SCRUM in SAP implementation
Currently we are facing with preparation to deploy of new organizational unit in SAP.
Our managers require to lead this project regard with scrum approach. Have you ever met in case of SAP project with releasing changes to production environement every single sprint (duration 2 - 4 weeks)? I know about SAP activate methodology but in this case release to production is at the end. I will appreciate if you give me opinion about using SCRUM in SAP implementation.
Could Scrum be used? Sure. Is it the best option? Not convinced of that.
Have you asked why they want to use Scrum and what they hope to gain by doing so?
From the Scrum Guide
Scrum was initially developed for managing and developing products. Starting in the early 1990s, Scrum has been used extensively, worldwide, to:
- Research and identify viable markets, technologies, and product capabilities;
- Develop products and enhancements;
- Release products and enhancements, as frequently as many times per day;
- Develop and sustain Cloud (online, secure, on-demand) and other operational environments for product use; and,
- Sustain and renew products.
Based on that, I would conclude that your scenario could fit but I am not sure of the real benefits of it. As you mentioned SAP has a prepared activate methodology that is founded on numerous successful attempts. From my experience Scrum works best when the work is complex and fluid in the needed outcome. Yours is pretty cut and dry.
Are you referring to a brand new SAP implementation or development and maintenance in an existing environment?
SAP Activate is Waterfall. With phases and quality gates. They call it Hybrid, which is all the hype here in Germany at the moment. What's different about it is doing the explore phase on a pre-configured SAP Standard system. Identifying gaps and filling a backlog instead of writing mile-high stacks of concept papers about what we think we know. But the rest has a distinct smell of waterfall, even if the word Sprint is used in the realization phase.
I'm currently coaching a new implementation and have been at heads with the program manager from aforementioned company.
But back to your question: an SAP implementation can be realized with scrum. My biggest challenge at the moment, other than the typical organisational fears of doing things differently, is putting cross functional teams together. SAP consultants are so used to being highly specialized and working in their own silos, instead of working together on a day to day basis to implement end to end processes. And getting developers assigned to the the teams is even more problematic, as much of the work is purely configuration instead of coding. So what would the devs be doing all day?
Aside from the challenges I've mentioned, you may not get quite as much out of Scrum, as you would with a product team developing websites and deploying every day. It takes longer to build an MVP, which can replace an existing ERP system. So feedback loops can be longer, especially if you don't have a business team in place to continually test the increments as they get deployed to the QA system.
On the technology side, CI and test automation can cost a lot more than in other development environments, where you have a lot of open source stuff available.
Can you use Scrum in an SAP implementation? Absolutely. It's a huge change for a lot of people, but it's way better than Waterfall.
Hi Robert, do you manage to use scrum in SAP implementation project?