This chapter will set you on your path in three ways:
We give a succinct overview of Scrum that helps you see the big picture.
We tie the main elements of Scrum to patterns, to hone your intuition of how they work together.
We introduce the most fundamental rules of the game called “People Building Something Together.”
We will help you broaden your understanding of Scrum in a way that will attune your intuition as to what patterns are. It will also make clear that this is a book about broad experience with people and about how you can benefit by tailoring those organizational building blocks to your situation. It’s not a book of rules and absolutes that you can follow blindly.
We will describe Scrum in terms of its two large-scale structures: the organization that builds a product, and the Value Stream along which the product flows. Each of these is a Whole, a designed thing in its own right. A pattern language guides us one step at a time as we build such a Whole. This book presents two pattern languages, one for each of two conceptual Wholes, that provide expert and proven guidance as you build your Scrum organization.
This chapter introduces you to the very first pattern, ¶1 The Spirit of the Game, which stands at the head of each pattern language. It sets the stage for all remaining patterns. Even more important, we hope that this chapter and The Spirit of the Game will give you newfound insight on how to think about this book, how to use it, and on how to use Scrum.
Think of Scrum as a game we play. As with most games, it can be a wonderful form of engagement if its players appreciate both the discipline and freedom that help them create value. Most of the patterns in the book suggest organizational changes that work that way. But at a deeper level, you should approach the art of building or growing your organization as a game as well. We find that one does well to approach patterns somewhat playfully, with hope of realizing each pattern’s benefit and with a degree of comfort to adopt each pattern’s disciplines. Your exploration is more like serious play than a regimented game, and much of your inquiry will relate more to common sense than to following the rules. You may explore what Done means to you (see ¶82 Definition of Done), how long a Sprint should be, how many people should be on your team, and a thousand other considerations. Engagement with the game is about trying things out, assessing the result, and proceeding accordingly. It may mean saying “no” to some patterns. But if you say “no” out of fear or discomfort rather than from a posture of great expectation, or if you say “no” to stay in line with what some rule book says, you may not yet have the proper grounding to take such work forward. We’re going to try to help you start off on the right foot.
When poorly played, “People Building Something Together” is a game that our team or our company tries to win. In the larger scheme of things, Scrum is a game that never ends. Our company and our competitors may take turns in the lead as each one innovates new features, paths to market, or other increments of value to society. Played this way in the long term, we lift the quality of life of the entire community. Getting there in a complex world is about being in touch with that world, inspecting at every step and innovating as a community to do the right thing in the moment. That’s where we start, and it is in that sense that the first pattern underlies the rest. A good pattern stands on its own, and we’ll let the pattern explain itself.