Aggressive Scrum

The 2015 Chaos Report from the Standish Group shows only 39% of Agile teams are successful – that means that 61% of them are not meeting the values and principles of the Agile Manifesto. Aggressive Scrum focuses on using Scrum practices to actually deliver value Sprint after Sprint - i.e. Aggressive Scrum is Scrum that works!

Like a synchronized bike team where the leader cleaves the air, a successful Scrum team follows tried-and-true principles to realize value. Agile doesn’t mean doing whatever you want; it means working together toward a common vision and producing a potentially shippable product increment at the end of every Sprint. Keeping with the bike team analogy, the guy leading the bike team  [the Scrum Master] is parting the resistance. And the faster they go, the more resistance there is… and the more necessary it is for the Scrum Master to block and tackle.

If the Scrum Master gets tired, he or she needs to peel off and bring up the rear, while another person assumes the lead role, breaks the resistance, and pedals harder than anyone else.

No analogy is perfect and the Product Owners always ask where they are in this picture. They are in the van running beside the bikers encouraging them to peddle faster and telling them to take the left fork ahead!

Jeff Sutherland

-- Thanks to Solutions IQ and Agile Amped for the video and original post