Is it ever OK to deviate from the Scrum Guide? - Mike Cohn
I’m out there on social media and I see all the same posts you do about the sanctity of the Scrum rules. And I get it. There are many rules of Scrum that teams break when they shouldn’t. But I don’t think it does anyone any good to be so hung up on rules that you throw practicality out the window.
Here’s the thing: No team should break a Scrum rule before they’ve tried to do it by the book for a while, and given themselves a chance to understand why each rule exists in the first place.
But teams that have been doing Scrum together for a while sometimes need to bend a few Scrum rules to fit their specific circumstances and situation. And in most cases no one needs to start calling foul if they do!
Here are a few common rules most teams can safely break or bend:
Never extending a sprint is a great rule. Usually. Can it be broken? Yes—not often and always for a good reason (such as a holiday that makes a longer sprint sensible).
It’s ideal to have a dedicated Scrum Master–it’s the best way to build high-performing teams. But having a dedicated Scrum Master is an economic decision and it may not always be justified, especially once the team can take on some responsibilities for itself.
Having a retrospective every sprint is a wonderful way to put improvement front and center. But if a team is running one or two-week sprints and things are going well, I think it’s OK for them to only do a retrospective every four weeks (or every other sprint).
Teams that are new to Scrum should do Scrum by the book. But it’s unrealistic to expect teams to never bend or break a rule to better fit their context.
Knowing when to follow the rules, and when to break them, helps teams succeed,
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