Search
Close this search box.
Search
Close this search box.
Search
Close this search box.

Using Scrum for Improving Operations

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest
WhatsApp

I’m encountering more and more people that are trying to solve different kinds of problems with Scrum:

  • People designing Consumer Goods
  • Accounting professionals focused on Revenue Accounting
  • Marketers of many kinds
  • Healthcare professionals.

I’ve been having some interesting discussions with them that I thought I might share.

One of the key questions I start a conversation about Scrum with is Why – Why do we need Scrum? What problems are we looking to solve with it?

Next, we typically explore Where/When – Where would it make sense to use Scrum? When would it or wouldn’t it?

One thing to remember is that Scrum was designed to help people solve complex problems, not all sorts of problems. What does this mean exactly?

Let’s look at a couple of examples of Complicated processes that might not need Scrum/Agile

Accounting teams run several sorts of processes – like Closing (the month, quarter, year), Reporting, Accounts Payable, and Accounts Receivable.

Healthcare professionals treat patients. Whether it is in an emergency room, an orthopedics clinic, or a covid19 testing provider.

Should we use Scrum for Operational Processes?

These might be complicated processes but they aren’t typically complex. Lots of steps, and lots of work they need to be careful and diligent about, but it’s not something they need Agile for on an ongoing basis.

Hopefully, these operational processes are stable and predictable. If they’re not, we have some work to do. We need to get rid of variability and surprises.

We can use Scrum for Improving operational processes

Where Scrum IS often useful in the process of continuously improving these operational processes. We know how to run the current process predictably. But once we decide to improve it, this might be a problem we have more uncertainty about – what does better look like? What will work? How do we go about implementing it?

What we find in many contexts is that people call these improvements “Projects” and it is one of the areas they struggle with. Beyond the classic challenges of complex work, we see many cases of teams working on improvement projects that are based on people who also work in the operation. (for example an A/R professional working on a project to improve A/R or a physician participating in a project to implement electronic medical records software). These teams working on improvement “projects” struggle to focus. As we all know, Allocating capacity to improvement is hard. And switching contexts between the day-to-day operation and improvement work is hard as well.

Scrum helps these teams optimize the value they create through their improvement work.

Their “Product” is an improved operation that achieves better outcomes for their stakeholders while making life easier for themselves and their peers.

We want the entire company to be Agile

We’re hearing that more and more aren’t we?

As you can imagine based on the above, I’m of the opinion that we need to be careful and apply the right tool in the right context. Agile approaches make sense in many contexts and most companies would indeed benefit from applying them beyond software development/technology/IT.

Identifying the different “Operational” flows in the organization and the various “Development/Improvement” activities that work to improve them is a great way to drive a discussion with a company or a leader that is exploring Agile/Scrum all over the company.

In Summary – Scrum for Improving Operations, not necessarily Scrum for Operations

This distinction between the ongoing “Operations” where we don’t necessarily need Scrum or Agile and “Development” or “Improvement” work that aims to improve “Operations” helps people outside of software/technology/IT relate and buy into Scrum or other Agile approaches.

PS You might find it interesting to read about “Operational Value Streams” and “Development Value Streams” in SAFe, which are similar concepts to what I’m describing here.

Subscribe for Email Updates:

Categories:

Tags:

Sprint Planning
Continuous Planning
RTE
Games and Exercises
LeSS
Agile Development
Test Driven Development
The Agile Coach
Jira admin
Implementation of Lean and Agile
Agile
Program Increment
ATDD vs. BDD
Agile Assembly Architecture
Enterprise DevOps
Nexus and SAFe
Lean Risk Management
Amdocs
Agile Marketing
Operational Value Stream
Introduction to Test Driven Development
Large Scale Scrum
Change Management
Agile Techniques
Development Value Streams
agileisrael
Process Improvement
Agile Release Planning
predictability
Acceptance Test-Driven Development
RSA
Agile Basics
Agile Community
Built-In Quality
Agile Exercises
BDD
Entrepreneurial Operating System®
Nexus and Kanban
LAB
Scrum
TDD
Continuous Integration
Agile Games
Software Development
Agile Risk Management
Managing Risk on Agile Projects
Lean and Agile Principles and Practices
Lean-Agile Budgeting
Accelerate Value Delivery At Scale
Limiting Work in Progress
Story Slicing
Scrum Primer
Agile Program
Agile Mindset
Jira
Business Agility
AgileSparks
Tools
A Kanban System for Software Engineering
Kanban Kickstart Example
Elastic Leadership
Slides
Product Ownership
Engineering Practices
Tips
Lean Agile Basics
An Appreciative Retrospective
Principles of Lean-Agile Leadership
Introduction to ATDD
Atlaassian
speed at scale
Certification
Planning
Frameworks
SAFe DevOps
Video
NIT
DevOps
PI Planning
Implementing SAFe
POPM
Scrum Guide
Manage Budget Creation
EOS®
QA
Pomodoro Technique
Release Train Engineer
System Integration Environments
Lean and Agile Techniques
Risk Management in Kanban
Lean Startup
Agile Project Management
Kanban Basics
Agile Outsourcing
Jira Cloud
Scaled Agile Framework
SA
Agile Product Development
Value Streams
Managing Projects
Iterative Incremental Development
Kanban
Lean Agile
Perfection Game
ROI
Kaizen
System Team
Agile for Embedded Systems
lean agile change management
Risk Management on Agile Projects
Agile Israel
WIP
RTE Role
ATDD
Scrum and XP
Artificial Intelligence
Scrum Values
Agility
Presentation
Lean Agile Management
Agile Testing Practices
Systems Thinking
Spotify
Coaching Agile Teams
Product Management
Continuous Deployment
Scrum With Kanban
Nexus Integration Team
Legacy Enterprise
Agile Release Management
Sprint Iteration
Portfolio for Jira
Applying Agile Methodology
Professional Scrum Product Owner
Agile in the Enterprise
Advanced Roadmaps
Agile Israel Events
Achieve Business Agility
Atlassian
Daily Scrum
speed @ scale
SAFe
IT Operations
Code
Rapid RTC
Kaizen Workshop
Agile Delivery
Agile and DevOps Journey
Agile Project
System Archetypes
Webinar
ART Success
Jira Plans
Lean Agile Leadership
ALM Tools
Scrum Master
Lean Budgeting
Certified SAFe
Agile Product Ownership
Risk-aware Product Development
Kanban 101
Agile Contracts Best Practices
Legacy Code
PI Objectives
AI
Professional Scrum Master
Lean Agile Organization
Agile India
Scrum.org
Agile Games and Exercises
SPC
What Is Kanban
Quality Assurance
Nexus vs SAFe
AI Artificial Intelligence
The Kanban Method
Continuous Improvement
Lean Software Development
Professional Scrum with Kanban
Scrum Master Role
ScrumMaster Tales
Effective Agile Retrospectives
Releases Using Lean
Software Development Estimation
Self-organization
Continuous Delivery
Hybrid Work
Sprint Retrospectives
Reading List
ARTs
GanttBan
Covid19
SAFe Release Planning
LPM
Lean-Agile Software Development
Kanban Game
AgileSparks
Logo
Enable registration in settings - general

Contact Us

Request for additional information and prices

AgileSparks Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter, and stay updated on the latest Agile news and events

This website uses Cookies to provide a better experience
Shopping cart