Based on the book by JJ Sutherland

Presentation created by Nicholas Mackey

Web: / Twitter: @nicholas_mackey / Github: nmackey

The book is about how scrum came about and why it works

It isn't a detailed book about scrum implementation.

Origin Story!!!

Everybody loves origin stories!

Old way...

Traditionally known as Waterfall

What waterfall looks like...

Waterfall looks like:

Plan out everything in advance

Gantt charts (waterfall charts)

Limited customer interaction

Why doesn't this work very well?

Doesn't account for change

People are bad at estimating

Doesn't solicit feedback

Usually we don't know everything

New way...


Scrum should be:



Self Corrective

Small teams

Prioritized tasks

Daily stand-ups

Why does this work?

Encourages improvement

Encourages feedback

Eliminates waste

Usually we don't know everything

Makes people happy

You must plan for change


Fail fast

You want to figure out what you don't know.

You want to discover problems as soon as possible.

Proven to deliver:

Fewer People

Less Time

More Stuff

Higher Quality

Lower Cost

Aspects of SCRUM

  • Teams
  • Time & Waste
  • Planning
  • Prioritizing
  • Happiness


What makes a great team?

What makes teams successful?

Great teams are:


Cross Functional


Small (7 +/- 2)


Cross Functional


Small (7 +/- 2)

Team performance is more important than individual performance.

Look for ways to improve your team performance

Team is paramount

You fail as a team.

You succeed as a team.

Time & Waste

"Time is finite, treat it that way."

No more meetings

One meeting a day - 15 minute standup


Multi-tasking makes you stupid, you are worse at both tasks.

Context switching is difficult and takes time.

Do it right the first time

Half done isn't done.

Fix issues right away

It costs less and saves time


Working long hours gets less done
Overworked people make mistakes and aren't happy.

Don't be unreasonable
Impossible goals are depressing.

No heroics
If someone has to be the hero then there was a failure earlier

No stupid policies
Remove things that get in your way.


Removing waste


Removing impediments


Plan for reality not fantasy

Only plan what you need to

Break your work into stories

Writing a story is about determining value

As a (who)

I need (what)

So that (why)

Stories should be small







Use relative sizing

People suck at absolute sizing

People are good at relative sizing (story points)


Once you know how fast you are going you will know when you are going to get there.

Are you improving?

When SCRUM is implemented well production can increase substantially.


Delivering value

Make a list and check it twice

Make a list of everything for the project and prioritize it.

Highest value and lowest risk at the top

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

80% of the value is in 20% of the work

The Product Owner

What needs to be done and why you should do it

The Team

How to make it happen and who should do it

"Money for nothing and change for free"

Create new things only as long as they deliver value

Be willing to swap them for things of equal effort

What is needed in the beginning is never what is actually needed


"Too often we just reward results, but what we really want to reward is people striving towards greatness"

Why is happiness important?

Smarter decisions

More creative


Accomplish More

Are we getting better?

Every sprint we should be trying to get better at something


Secrecy is poison

Q & A


Presentation online at Slides available at