -.-
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