What does it take for an organization to fundamentally change the way it works, and embrace a new way of being, in particular something as radically different as Scrum? I believe it requires an awakening, which manifests itself in three ways, interwoven and complimentary: Honesty, Open-mindedness and Willingness. Those familiar with the medical field of addiction will recognize those qualities as being the necessary requirements for an addict to seek recovery. Drug addicts, dysfunctional software organizations… not as different as one might think.

Honesty

A broken organization, one that is suffering from the overhead and dehumanization of a command and control culture, embarked upon no doubt for the best of reasons and a belief that such an approach would yield the best results, needs first to admit complete defeat. This takes a profound level of honesty that few are capable of.  Of course, what it means for “an organization” to admit defeat is really for those in charge to do so. But not only those in charge, perhaps every member of that organization, every employee. There needs to be an overall sense of “we’re done with this”.  Without such an admission of defeat few organizations will honestly seek a new way of working, and will instead look for quick fixes to their existing processes, believing that if only people would work harder, do as they are told, if managers were stricter, more in control, then everything will work according to plan.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean that every organization must be on the point of going broke and closing down in order to adopt Scrum.  An addict doesn’t have to be on death’s door to begin the process of recovery. Hitting bottom is a personal thing. I heard of an alcoholic who when asked how he knew he had hit bottom, replied “I stopped digging”.  When we stop digging we can focus on what is beyond the hole. We get to look at the stars.

Open-mindedness

Once an organization honestly admits the path it is on is the wrong one, it immediately opens its collective mind to the possibility of something different.  This is a leap of faith, especially when that something different is as yet unknown.  Being open-minded to something that we can only identify as “not this thing” is a scary proposition.  Many organizations have of course heard of Scrum, and other Agile frameworks. Sometimes the reports will be riddled with inaccuracies, and are likely to be a cocktail of myth, fact, horror stories of anarchy and developer rebellion, mocking tales of new age hippies making everyone hold hands and share their feelings, exaggerated claims of 10x productivity and unlikely promises of faster, better, cheaper. It takes a lot of courage, or a state of desperation to stay open-minded in the face of the unknown.

Willingness

An organization that has admitted failure, and whose only shot at redemption is something as radical and misunderstood as Scrum, is at that jumping off place. Can’t go back, dare not go forward. Without a willingness to attempt something different the only place to go is nowhere. The organization can trudge on in the same old way, slowly sinking as more lightweight competitors rise up and capture the market, or they can change.  We are not necessarily willing by choice, but sometimes through lack of any better alternative. Sometimes the adoption of Scrum will come not from “hey that sounds great” but rather “what the hell” Either way, the willingness to at least explore this new paradigm gives hope where before there was frustration and despair.

Of course, these three qualities alone are not sufficient, but I believe they are necessary for an organization to reach a state of awareness, to be able to explore Scrum in a holistic way.  And again, total failure isn’t a requirement, just the desire to stop digging, to stop acting in the same old ways and expecting different results.  Those that have no desire to change, that want to use Scrum as a quick fix, a patch to their existing processes while remaining locked in old thinking and arrogance will get exactly what they seek: a quick fix, a duct tape solution, temporary and non-sustainable.  Those that start their journey by an honest admission of defeat, an openness to new ideas, and a willingness to embrace a new paradigm will stand a better chance of long-term success. In some coaching circles this is known as a breakdown. But the sense of powerlessness and impotence we face in this breakdown is temporary.  The world of knowledge work is changing; those willing to let go of old ideas, and embrace this change will quickly discover a new power — a very different kind of power rooted in respect, trust and a passion for creation.

Once we are willing to embrace what Scrum has to offer we need to get into action; we need to start building our Scrum organization. And we will need help. In the next blog post I’ll look at the set of values an organization will need to embrace in order to begin the process of transformation.

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Afterword: I want to make it clear here that I am using Scrum as an example of a radically different approach to work. Scrum is what I do. More broadly it is the concept of an empirical, self-organized, collaborative approach with flattened hierarchies and worker autonomy that is so daunting to many traditional thinkers.

After a few months of chaos, argument and despair, the new Scrum Alliance Certified Scrum Trainer (CST) application process is now finally open for applications.  The new process is nothing like the previous processes the Scrum Alliance have used, and indeed nothing like most application processes.  It is designed as a learning experience to guide and mentor applicants, not as a test to keep people out. This is a revolutionary idea.

Traditional application processes are designed to have a binary outcome, in/out, yes/no. An applicant has to prove their worth, and if they cannot they are rejected. The new CST process on the other hand uses a different approach, perhaps best considered as one of continuous improvement. As one of the people leading the effort to create a new process, but speaking here in my personal voice, let me try to describe it.

It starts with a vision statement, the full version of which can be seen in the process document, and the short version of which is:

A CST is an ambassador of Scrum. He or she will:

• have a solid understanding of the Scrum framework, a deep understanding of the principles and values that are the foundations of Scrum, and a clarity on what belongs to Scrum and what is an extension or complement;
• have experience of teaching and co-teaching Scrum;
• have experience of implementing Scrum inside organizations;
• be active in the wider Scrum community, through actual and virtual interaction with other Scrum and Agile thinkers and practitioners;
• have training experience beyond just Scrum, be willing to explore new ways of working and be committed to continuous improvement.

