Stage props for Berlin Business Agility Meetup, 2 May 2023. A quick 45-minute overview of organizational patterns to get folks to the level of kaffeeklatsch level of familiarity with the terminology and rudimentary basics. Includes abstracts of a couple of examples including Hubs and Swarming.

1. Dr. James O. Coplien, 2 May 2023
Scrum Patterns
An authoritative path to Scrum adoption

3. Average: 4.2 out of 8 on 26 responses
• Certi
fi
ed got 4.42; others got
3.13 (usually not that di
ff
erent)
• Scum Alliance averaged 4.75
• Scrum.org averaged 4.34 (they
usually win)
• SAFe averaged 4 (they’re usually
last)
• Scrum, Inc. averaged 3.0
If you’re doing Scrum, don’t give up your day job

4. 1. The goal of the Daily Scrum is to replan the Sprint
2. The Product Backlog is in (delivery) order
3. The Product Backlog is a list of descriptions of features & deliverables
4. The Product Backlog is not a roadmap
5. The Sprint Review is much broader than just the demo
6. The whole team de
fi
nes the Product Backlog but the PO has the
fi
nal say
7. 50% of Sprints should not deliver their entire Sprint backlog
8. Certi
fi
cation makes no di
ff
erence
The Quiz

5. • Each pattern is a “word” in a
grammar
• A Scrum organization is a
“sentence” in the grammar
• Each pattern is something we build
• We build with local adaptation and
piecemeal growth
• The system is complete, albeit
perhaps rough, after each step
• The goal is “wholeness” or “QWAN”
Generative Pattern Languages
Create Systems
Development
Team
Small
Teams
Cross-Functional
Team
Daily
Scrum
Self-Organizing
Team
Stable
Teams
Swarming:
One-Piece
Continuous
Flow
Mitosis
Autonomous
Team
ScrumMaster
Incognito
Product
Pride
Team
Pride
Birds
of a
Feather
Development
Partnership
Sprint
Retrospective
Happiness
Metric
Pop
the
Happy
Bubble
MetaScrum
Product
Owner
Product
Owner
Team
Fertile
Soil
Conway's
Law
Scrum
Team
Involve
the
Managers
Collocated
Team
Sprint
Review
Kaizen
Pulse
Emergency
Procedure
Scrum
of
Scrums
Fixed
Work
Sprint
Planning
ScrumMaster
Illegitimus
Non
Interruptus
Refined
Product
Backlog
Set-Based
Design
Oyatsu
Jinja
Norms
of
Conduct
Remove
the
Shade
Scrum
(Master)
Coach
Small
Red
Phone
The
Spirit
of the
Game
The
Mist

6. • No pattern stands alone—aeaach is
lways an element of language
• A pattern is something we build, and
an instruction of how to build it
• Originally come from architecture
• Each one builds part of some larger
Whole
• Two Wholes here: the Organization and
the Value Stream
• There are no patterns in GoF
Patterns
Small
Items
Granularity
Gradient
Definition
of
Ready
Definition
of
Done
Regular
Product
Increment
Good
Housekeeping
Release
Staging
Layers
Greatest Value
Sprint
Review
Sprint
Retrospective
Whack
the
Mole
Product
Backlog
Release
Plan
Refined
Product
Backlog
Scrumming
the
Scrum
Information
Radiator
Product
Backlog
Item
High
Value
First
Release
Range
ROI-Ordered
Backlog
Responsive
Deployment
Pigs
Estimate
Sprint
Backlog
Happiness
Metric
Production
Episode
Visible
Status
Fixed-Date
PBI
Change
for
Free
Money
for
Nothing
Estimation
Points
Running
Average
Velocity
Aggregate
Velocity
Specialized
Velocities
Sprint
Burndown
Chart
Developer-Ordered
Work
Plan
Sprint
Backlog
Item
Dependencies
First
Yesterday’s
Weather
Updated
Velocity
Scrum
Board
Product Wake
Vacation
PBI
One Step
at a Time
Testable
Improvements
Organizational
Sprint Pulse
Follow
the
Moon
Kaizen
Pulse
Sprint
Team
Sprint
Enabling
Specification
Emergency
Procedure
Teams That
Finish Early
Accelerate
Faster
Sprint
Goal
Illegitimus
Non
Interruptus
Product
Roadmap
Set-Based
Design
Value Stream
Vision
The Mist

