Why do Software Teams Deviate from Scrum? Reasons and Implications.

1. 2020-06-29 Chalmers University of Technology 1
DEVIATIONS FROMAGILE PRACTICES IN SCRUM
Why do Software Teams Deviate from Scrum?
Reasons and Implications
Authors: Mohamad Mortada, Hamdy Michael Ayas, Regina Hebig

2. 2020-06-29 Chalmers University of Technology 2
BACKGROUND
• Adoption of Agile Practices is not as straight forward as
it seems to be, even with frameworks like Scrum
• Teams need time to achieve good practices (if there is
such a thing as “good practices”)
• Teams customize Best Practices to their particular
needs

3. 2020-06-29 Chalmers University of Technology 3
BACKGROUND
• Adoption of Agile Practices is not as straight forward as
it seems to be, even with frameworks like Scrum
• Teams need time to achieve good practices (if there is
such a thing as “good practices”)
• Teams customize Best Practices to their particular
needs

4. 2020-06-29 Chalmers University of Technology 4
BACKGROUND
• Adoption of Agile Practices is not as straight forward as
it seems to be, even with frameworks like Scrum
• Teams need time to achieve good practices (if there is
such a thing as “good practices”)
• Teams customize Best Practices to their particular
needs

5. 2020-06-29 Chalmers University of Technology 5
BACKGROUND
• Adoption of Agile Practices is not as straight forward as
it seems to be, even with frameworks like Scrum
• Teams need time to achieve good practices (if there is
such a thing as “good practices”)
• Teams customize Best Practices to their particular
needs
è Teams usually deviate from Agile Practices and the
causes and implications are not always clear

6. 2020-06-29 Chalmers University of Technology 6
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
• Detailed protocols
about Scrum events
1. Observations
• List of identified
deviations
2. Comparison
to Scrum
Guidelines
• Frequency of
deviations
3. Online
Survey
•Consequences of
deviations
•Causes of deviations
4. Interviews2 teams in different
companies
19 deviations
initially identified
34 respondents;
13 deviations reported in >33%
6 participants

7. 2020-06-29 Chalmers University of Technology 7
END-TO-END EXAMPLE OF DEVIATION
Deviation identified:
• No agenda used for the planning meeting
Deviation Confirmation:
• ~62% of respondents (21 from 34) are not using an agenda
• 9 of them are having >8 hours long planning meetings
Identified Reason:
• Power Structure and habit
Identified Implication:
• Complex, ambiguous and prolonged/unfinished meetings

8. 2020-06-29 Chalmers University of Technology 8
CLASSIFICATION OF REASONS
Doubts of team
members
Doubts on internal factors (suitability of their
input)
Doubts on external factors (on the purpose of
the activity)
Organizational
structures
Roles of people within the team
Responsibilities of teams in the organization
Complexity of
the teams’
work
Planning & Scheduling of resources
Technical issues

9. 2020-06-29 Chalmers University of Technology 9
CLASSIFICATION OF IMPLICATIONS
Teamwork Team morale
Team organization and planning
Team activities
Product
development
Quality and achievement of goals
Working on value adding activities

10. 2020-06-29 Chalmers University of Technology 10
UTILIZING THE OUTCOME
• Process Debugging
• Considering in process design