Initially, an applicant has to pass a very low bar to reach the status we call candidate-CST.  Step 1 of the process asks for a statement of intent from the applicant, and the names of two exiting CSTs who know your work and can attest to your skills, passion and integrity, and will confidently state you meet the vision of a CST.

Once a candidate has passed Step 1 she is registered as a Candidate-CST (Step 2) and entitled to privileges such as attendance at trainer retreats (previously only available to trainers and coaches), free admittance to advanced training courses, participation in trainer meet-ups, and free admittance to non-local Gatherings.  This is all with the intent of helping the candidate become integrated into the trainer and coach community in order to learn, improve and create co-training and other partnership relationships.

Step 3 of the process requires the candidate to gather evidence, in any form suitable, e.g. letters of recommendation, videos of training classes, links to personal writings, etc. and to find 3 more sponsors amongst the trainer and coach community.  Step 3 is iterative. Each sponsor may request additional evidence, or the refinement of existing evidence.  The candidate is expected to work with his sponsor team to create the most compelling application that proves beyond reasonable doubt that he meets the requirements of the CST vision.

During this step all evidence, including sponsor endorsements are visible to the whole trainer and coach community. All members are encouraged to track any application they may have concerns about, and enter into dialog with the sponsors and the candidate.  Once a candidate feels she has done all that is necessary they move into Step 4, Maturation.

In Step 4.1 the members of the trainer community are encouraged to ask clarifying questions and make suggestions for improvement.  This step is where the quality bar is really set. The more the current trainers get involved, the more likely the quality of new trainers is something the community can agree on.  The SA itself does not set this quality bar.

Using simple principles of self-organization and trust the new process actually sets the highest bar that can possibly be set while still being inclusive.  But it will only work if people get involved. If no one cares, if no one takes any action, then of course many applicants without the appropriate skills and passion will get through.  Five sponsorships isn’t adequate to avoid this.  The quality of the CST community will be in direct proportion to the effort the community members all put in to ensure the quality. It’s that simple.

Any candidate receiving suggestions of improvement can request an extension of Step 4.1 for up to six months to work on those improvements, or can opt to move to the objections phase, Step 4.2.  Only those trainers who have made suggestions for improvement are eligible to raise an objection, and every objection must have a seconder. If an objection is raised it is heard by a jury-type panel, selected at random from the trainer community. Their decision is final.

The whole process could take as long as a year, and during that time the Scrum trainer community is asked to offer support and to guide the candidates to be the best they can be. This is about mutual learning and building our community. Many candidates will have much to offer the existing trainers too.

The pushback on this process comes mostly from those who fear there will be too many trainers.  But if we truly want to transform the world of work, then the current number of 100+ needs to be vastly expanded.  10,000 doesn’t sound too many to me.

It is an unusual process, I grant you, but maybe this can be a model for the new paradigm we are trying to create with Scrum, a way of being that includes rather than excludes, that nurtures rather than neglects.  Please take time to read the full process description and decide for yourself.  And please consider applying to become a Certified Scrum Trainer.

This post is simply a reproduction of an email the Scrum Alliance staff received from Suzanne Daigle, who worked with Harrison Owen to make the Open Space at the Scrum Gathering in Orlando as successful as it was.  Suzanne had never heard of Scrum or the Scrum Alliance before the event.  This is how she felt immediately afterward.

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[...] I am still in a bit of a daze from the past few days. I was really expecting to just come hang out with my friend Harrison for a few days, help a bit if I could and go back home.  From the moment I arrived, I felt myself transported into your wonderful world.  From the first smiles of “Scrum Welcome” that greeted me in the conference area, to the synchronicity of meeting exactly the right people within the first hour of me arriving, well I should have known something special was going on.

I know I will need a bit of time to absorb all that I saw that is so very special about Scrum Alliance and what they do. Certainly, I want to know more about your organization, your history and future.  I also want to help in any way I can, if only to brag about who and what you do to everyone I know in the course of my travels and work.  I’ll probably be posting something on our International Open Space community board and will send you a copy of what I write.

Without a shadow of a doubt, I feel that the personal and collective leadership I saw here goes so far beyond the scope of systems application, systems implementation and project management work typical of many who work in your field.  What I saw here were people modeling “the new leadership” – people with passion in their gut who understand in a very “holistic” way that human dynamics are an integral part of what creates success.  I saw lots of caring, real depth of insight and awareness, huge intellect and a maturity of knowing that systems change, systems improvement and just plain work is so much more than making a plan, working the plan and getting stuff done.  To see so many from all around the world, who did not personally know each other, connect as they did so quickly having what I call “Big Talk” as opposed to “small talk” was also extraordinary.

Anyway […] I just had to give you my own first impressions which leave me with the conviction that the Scrum Alliance is a trail blazing organization with a huge potential to leverage and contribute their philosophy of being and doing to this leadership shift that is happening globally in organizations and everywhere.  Many system breakdowns with huge opportunities, systems breakdowns that go beyond the definition of computer and information systems and the like. Wishing you all the success you deserve in influencing and contributing to this shift. And yes […] it’s all about contributing to a greater purpose one that extends to society and meaningful purpose.

[Scrum Alliance people] thank you again for making me part of your world!  I leave with many snap shot memories of my time here, for example, smiling as I remember all the food ended up on my newsroom table that I really didn’t get a chance to eat but that made me grin at the simple act of kindness of it. And of course, I’ll always remember the army of volunteers the night before creating posters, setting up the rooms, etc. In the end, that truly is the magic that moves mountains.

Warmest regards,
Suzanne