7. From: "Helm Richard" <Helm.Richard@BCG.com>
Date: December 2, 2004 1:36:05 AM IST
To: <JOCoplien@cs.com>
Subject: Confession.... and a request...
Hi Cope
Can't recall last time we spoke or met but its been ages...
The confession....
Finally grok'ed "generative patterns" and piecemeal growth through a long tortuous route....
Largely through some interesting universal properties of software (scale-free and small-worldness)
A bit slow I am sometimes... but got there in the end…
. . . .

9. • Patterns are a longstanding
formalism—even in anthropology
• Alexander popularizing the
approach during the Design
Movement
• Various agile authors using the
form
• Ultimately, “A Scrum Book” as
an authoritative Scrum reference
History
Alfred
Kroeber
1948
Alexander
Jeff Sutherland
1993
2004
1948 1977
2001
1993
1994
2019

10. • … the team has started delivering
• How do you get the most done, with
quality?
• Parallelism looks attractive
• Features are rarely independent in complex
products, and parallelism can be a myth
• Emergent issues require fast, dynamic
response
• Therefore: The whole team works as one
mind on one feature at a time
• This decreases blockages, increases
teamwork, and leverages the broad skill
set of the team
SWARMING

11. … instead of SAFe or SoS
• Agile is about individuals and
interactions
• Managers in a hierarchical
structure want to be in the loop
• Large organizations can have long
communications paths
• Therefore: Seed the
organizational structure with
shortcuts through hubs of
common interest
HUBS

12. Deliver one thing per Sprint
• The focus should be on value
• Feature factories tend to create
products with lots of dead code
• Teams need a common, uniting
direction
• Therefore: Set a sacred Sprint
Goal every Sprint. The team re-
plans their work daily to meet the
Sprint Goal
SPRINT GOAL

13. • To build the team and process:
• PRODUCT OWNER, SCRUM TEAM
• BIRDS OF A FEATHER
• SCRUM OF SCRUMS
• SPRINT PLANNING, REFINED BACKLOG
• To build the value stream and product:
• ENABLING SPECIFICATON (no user stories or requirements…)
• PRODUCT WAKE
• GREATEST VALUE
Other Key Patterns

14. Using Patterns
• Teaching (Je
ff
Sutherland, Jim Coplien, others use them in CSMs / PSMs)
• Debugging organizational problems
• An “Agile transformation” guidebook
• Find the patterns that look exciting
• Build a pattern sequence
• Implement one at a time
• Authoritative Scrum reference (from the top Scrum people in the world)

15. No Silver Bullets
• Patterns are not “tire patches:” no pattern stands alone
• As much about heart as about head
• There is no prize for the most patterns
• Introduce them with trial, error, feedback, and some
backtracking (but only one step)
• It’s all about the SPIRIT OF THE GAME
Pattern Admonitions

16. • All patterns are empirically
grounded
• Presented and socialized in
community
• Each pattern can be implemented
a million di
ff
erent ways
• Patterns are the gate through
which we pass on the road to
elightenment
Patterns are about
people and learning

17. Conclusion
… and homework
• Scrum Patterns capture “the Gold Star” of ideal
Scrum
• We know they work, and one ignores them at one’s
peril
• Patterns inform insight rather than guide mechanical
progress
• More info:
• Patterns online at http://scrumbook.org
• “Scrum — Ein buch über zusammenarbeit” (also
English, Polish)
• Two-day Scrum Pattern Practitioners’ prep course