Took me 3 project cycles to realize I was running scrum wrong

I was using Jira for like 2 years and treating every sprint like a mini waterfall, locking scope and refusing to touch anything once planning ended. Then a contract dev from Denver asked why my standup was 40 minutes and everyone was silent, so I actually looked up the guide and realized the whole point is adapting mid-sprint. Felt like a total idiot but fixed it overnight. Anyone else have a basic framework habit that just clicked way late?

2 comments

2 Comments

morganl715d ago

Wait, are you saying 2 years of running things the wrong way actually hurt your team, or did it just feel wrong on paper? Honestly, I've seen teams do way dumber stuff and still ship fine, so maybe you're being too hard on yourself. Tbh, the whole "adapt mid-sprint" thing sounds great in theory, but some teams need that locked scope just to get anything done. Ngl, I think you're overthinking it, if the work got done and nobody quit, you were probably fine the whole time. But hey, if the new way works for you, cool, just don't act like it's a life changing epiphany.

andrew_baker94d ago

Hard disagree @morganl71, locked scope is how you end up building stuff nobody wants while patting yourselves on the back. Two years of that misery doesnt just "feel wrong", it trains people to stop flagging problems early and that rot takes way longer to undo than shipping a few bad sprints. If the work got done but everyone secretly hated the process, you didnt fail fast enough.