In his conference speech, Gunther Verheyen shares shis observations of 15+ years of Agile and Scrum; difficulties, pitfalls, successes. Although Gunther thinks that the future is highly uncertain, he described some of his beliefs about the future of Agile, and how we can shape that future. Gunther Verheyen is a longtime Scrum practitioner (2003). After a standing career as a consultant, he established his company Ullizee-Inc. Gunther was a partner of Ken Schwaber, co-creator of Scrum, and Director of the Professional Scrum series at Scrum.org (2013-2016). In 2013 Gunther published the bestselling book, “Scrum - A Pocket Guide”, with a second, reworked edition published in 2019. Gunther engages with people and organizations as an independent Scrum Caretaker.

1. “Beginning to think is
beginning to be undermined.”
Albert Camus - The myth of Sisyphus

2. 2© 2003-2019 Gunther Verheyen – Ullizee-Inc, - @Ullizee
My personal compass
Throughout the years I have discovered I
prefer ideas and ideals over positions and titles.
It made me realize I value independence and
freedom of thought over corporate and
commercial structures.
Rather than regretting or mourning them, I aspire
embracing all consequences. I don’t expect this to
change in the foreseeable future.

3. Gunther Verheyen, Ullizee-Inc
Scrum. Connector, writer, speaker, humaniser.
The future of Agile
Musings of an independent Scrum Caretaker
Gunther Verheyen
Scrum Day UA
Kyiv, 16 March 2019

4. 4© 2003-2019 Gunther Verheyen – Ullizee-Inc, - @Ullizee
The reality of many organizations (disconnectedness)

5. 5© 2003-2019 Gunther Verheyen – Ullizee-Inc, - @Ullizee
What now?
“We need an Agile
transformation !”
We were (are) not organized for complexity

6. 6© 2003-2019 Gunther Verheyen – Ullizee-Inc, - @Ullizee
Combined with:
• Lack of team spaces
• Team instability
• Meeting pressure (culture)
• Delivery / deadline pressure
• Endless waves of lay-offs
Enter the new complexity domain
“Catastrophy”.
The reality of many Agile transformations (an illusion)

7. 7© 2003-2019 Gunther Verheyen – Ullizee-Inc, - @Ullizee
More Agile teams does not make a more Agile organization

8. 8© 2003-2019 Gunther Verheyen – Ullizee-Inc, - @Ullizee
It is not a transformation if it doesn’t change how you work.
It is not an Agile transformation if it doesn’t simplify how you
work.
It is not an Agile transformation with Scrum if it doesn’t
motivate people to collaborate.
(fyi. All of the above is in vain without attention to technical excellence)
Three indicators to detect the illusion of agility

9. “All models are wrong, even the
ones that are right. Some are just
more wrong than others.”
Gunther Verheyen

10. 10© 2003-2019 Gunther Verheyen – Ullizee-Inc, - @Ullizee
What the Agile
Manifesto says.
It starts and ends with… people
“Build projects around
motivated individuals.
Give them the
environment and support
they need, and trust them
to get the job done.”

11. 11© 2003-2019 Gunther Verheyen – Ullizee-Inc, - @Ullizee
Premises to an Agile transformation
People are naturally Agile (adaptive).
Process follows people.
Structure follows process.

12. 12© 2003-2019 Gunther Verheyen – Ullizee-Inc, - @Ullizee
Re-imagine your Scrum to anchor your agility
• Select a (1) meaningful initiative (project/product/service)
– Slice if too BIG
• Re-imagine your Scrum for the selected initiative/slice:
– Use Product Backlog as the single plan
– Reset your accountabilities:
• Product Owner
• Scrum Master
• Development Team(s)
– Facilitate with tools, infrastructure and a (Scrum) team zone
• Create sashimi releases
– Through a controlled and automated deployment pipeline
Repeat

13. 13© 2003-2019 Gunther Verheyen – Ullizee-Inc, - @Ullizee
• Self-organization is more
constrained by an organization than
by people’s intrinsic abilities
• Scrum provides boundaries for self-
organization to be more effective
– Accountabilities and minimal rules
– Time-boxing
– Releasable Increments
• Self-organization works better
against goals
– Organizational purpose and mission
– Product Vision
– Sprint Goal
Along the road: consider ‘self-organization’

14. 15© 2003-2019 Gunther Verheyen – Ullizee-Inc, - @Ullizee
The future of Agile, actually, is in the small

15. 17© 2003-2019 Gunther Verheyen – Ullizee-Inc, - @Ullizee
The Scrum Values - Цінності Scrum
Check out the international
versions of:
• The Scrum Glossary
• The Scrum Values
Both include Russian and
Ukrainian versions.

16. 18© 2003-2019 Gunther Verheyen – Ullizee-Inc, - @Ullizee
About
Gunther Verheyen
independent Scrum Caretaker
• eXtreme Programming and Scrum since 2003
• Professional Scrum Trainer since 2011
• Shepherded Professional Scrum at Scrum.org and co-
created Agility Path, EBMgt, the Nexus framework for
Scaled Professional Scrum (2013-2016)
• Author of “Scrum – A Pocket Guide” (“Scrum
Wegwijzer”, “Scrum Taschenbuch”)
Mail gunther.verheyen@mac.com
Twitter @Ullizee
Blog http://guntherverheyen.com