Failure — Find all Articles on Failure

Can Pure Scrum Actually Work?

by Stefan Wolpers | 2024-12-16 Featured Agile and ScrumAgile Transition

TL; DR: Pure Scrum?

Can you rely on pure Scrum to transform your organization and deliver value? Not always. While Scrum excels in simplicity and flexibility, applying it “out of the box” often falls short in corporate contexts due to limitations in product discovery, scaling, and portfolio management.

This article explores the conditions under which pure Scrum thrives, the organizational DNA required to support it, and practical scenarios where it works best—along with a candid look at where it struggles. Discover whether pure Scrum is a realistic approach for your team and how thoughtful adaptation can unlock its true potential.

Learn about conditions under which pure Scrum thrives and the organizational DNA required to support it — Age-of-Product.com

Why Leaders Believe the Product Operating Model Will Succeed Where Agile Initiatives Failed

by Stefan Wolpers | 2024-11-18 Featured Agile and ScrumAgile Transition

TL; DR: Why Leaders Support the Product Operating Model Despite Agile’s Failure

Why might leaders turn to the Product Operating Model (POM) after a previous Agile transformation, for example, based on SAFe, failed?

This article uncovers the psychological, organizational, and strategic reasons behind this seeming contradiction, exploring what motivates leaders to believe that a new approach will succeed where others have not.

Why Leaders Believe the Product Operating Model Will Succeed Where Agile Initiatives Failed — Age-of-Product.com

Product Washing: The Pitfalls of a Superficial Product Operating Model Transformation

by Stefan Wolpers | 2024-11-11 Agile and ScrumAgile Transition

TL; DR: Product Washing

By all means, the “Product Operating Model” (POM) has surged in popularity, especially among traditional organizations keen to prove their adaptability. (And, of course, among the McBostonians who, now that ”Agile” is dead, need a substitute to bill their junior consultants.) Which brings us to the problem of Product Washing.

On the surface, the product operating model promises a more customer-focused, outcome-driven approach. Empowered teams create value iteratively rather than following rigid, output-focused roadmaps. Best of all, they do so autonomously, well-aligned with the organization’s overall strategy and the possibly myriad other teams working on different initiatives. Think of SAFe done right.

Yet, for all its promise, the product operating model risks becoming another buzzword rather than an actual driver of transformation. Organizations that tout a “product-led” philosophy often do so without making the profound changes needed to live by it. This hollow adoption of product practices, or what we might call “Product Washing,” leaves companies stuck in the same old dynamics but with a new vocabulary: transformation by reprinting business cards. (Does this sound familiar?)

Product Washing: The Pitfalls of a Superficial Product Operating Model Transformation — Age-of-Product.com

The Scrum Trap: How Unfit Practices Will Harm Return on Investment

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-11-27 Agile and ScrumAgile Transition

TL, DR: The Scrum Trap

Scrum is a purposefully incomplete framework. Consequently, it needs to be augmented with tools and practices to apply its theoretical foundation to an organization’s business reality: what problems shall be solved for whom in which market? Moreover, there is an organization’s culture to take into account. However, the intentional “gap” is not a free-for-all to accept whatever comes to mind or is convenient. Some tools and practices have proven highly effective in supporting Scrum’s application and reaping its benefits. And then there are others — the Scrum trap.

Let’s look at what practices and tools for collaboration and team building are not helpful when used with Scrum.

The Scrum Trap: How Unfit Practices Will Harm Return on Investment — Age-of-Product.com

Scrum Team Failure — Scrum Anti-Patterns Taxonomy (3)

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-10-29 Agile and ScrumAgile Transition

TL; DR: Scrum Team Failure

This post on Scrum team failure addresses three categories from the Scrum anti-patterns taxonomy that are closely aligned: Planning and process breakdown, conflict avoidance and miscommunication, and inattention to quality and commitment, often resulting in a Scrum team performing significantly below its potential.

Learn how these Scrum anti-patterns categories manifest themselves and how they affect value creation for customers and the organization’s long-term sustainability.

This is the third of three articles analyzing the 183 anti-patterns from the upcoming Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide book. The other two articles, see below, address adhering to legacy systems, processes, practices, and communication and collaboration issues.

Scrum Team Failure — Scrum Anti-Patterns Taxonomy (3)

How to Sabotage A Product Owner — 53 Anti-Patterns from the Trenches

by Stefan Wolpers | 2022-02-21 Agile and ScrumAgile Transition

TL; DR: How to Sabotage A Product Owner — 53 Anti-Patterns from the Trenches to Avoid

One of my favorite exercises from my Professional Scrum Product Owner classes is how to best sabotage a Product Owner as a member of the middle management. The exercise rules are simple: You’re not allowed to use any form of illegal activity. So, outsourcing the task to a bunch of outlaws is out of the question. Instead, you are only allowed to use practices that are culturally acceptable within your organization.

Read on and learn more on how to best sabotage a Product Owner from the exercise results of more than twenty PSPO classes. (I edited the suggestions for better readability.)