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Scrum or Agile implemented correctly or is it a SQWAT?

Last post 09:05 pm November 1, 2019 by Timothy Baffa
4 replies
03:35 pm October 31, 2019

Today I came across this great acronym SQWAT on LinkedIn. The acronym stands for Status Quo With Agile Terminology. I personally completely agree with the acronym and I have had experience of such SQWAT initiatives. Are there any ways to check if the organization is truly agile or implements Scrum the way it is intended? I might be particularly useful for new Scrum Masters or before accepting roles at a new organization. 

Any inputs are welcome. 


03:48 pm October 31, 2019

Where I've typically see SQWAT are with organizations just starting out in their agile journey or within organizations that have started the journey but don't have the executive sponsorship and support to truly make the tough changes. 

With a little observation I think this can be identified pretty quickly....as a Scrum Master coming into an organization though I think it comes down to what you're looking for... a company that is mature with Scrum? maybe one just getting started? or one that has been trying for some time but actually doing SQWAT. 

 


09:56 pm October 31, 2019

Are there any ways to check if the organization is truly agile or implements Scrum the way it is intended? I might be particularly useful for new Scrum Masters or before accepting roles at a new organization. 

I have a thread in a common vein focused on identifying ways to evaluate how well Scrum is going. I think it has become easy to misunderstand the purpose of Scrum and confuse it with delivering Customer Value. It's true your product should be delivering customer value through Scrum, but Scrum is designed to help you identify challenges so that you can fix them. Might want to ask about some recent challenges solved for and what kinds of challenges exist today. Implementing Scrum is easy, but obtaining the benefits of Scrum is difficult.


06:48 am November 1, 2019

Are there any ways to check if the organization is truly agile or implements Scrum the way it is intended?

How does the organization implement evidence based management? What outcomes does it look for, and how does it measure them empirically?


09:05 pm November 1, 2019

The easiest way for me to assess how an organization is implementing Scrum is to simply ask "What has changed?"

If the response is all about re-labeling existing practices, you have your answer.   If they're not doing anything new or different, you have your answer.   If they are just moving deck chairs on the Titanic, you have your answer.

Hopefully, the response you get is quite different than the above.


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