Should we succumb to Scrum?

Quick story: My mom called me last week to tell me about how her boss is starting to implement the SCRUM project management methodology in the workplace, and that she went to her first SCRUM meeting.

It was at 7:30 am on a Monday (rough). It was standing (she’s got bad knees.) It was only 15 minutes (her boss was so stressed out by the time crunch that it resulted in him semi-screaming my mom, “Tell me how I can help you!!”)

Needless to say, not a great start.

But, because we’ve been talking about the different ways to approach project management, I looked into the Scrum method, which I’ve only ever heard referenced in passing. From what I can gather, it’s like Agile, except that Scrum is more a methodology to implement the Agile philosophy – the framework to carry out the process.

The internet told me these are some advantages to Scrum:

• More transparency and project visibility: With daily stand-up meetings, the whole team knows who is doing what, eliminating many misunderstandings and confusion.
• Increased team accountability: There is no project manager telling the Scrum Team what to do and when. Instead, the team collectively decides what work they can complete in each sprint.
• Easy to accommodate changes: With short sprints and constant feedback, it’s easier to cope with and accommodate changes.

Disadvantages:

• Risk of scope creep: Some Scrum projects can experience scope creep due to a lack of specific end date. With no completion date, stakeholders may be tempted to keep requesting additional functionality.
• Team requires experience and commitment: With defined roles and responsibilities, the team needs to be familiar with Scrum principles to succeed.
• Poorly defined tasks can lead to inaccuracies: Project costs and timelines won’t be accurate if tasks are not well defined. If the initial goals are unclear, planning becomes difficult and sprints can take more time than originally estimated.

I like the idea of short meetings, but I don’t like the idea of not having a leader and not having well-defined goals. Do you guys use Scrum in our workplace? What has your experience been like using Scrum?