“After years of developing software by (incorrectly) applying the Scrum methodology, I have come to this conclusion: Scrum is the new death march. Or rather, Scrum does more harm than good when it’s mindlessly requested by managers who are merely trying to show how modern and trendy their development teams are.

Scrum is a tool, and like any other tool, it can be used the right way or the wrong way.   I would initially avoid using Scrum and rather start with something simpler (like, say, Kanban) unless everybody, management included, is willing to put the time needed to understand the philosophy behind Scrum, what can come out of it (responsible developers, communication, iterative feedback on the project status, etc.), and what must be avoided (micro-management and unrealistic 10x productivity).

Unfortunately, all of the Scrum that I have seen so far is a by-the-book application of methodology rules with no understanding the reasoning behind those rules. Consequently, Scrum is now starting to strike fear amongst good-willing developers. They get that sense of dread some of us recognize from those moral-churning death marches we were confronted to back in those Waterfall days…” – Diego Pappalardo, edited & excerpted from his article, “Scrum is the New Death March“, @ Dzone / Agile Zone, click here to read the article in its entirety.

Thought Provoking for sure!   PMO Advisory offers courses throughout the year designed for project professionals interested in Portfolio (PfMP), Program (PgMP), Project (PMP & CAPM) Risk (PMI-RMP) Management, and Agile (PMI-ACP) certifications.