"Why Do You Criticize Scrum, When You Wrote a Whole Book on Sprint Goals?"

Please Ignore Evangelists

When I criticize Scrum, I frequently receive messages like this one:

“How can you write a whole book on Sprint Goals and criticize Scrum at the same time?”

It seems like a fair question and I get where it’s coming from, but upon deeper reflection it’s a very strange question.

Let’s first address the question by specifically talking about my book. Already in the introduction of my book, I write the following:

“As you master Scrum, all the talk about Scrum should move to the background.

I want to underline that even though this book focuses on driving value with Sprint Goals, most of the principles and ideas in this book can be applied to teams that don’t use Scrum”

If you’ve read the introduction, there is no surprise that I consider Scrum something that should be working in the background, and not at the forefront.

During talks I often joke I could have named my book Driving Value With Goals because that’s how little the Scrum part matters for the book and what you may get out of it as a reader.

Anyone who has read my book will already see how much I put Scrum in the background instead of the forefront, as many Scrum authors do, because I believe that’s when Scrum works best: when it’s quietly humming in the background.

Unfortunately, this rarely happens, especially if Scrum fanatics are involved who make it over-important. There’s a reason we’re being referred to as ‘process people’.

Now, let’s explore the ‘Scrum criticism’ question within the broader context if what it means to have Scrum expertise.

Expertise Means You Should Be Able to Criticize

The very fact that you have expertise on something means you’re exactly the right person to criticize that something.

I believe the opposite of people who ask me why you are criticizing Scrum if you’ve written a book on Sprint Goals. If you’re an expert on something and can’t criticize it, then you’re not an expert, but first and foremost, you’re an evangelist. You’re someone for whom it’s more important to spread their beliefs than to learn something new.

A good example of this, is the fact that I’m not even a Sprint Goal evangelist. In my book on Sprint Goals, I describe all the situations where using Sprint Goals makes no sense at all.

Unfortunately, many people in the Agile and Scrum community are evangelists. I want to stress that it doesn’t mean they don’t have expertise or you should dismiss their expertise.

The problem is they often have lots of expertise (albeit narrowly focused). But their evangelism is accompanied by a huge and glaring blind spot you’re not allowed to call out. Evangelists are prone to making mistakes when you put them in situations where their beliefs blind them. So you must watch out when dealing with evangelists.

For evangelists, protecting their fragile beliefs is more important than learning something new. Many people in the Agile community suffer from Agile Evangelism. They approach problems with a tunnel vision that limits the solutions they may come up with.

When you criticize Scrum or SAFe, lots of evangelists take it personally for three reasons:

1. Their livelihood depends on it.

2. They are insecure.

3. Their identity depends on their evangelism.

Let’s unwrap these three reasons.

Lots of evangelists depend on Agile or Scrum for their income, and hence will protect it at all costs. I’m in the fortunate position that I don’t depend on any Agile framework for my livelihood. Plus, I criticize whatever I want, while disregarding the the potential impact on my income, or the fact I’m not asked to speak at rigged industry conferences.

I believe speaking the truth will pay off more in the long-term. I’m also fine with being wrong. Lots of evangelists optimize for short-term profits, like filling all the seats of their training, and being perceived as right. That’s also why they join groups of like-minded evangelists.

This brings to my second point. Many evangelists are insecure. If you write a post criticizing Scrum or SAFe they leave nasty ad-hominem comments or messages. They prioritize being right and protecting their beliefs over trying to understand the perspective of someone else.

I block these evangelists, as they are a waste of my time. I’m happy to learn something new and adjust my beliefs. I care more about getting smarter than appearing as smart and being ‘right’.

This brings me to my third point: evangelist tie their identity to their evangelism. When you attack Agile or Scrum, you’re attacking them personally. This is why they lash out, and write ad-hominem posts, comments or messages.

In conclusion, if you can’t criticize Agile or Scrum in any way, or you’re unable to handle it when others do, then you’re first and foremost an evangelist.

The Agile and Scrum community would be a much better place if we had less evangelists and more agnostic experts.

I first and foremost care about results. I get many messages every week from teams all over the world that benefit from my book on Sprint Goals.

That’s what I care about: helping others get results.

If you can’t criticize what you’re applying, or know when it doesn’t work, then I can guarantee you’re not getting the best results you could be getting, because you don’t understand it all that well.

If something is perfect, you’re likely examining it through a golden aura of dogma.