Cargo Cult Scrum

Ponies, Unicorns & Silver Bullets

Disclaimer: This piece is about Scrum since it is the most widespread implementation of Agile. Nevertheless, most of the statements made are valid for any Agile methodology.

Chaos reports show that Agile projects are more successful than other methodologies. Developers write posts in their blogs, describing how cool is it to work “the Agile way”, how their productivity has improved. It is engaging, cool and interesting…

Other groups of developers people claim Agile to be harmful for their company and even for our industry. They have implemented Scrum and they got more meaningless meetings and more paperwork to do. Managers and team leaders see no boost of productivity. Instead of the satisfaction and engagement promised, the team got frustration and confusion.

Frustration and confusion are the typical signs that Cargo Cult Scrum was implemented instead of the methodology.

What is Cargo Cult?

Cargo Cult is an attempt to re-create successful outcomes by replicating the circumstances associated with this outcomes (Wikipedia). The circumstances may or may not be related to the outcomes. Cargo Cults happen when there is no understanding what is the real cause of the success.

Psychological fallacies behind the cults are widespread, you can see them used in some commercials: “A well known successful person wears watch X, therefore if I would wear watch X, I will be successful as well”.

Scrum: a Buzzword-driven methodology

Any successful technology, product or idea usually has cargo cults and Scrum is not an exception.

It has a whole set of practices with recognisable names and instructions to implement them: “scrum master”, “backlog”, “sprint”, “daily scrum”, “retrospective”. This vocabulary was, probably, one of the reasons the methodology grew into popularity in the first place. However, it can easily outshine the true meanings and reasoning behind the practices themselves.

Statements, Principles & Practices

Scrum is an implementation of the Agile Methodologies. It is based on the statements of the Agile Manifesto, and on the principles behind it. If you understand the principles, you will be able to come up with your own practices.

Scrum has its practices. Cargo Cult implementations usually focus on them, their names and implementation guidelines, ignoring the principles behind. The success of the methodology in that scenario is a pure luck.

Cargo Cult Scrum examples

“Canonical Scrum”

One of the typical examples of Cargo Cult is “Canonical” Scrum. The idea behind it can be stated as following: “you have to implement the whole set of Scrum practices described in the book X (or the article Y) otherwise you are doing it all wrong”.

This cult is completely ignorant to the fact that different teams in different conditions need different processes. Moreover, the same team may need to adjust the process while evolving or as surrounding conditions change. The author of the article can have a totally different conditions and therefore different needs than the reader. Canonical Scrum ignores with the very first statement of the Manifesto: “(We value) individuals and interactions over processes and tools”.

“Goalless Scrum”

The second example is “Goalless Scrum”. The methodology sometimes is perceived as a silver bullet: “Our development group will “go agile” and all the problems will disappear.” To work efficiently a group of people should share the same goal.

To be a self-organising team, you have to be a team in the first place.

How to avoid Cargo Cults?

There are some important things to know if you want to avoid implementing Cargo Cult.

You should have a team. This is first and the most important point. Wikipedia describes a team as “a group of people linked in a common purpose”. I you just call yourself “a team” doesn’t mean you are one.

Only a common goal will make a team from a group of individuals. Scrum doesn’t help with setting the goal, it is a prerequisite.

Next points are:

learn and understand the principles behind Agile methodologies;

start simple;

apply only those practices that are necessary;

iterate over a process, make it serve you.

Remember, methodologies and processes are just tools that help people to work together to achieve their goal. Don’t fool yourself into implementing “the most book-like Scrum” out there.