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This episode marks the first anniversary of the start of the Agile Coaches\u2019 Corner podcast! In celebration of this special mark, Dan Neumann and his collaborator, Sam Falco, are taking a look back at the very first episode: \u201cDo Scrum Well Before Scaling!\u201d They\u2019ll be revisiting the topic \u2014 but from a slightly different angle this time: \u201cWhat anti-patterns interfere with or prevent good scaling?\u201d

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Tune in to hear Dan\u2019s and Sam\u2019s anti-patterns around scaling in Scrum and some of their solutions on how to address them or stop them before they start!

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Key Takeaways

Anti-patterns that interfere with or prevent good scaling:

Not having a sprint goal; not having one clear goal for the sprint that is understood by everybody (which ends up creating a laundry list of items that are not tied together which can create unrealistic expectations about delivery)

Having two sprint goals (which causes a lack of focus) \u2014 \u201cIf you aim at two goals you won\u2019t hit either of them!\u201d

That everything doesn\u2019t have to be integrated or can be integrated after a few sprints (this can be a side effect of not having a clear sprint goal), which creates risk build-up

If everything is not integrated, technical debt will bring things to a grinding halt and create a mountain of undone work

A lack of automated testing and thinking you can build out the unit tests and automated functional tests later \u2014 because later might never happen or, by the time you get to it, the effort becomes far too large

Team dysfunctions and anti-patterns that affect scaling:

Not making the impediments visible \u2014 if you make the impediments and dependencies visible and communicate in-person this can be resolved fast!

A common dysfunction in beginning Scrum teams is this concept that individuals own the product backlog items which leads to siloed work (which, in turn, can lead to not getting things done because the team takes on more than it can handle and cannot coordinate properly)

Assigning stories to individual developers (when it is actually much more effective to leave the PBI unassigned or assigned to the Product Owner)

Multiple Product Owners for an individual Scrum team (you only want one \u2014 but if there are multiple ones in a scaled environment they should be aligned!)

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Mentioned in this Episode:

The Scrum Guide

Agile Coaches\u2019 Corner Ep. 1: \u201cDo Scrum Well Before Scaling!\u201d

Agile Coaches\u2019 Corner Ep. 51: \u201cGetting to \u2018Done\u2019 Within a Sprint\u201d

Agile Coaches\u2019 Corner Ep. 43: \u201cThe Importance of the Product Owner Role in Scrum with Sam Falco\u201d

Scrum@Scale

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Sam Falco\u2019s Book Pick:

Mastering Professional Scrum: A Practitioners Guide to Overcoming Challenges and Maximizing the Benefits of Agility, by Stephanie Ockerman and Simon Reindl

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