The Evolving Nature of Scrum and the Myth of Immutability

Join Mike Cohn and Brian Milner as they discuss succeeding with agile, including how to choose a framework, the best place to start, & when to break the rules.

In this first episode of the Agile Mentors podcast, Brian Milner and Mike Cohn explain why it’s important to understand and sometimes break the rules if you want to succeed with an agile approach like Scrum. 

While the Scrum Guide states that the rules are ‘immutable,’ clinging to the rulebook mindlessly only holds you back. Instead, you need to know which rules Scrum teams can flex (and when), and which agile principles should always be adhered to.

Brian and Mike share their real-world experience of team members getting things right and wrong, and how you can improve your chances of making long-lasting change as you move to agile.

Listen now to discover: 

05:12 - Why people still confuse the terms agile and Scrum
9:01 - How moving to Scrum changed (and improved) Mike’s traditional management style 
10:51 - Which rules are OK to break, and how to know when to break them
13:51 - The daily scrum has to be conducted left to right…doesn’t it?
17:38 - An agile culture or agile practices? Which do you adopt first for a successful agile transformation?
22:19 - What do people need to get right for an agile transition?
24:15 - Does continuous improvement mean cross-functional teams are worked to death? (And a fight breaks out on LinkedIn)
30:03 - Of all the methodologies and agile frameworks you can choose (Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, extreme programming, etc) which one should you start with?

Listen next time when we’ll be discussing…

The history of the Scrum Master role, its connection to project management, and tips to succeed in this vital Scrum role. 

References and resources mentioned in the show

• Agile Project Management with Scrum by Ken Schwaber
• Scrum Guide 
• The Princess Bride
• The Agile Manifesto 
• The Karate Kid
• Nameless Organizational Change: No-Hype, Low-Resistance Corporate Transformation by Glenn Allen-Meyer
• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Dan Pink
• Spotify Engineering Culture Part 1 and Part 2

Want to get involved? 

This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input. 

Enjoyed what you heard today? It would be great if you left a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one. 

Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com

This episode’s presenters are: 

Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work. 

Mike Cohn is co-founder of the Scrum Alliance, and founder of Mountain Goat Software. He’s a veteran of applying Scrum and agile principles and practices to help organizations build better products and ship them on time.

Editing by Rhett Gill