Jeff Sutherland’s Scrum Handbook 60
task-based planning is implemented along with overtime and
weekend work. Most agile development practices are abandoned.
EmbeddedWaterFall.com reverted to type.
There was an extensive analysis of root causes and lessons learned
on this project. The bottom line is failure of management to
understand agile practice and failure of management commitment to
implement Scrum made it impossible to remove impediments at the
first sign of trouble.
Case Study 2: “GameOver.now”
(by Henrik Kniberg of Crisp SA, Stockholm)
A second case study shows how aggressive action can resolve
management challenges when management is willing to adapt and
remove impediments to Scrum implementation. Let’s call this
company GameOver.now where Scrum was implemented for the
most important project in the company to deliver a critical software
application on a fixed date in April of 2007.
A Scrum team ran two-week sprints from April to September in
2006 to produce detailed requirements. Then they ran two-week
sprints to code the requirements from October to December. January
through March of 2007 was reserved for testing.
In January the code is not complete, testing has not begun, and the
management is hovering over the team worried about progress. They
call in an expert Scrum trainer who notices the team is not really a
team. The DBA works independently on her set of tasks. A three
person subgroup in the team mistrusts everyone else. Management is
starting to micromanage an impending disaster. Waterfall has been
implemented under a Scrum banner.
The Scrum trainer says it is time to implement Scrum. We will
create a product backlog, estimate the product backlog, find the
actual velocity of the team by running two sprints, and determine the
release date by building a roadmap. Created and estimating stories
using Planning Poker for incomplete product backlog showed that
180 points were remaining. There were 70 points of testing
remaining for the portion of the backlog that had been coded. The
team completed two sprints with a velocity of 10. At current