This is one that took me a long time to realise.
I’ve worked on three Agile coaching teams. And each one, at some time or another has had this discussion. It’s normally when the Agile Coaches have taken time off from their day job
AC1: Look at this wish list we’ve just created as a result of our brainstorming session! We’ve got a lot of work to do, how are we going to do it? AC2: I dunno, we’re all busy with our day jobs. AC3: Hey, we’re all pushing Scrum all day? Why don’t we use Scrum to get these things done! AC2: Sounds like a good idea, I mean if we can’t do Scrum ourselves, we really shouldn’t be forcing our clients to do it should we? AC1: Well, OK, let’s do a planning session right now, let’s plan out a sprint. How long is the sprint going to be? AC2: Well, we’re meeting again in two months, so it should probably be that long.
…three to six months later.
AC1: So I know we were supposed to get together sooner than this, but for various reasons we didn’t. But I’ve put in an agenda item to look at the sprint that we planned last time and the backlog. AC2: Really? I can’t remember what it was I was supposed to do, and everything has changes since then anyway. AC3: We should probably at least have a look though, shouldn’t we? I mean if we can’t do that. It’s always the cobbler with the hole in his shoe.
…a few hours later?
AC1: AC2 - you said you were going to do that. AC2: AC1 - I know, but I just haven’t had the time to think about it. AC3: “Blog on Validity” - what is that? AC2: I dunno - you created the ticket. AC3: But it must have been something I wrote up after the brainstorm.
All the attempts to use “Scrum” to “manage” Agile coaching teams have run into the sand in a way similar to this.