There should be an adage in software development along the lines of "those who can't, scrum it up." Technology projects deliver uneven results for a myriad of reasons. The justifications are endless but in the end, poor outcomes usually arise from a fixation on process that distracts from the core business objective. Reducing technical debt, user story management, and sprint planning become the project's North Star. Like many ship wrecks, this navigation error leads to transformation programs that are dead in the water.
A recent HBR study explores an approach defined as the "rapid-results initiative (which) is intentionally commissioned to produce a measurable result, rather than recommendations, analyses, or partial solutions." Seems simple, steer to where you want to go in increments that provide business benefits early. But you ask, isn't that the goal of agile methodologies?
That was the promise of agile but the results have been disappointing. Business sponsors have been relegated to product owner or SME tasks that result in their disempowerment. Scrum Masters are technology shaman chanting about minimum viable products. Continuous deployment has become the "let it rip, fix it later" hype cycle meme.
As the HBR study finds, results and outcomes are key to delivering business value. The sooner we embed that in our development mindset, the sooner the number of successful business outcomes will occur.
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