Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time

by Jeff Sutherland

THE TAKEAWAY Pull the Right Lever. Change Team performance. That has much more impact—by several orders of magnitude—than individual performance. Transcendence. Great teams have a purpose that is greater than the individual; e.g., burying General MacArthur, winning the NBA championship. Autonomy. Give teams the freedom to make decisions on how to take action—to be respected as masters of their craft. The ability to improvise will make all the difference, whether the unit is reporting on a revolution in the Middle East or making a sale. Cross-functional. The team must have every skill needed to complete a project, whether the mission is to deliver Salesforce.com software or capture terrorists in Iraq. Small Wins. Small teams get work done faster than big teams. The rule of thumb is seven team members—plus or minus two. Err on the small side. Blame Is Stupid. Don’t look for bad people; look for bad systems—ones that incentivize bad behavior and reward poor performance. CHAPTER FOUR Time Time is the ultimate limiter of human endeavor, affecting everything from how much we work, to how long things take, to how successful we are.