Where to start

There are two common ways to start any great subject. One can start in with the abstract and general ideas and become progressively more concrete. Or one can start with concrete things, and then infer the principles.

We will deal with values, principles and practices (using Kent Beck's words), but we will start first with the rules of Scrum.

Why start with Scrum?

Scrum sets in motion a simple empirical process, from which the team can evolve to better practices and approaches in other areas.

We would not fight a team that wanted to start with Extreme Programming and then add in Scrum. But we suggest that starting with Scrum is better in most cases.

Why "the Rules"?

The Rules are a simple way to summarize and make concrete the complexity within Scrum. Scrum seems simple, but indeed it is quite complex. I invite you to imagine and grasp the purpose or purposes behind each rule. In some cases these purposes are discussed a bit.

But frankly, starting with the Rules gives me some trepidation.

We all know the personality types that like rules. And some of those people take great pleasure in enforcing rules on others. And, quite frankly, encouraging those related attitudes is something I find particularly unhelpful for Teams doing work they have never done before. When most people start Scrum they are very busy unlearning old rules. A too-strong focus on Scrum rules can have them get too caught up on how "rules will make me safe", rather than thinking for themselves "what are the best and most essential things to do to bring this project to success?"

The Team does need a minimal set of rules. It does not need one person (such as a formerly "command and control" project manager) to rigorously enforce a large set of rules.

copyright 2007, Joseph Little