Why A Scrum Guide For CEOs? Scrum has become a go to framework everyone from startups to the fortune 500 use to get things done. While originally designed for software development, Scrum has the potential to help entire organizations master the art of what Scrum pioneer Jeff Sutherland calls Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time. A plethora of Scum books have been written to help improve the efficiency of agile software development teams, but very little is available for sales, marketing & finance teams. An even larger knowledge gap exists for management teams looking for practical ways to use Scrum without disrupting company operations. CEOs consistently ask me how Scrum can be used to increase organizational efficiencies and maximize profits. This series of articles will answer that question and help CEOs leverage Scrum’s empirical process to amplify the Voice of the Customer (VOC) in their company. Everything we’ll cover is applicable at the portfolio, program and project level making it relevant for any manager.
What Each of The Nine Articles Will Cover
The CEO’s Scrum Guide starts with this introduction to give you context for why you should explore Scrum as a CEO. Article two will focus on giving you a simple and practical definition to explain Scrum to your entire organization. Three breaks down how to introduce the pillars of scrum theory – transparency, inspection and adaptation to establish a culture of efficiency. In article four we’ll explore how to instill Scrum values of commitment, courage, focus, openness and respect to help your people embrace the Scrum framework. Five focuses on how to configure your organization using Scrum team structures to optimize resource allocation to create greater profit efficiency. In six we’ll review Scrum events as a catalyst for reducing redundant meetings and decimating critical information. Seven is all about how you can use Scrum sprints and backlogs to define and prioritize work to maximize delivery of value to customers. Eight delves into artifact transparency and how to define acceptance criteria to make it crystal clear when work is done. To wrap up we’ll tie everything together into a cheat sheet you can use as CEO to get the most out of implementing Scrum inside your company.Complimentary Frameworks To Define Work
Scrum is arguably the best framework companies can use to get work done, but it doesn’t answer the question of what work SHOULD be done. Scrum’s empirical approach assumes that everyone in your company knows how to identify and prioritize work to create maximum value for your customers while achieving their own KPI’s. Unfortunately this is often not the case which necessitates the concurrent use of the frameworks Value Proposition, Business Model Canvas, Lean Startup & Build a Profitable Business. These other frameworks will help you decipher what work SHOULD be done to increase profitability and customer value creation.Get A Technical Understanding Of Scrum
In this guide we’ll reference the critical components of the The Scrum Guide™ which Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, creators of Scrum, have made available for your company to use for free. Give it a read and give yourself a technical understanding of Scrum. You’ll get more out of our guide helping you turn their Scrum theories and principles into efficiencies inside your company.This Guide Will Be Helpful If Your Company Is…
- Drowning in unproductive meetings
- Missing delivery deadlines for product releases
- Releasing products customers don’t buy
- Struggling to find and listen to the voice of customers
- Struggling to find and retain talent