Can Scrum Help You?

The Genomica pre-Scrum experience of building features that nobody wanted and delivering those features late and with poor quality is not uncommon. Genomica, like many other organizations, had survived by being no worse than its competitors. I saw the same problems when I first started working in commercial software development in the mid-1980s. And for many, after nearly 30 years, the situation hasn’t improved.

Today, if you gathered together your business people and developers and asked them, “Are you happy with the results of our software development efforts?” or “Do you think we deliver good customer value in a timely, economical, and quality manner?” what would they say?

More often than not, the people I meet during my worldwide training and coaching answer both questions with a resounding “No.” This is followed by a chorus of “Project failure rate is unacceptably high”; “Deliverables are late”; “Return on investment frequently falls short of expectations”; “Software quality is poor”; “Productivity is embarrassing”; “No one is accountable for outcomes”; “Employee morale is low”; “Employee turnover is too high.” Then there’s the under-the-breath snicker that accompanies the tongue-in-cheek “There must be a better way.”