Scrum is a relief for me. Set a steady velocity, and keep to it. And a chance revaluate every 2 weeks.
I worked in places without any system, and it was awful, such as half finished issues that was never closed. No one knew the real state of the product. Requests where sent in via email, emails got lost, people backtracked without telling you, 3 different people pushing you on to different tasks to the exclusion of the other 2. Where as scrum sets a single direction for 2 weeks.
A lot of companies are like that. A lot of developers like it like that as well..
Nice fancy gantt charts stuff, but underneath it was like that. Where as Scrum more accurately described reality. Any late changes, any changes to the sprint, any over commitment, any delays where quite clearly shown on the board. As a result, they were reduced. The boss could not just come down, and ask to work on this task instead.
They had to create a user story, with mock ups etc and then the product owner decided if it should be included, scheduled it in for a sensible time. A lot nicer than before.
My point is that what you described is a symptom of a problem, and although Scrum solved it for you, it's not the only solution. The real problem is a lack of effective management.
I'd say "bad scrum". If you do scrum well and get the spirit of it right, it's a joy to work in. It's not perfect, but compared to what happens almost anywhere else, it's great.
Agreed. Surprised to hear Scrum. Because the Waterfall model was SO much better?
The nice thing about Scrum is that you are given up to a 3 week period, tasks, and you complete those tasks then re-evaluate. Creates a nice feedback cycle.
Plus if requirements change (as they ALWAYS do) you are more able to address that without going "backwards" in your Waterfall model or creating unnecessary steps.
That all being said, I'm sure you can make Scrum suck if done badly. But you can make anything suck via micro-management and political bullshit. If Scrum is done well it should limit micro-management to only the scrum meetings (which aren't daily or even bi-daily, so a weekly catchup meeting with a bi-weekly new sprint).
The usual scrum meetings aren't places for micro-management either. All of them are led by the team, and nobody tells them what to do. If your company is micromanaging employees during your sprint planning or retrospective, it's grasping at the last straws of conventional management before finally giving up :p
