There are three main reasons to why Scrum projects fail. On this I will elaborate in this post.
The most obvious reason is of course that the Scrum framework isn’t used properly. There are a plethora of articles, books, courses, gatherings, communities, forums, user groups, consultants, and so on, that can help you understand and implement Scrum as it is intended.
However, the other two main reasons are not as obvious and both are connected to perspective. First, there’s the concept of “a project”. A project is
a set of interrelated tasks to be executed over a fixed period and within certain cost and other limitations.1
Scrum is mainly used in the context of building software. Scrum.org will argue that the framework should only be used in that context, while Scrum Alliance, on the other hand, says it could be used in many different contexts. Personally, I think Scrum can be used in just about any context where something is being built; a product.
Since a project is something with a defined scope of time and, usually, an specified amount of money, it isn’t a good term to apply to the idea of building products. At the beginning you can’t know when the product will reach its own end. And, you probably want your product to live indefinitely, and by that giving you some sort of return on investment.
So, when you start planning for building your product, try to talk about the process in other terms than that of a “project”. Perhaps a better, but at the same time a bit strained, term could be product life cycle. The term is defined as
the cycle through which every product goes through from introduction to withdrawal or eventual demise.2
The last reason is the use of the word Scrum. You would probably never call building and maintaining a house “a tool belt product”. Scrum is a framework describing how to work, not what you’re supposed to do.
My point is that the perspective of an endeavour is very important. When you by mistake hit your thumb with a hammer while trying to hammer down a screw, you initially blame the hammer…
What we always need to do is to inspect and adapt, iteratively. This mechanism is deeply integrated in the Scrum framework; this is the feedback loop.
Call the endeavour your doing for what it is, not for how it is suppose to be made.
Project - Wikipedia, accessed 2016-02-23 22:58
Product Life Cycle Definition, accessed 2016-02-23 23:23