What antipatterns do you face in your daily work with Scrum?

They are everywhere! They can’t be killed and are often in good health. I’m talking about antipatterns, of course :wink:.

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. :cry:

Unfortunately, I have not yet found a way to recover that 30%. :cry: :cry: :cry:

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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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