Scrum is an agile framework that, if applied properly, can boost the efficiency of teamwork. It is known to be versatile enough, so it could be applied in basically any sort of productive teamwork, even beyond IT (e.g. bakeries, government organizations, etc.)
However, I’ve never ever seen it being used anywhere else other than in software development, therefore I’ve always been curious if Scrum is actually being used outside of IT somewhere.
Any time I’ve heard of Scrum being implemented, it’s usually a negative thing. I’ve had a few friends where their workplace tries it, and the smart ones usually drop it. The others just lose people instead. Biggest complaint I’ve seen is the daily meetings that 110% could have been an email. I think it just doesn’t get applied “correctly”.
Why we don’t see it elsewhere is it’s not really applicable elsewhere in a lot of ways. I work in healthcare and I do not know how that would be implemented into my job. It’s not like we have team goals or projects even, we’re just out here scanning patient’s and processing their images. I’m sure management has goals but we’re so short staffed that I don’t pay any attention to it. I’ve got more important things to worry about than patient satisfaction scores or how many open appointments we have.
Yeah management types hear “daily meetings” and don’t realize that scrum meetings are meant to be less than 5 minutes.
“What did you do yesterday? What are you doing today? Do you have any blockers?” Done.
I was part of a project that was run on a 5 minute standup and it was wonderful. Everything after that has been bad to awful.
If folks are discussing implementation details during the meeting, it’s awful.
We used to have the meeting first thing in the morning.
“What are you doing today?”
“No clue, you decided to have a meeting instead of letting me check my email and Jira responses.”
“What are your blockers?”
“No clue, you decided to have a meeting instead of letting me check my email and Jira responses.”
That format makes it into a round of status reports, especially if the manager is present. Better is: “What are you blocked on, who will help, or who’s time do you need today - confirm it now, right after this meeting is best!”
One of the former managers wanted me to implement agile programming, as it would be so much better, he had heard. I am the only programmer in my specialized field in the company…
I swear some of these managers don’t even have two brain cells to rub together
I’m in healthcare and education, and find morning huddles are very helpful. We run the patient list, identify who might need us to track some results down, and assign learners to patients they know or who appear to have presentations they should prioritize for their learning. Reception joins to see if any changes are needed to make sure patients have the right amount of time allocated, or if we have room for some squeeze ins. If there are any priority issues (patients we MUST see that day) that gets shared so no matter who gets the call, we are able to react appropriately. Whole thing takes well under 10min, and is hugely helpful.
Some genius added another huddle first thing in the afternoon schedule, which is rather useless, but since we never get to eat lunch, this leaves a bit of time before the chaos of the afternoon strikes to grab a bite or run to the bathroom.
I do two scrum-style a week and go daily if we’re busy. Team of 5, I set the time limit to 3 mins which means we’re realistically done in 4-5. I’ll also sometimes do sprint-style stuff for quick turnover projects with 2+. Usually this is a big chunk of analytics or report that needs to get done, so it’s best to break apart the requirements and designate people that specialise at different parts onto each job. I also use digital boards for projects and larger tasks since there can be a lot going on at once. This helps me clear blockers and re-prioritise upcoming tasks or redesignate someone’s capacity to assisting with other tasks if need.
My fav part is the team having everything cleared and all that’s left is blockers I’ve already actioned for movement. If anyone asks why we’re idle and doing a jigsaw puzzle or personal development, I can just show the board. The transparency is sweet justice for senior management which are often involved in the blocks.
I make sure to not go full agile because it’s just not really compatable. I pluck the basic parts and the general concept and use what works and ignore what won’t.