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Scrum, Then and Now

A personal and practical examination of what Scrum taught me, what remains useful, and how those disciplines apply when a startup must turn work into evidence.

  1. How #SCRUM tweet began

    Historical anchor: April 2012. Written as a present-day reconstruction on August 29, 2026. SCRUM tweet began years before it became a published book.

  2. Seven Things I Wish I Had Known When Starting Out as a ScrumMaster

    Historical anchor: May 16, 2012. Republished with a present-day author's note on August 30, 2026.

  3. When Scrum Mattered

    Scrum was once an important part of my public identity. I read it, practiced it, blogged about it, and eventually wrote a book about it.

  4. What Scrum Still Gets Right

    I no longer see Scrum as the answer to how work should be done.

  5. What Does Done Mean in a Startup?

    Four people can look at the same work and declare it done for four different reasons. The developer says it works. Operations says it has been released.

  6. The Backlog Is a Map of Uncertainty, Not a Feature List

    A backlog can make a team look certain long before the team has earned certainty. The list is long. The items are estimated. Priorities are numbered.

  7. Scrum Exposes Problems. It Does Not Solve Them.

    My Scrum blog then said, "Scrum exposes problems. It does not solve them." I still think this is one of the most useful things I wrote about the framework.

  8. When Not to Use Scrum

    Scrum is useful when the work is uncertain and a capable team can turn short cycles into evidence.

  9. You Cannot Compel Self-Management

    An organization cannot command people to self-manage and continue making every consequential decision for them.

  10. Pull the Problem, Not Just the Task

    Pull changed my relationship with Scrum because it moved responsibility closer to the person doing the work.

  11. Does Your Project System Deliver Status or Evidence?

    A status tells you what happened. Evidence helps you decide what should happen next.