Agile Turkey 2019 - Liberating Structures, an antidote to Zombie Scrum

Scrum is HUGE! It’s massively adopted by organizations. That’s of course awesome! Except for the fact that many organizations and teams think they’re doing Scrum, while they’re not. Sure, they’ve got all the Scrum roles, events and artifacts in place. But there’s no working software at the end of the Sprint. There’s no drive to improve. No involvement of customers and users during development. This might look like Scrum from the surface. But it isn’t. This is Zombie-Scrum, and we need to stop it!

During the presentation, you’ll learn more about the causes and symptoms of Zombie-Scrum. Even more important, you’ll discover an antidote: Liberating Structures. Please note: this presentation isn’t for the faint of heart. Be brave. Join the resistance and help us fight Zombie-Scrum!

Transcript

1. Liberating Structures
   An Antidote to Zombie Scrum
   Agile Turkey Summit
   October 24, 2019
   

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2. A Word of Warning...
   Chances are, you will be...
   ● Overwhelmed → by learning a new language
   ● Shocked → by the state of Scrum
   ● Confused → a presentation about Liberating Structures?
   ● Annoyed → 1 minute conversations?!
   ● Terrified → Scrum Zombies in the room?
   

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3. Purpose Presentation
   ● Create awareness
   ● Offer inspiration for experimentation
   ● Trigger useful conversations
   

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4. The State of Scrum(.org)
   Scrum is HUGE! It’s massively adopted by organizations!
   Some numbers:
   ● ± 300 Professional Scrum Trainers worldwide
   ● 143.000 people trained around the world
   ● 3.250.000 people have taken the open assessments
   ● 300.000 people are certified
   ● 100+ Scrum books
   ● 10.000.000+ Scrum articles
   ● 3 Scrum Songs
   

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5. The Real State of Scrum
   Many organizations think they’re doing Scrum…
   But it’s not Scrum…
   It’s…
   Zombie Scrum
   

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6. What do you consider the
   symptoms of Zombie Scrum?
   

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7. Zombie Scrum!
   

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8. Meet the Zombie Scrum Research Team
   Barry Overeem
   -
   Doctor Stubble
   Christiaan Verwijs
   -
   Captain Curly
   Johannes Schartau
   -
   Lord Red Beard
   

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9. Causes of Zombie Scrum
   ● Complex organizational structures
   ● “Business” and “IT”
   ● Cherry picking Scrum
   ● Stuck in the “right” (tools, documentation, contracts, detailed plans)
   ● Maturity models...
   

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10. Another cause of Zombie Scrum:
    The need for Agile Coaches to
    succeed with Scrum
    

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11. This isn’t cause #1…
    What do you think is the #1
    cause?
    

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12. Zombie Scrum Cause #1
    People often don't have a clue
    WHY they are using Scrum
    

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13. We use Scrum because...
    

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14. The Million Dollar Question
    How to prevent or fix this
    #1 cause of Zombie Scrum?
    

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15. The Silver Bullet Answer
    Use Liberating Structures
    

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16. Liberating Structures?
    Say what?
    

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17. Liberating Structures are…
    “A set of skills for people to improve
    their interactions in groups”
    

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18. Why Liberating Structures?
    Because the way we interact
    in groups is broken!
    

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19. Too structured and inhibiting
    

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20. Go Wild!
    

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21. Recognize your Scrum Events?
    

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22. Liberating Structures to the rescue
    

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23. Some Examples...
    

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24. A ‘frame’ to unleash and involve everyone!
    Every Liberating Structures uses 5 design elements. They
    offer a ‘frame’ for collaboration, decision-making, and
    interaction.
    Scrum, anyone?
    

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25. An example: Troika Consulting
    1. The invitation
    2. Arrangement of space and
    material
    3. Configuration of groups
    4. Distribution of participation
    5. Sequence of steps and
    allocation of time
    

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26. How We Have Used It
    Individual coaching
    Team coaching
    Growing communities
    Public meetups
    Growing The Liberators
    Scrum.org classes
    Team kickoffs
    Team reboots
    Scrum Master
    Learning Journey
    

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27. Most importantly, we’ve used it for...
    ● Clarifying the purpose of doing Scrum
    ● Improving the Scrum events
    ● Encouraging the self-organizing capabilities of the
    Scrum Team
    

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28. Some examples...
    

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29. Clarifying the purpose of doing Scrum
    9 Whys What, So What,
    Now What
    Critical
    Uncertainties
    15% Solutions
    

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30. Improving the Scrum events
    10x10 Writing Shift & Share UX Fishbowl Min Specs 25/10 Crowd Sourcing
    

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31. Encouraging self-organization
    15% Solutions
    Improv
    Prototyping
    Troika
    Consulting
    Impromptu
    Networking
    

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32. “Awesome!
    But I still don’t know what
    Liberating Structures are...”
    

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33. Join the Zombie Scrum resistance!
    

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34. Do the Zombie Scrum Infection Checker
    

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35. Join a Liberating Structures User Group
    

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36. A bit of reflection
    

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37. Something new I’ve learned is...
    

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38. Something I already knew,
    but got confirmed is...
    

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39. A question that emerges is...
    

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40. A good, yet brave next step for
    me is...
    

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41. Thank
    you!
    

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42. ‘Unleashing Organisational Superpowers’
    As The Liberators, we take a radical approach to organizational change. Rather than taking the lead,
    we empower people within organizations to drive change themselves. As facilitators we create
    space where people can tackle difficult challenges together while also having fun. Inspired by the
    fields of complexity science and organizational psychology, we use Scrum and Liberating Structures
    to deliver fast-paced interactions, high involvement and creative destruction.
    With a strong focus on radical transparency, an experiential approach and creating a shared
    purpose, we put organizations in a position to thrive on complexity rather than being defeated by it.
    Are you ready to leave your comfort zone and unleash your superpowers?
    

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43. Unleashing Organisational Superpowers
    

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