On 3 January 2025 the Project Management Institute (PMI) and the Agile Alliance® published an announcement that they signed an agreement on 31 December 2024 through which Agile Alliance® joined PMI, to be known as “PMI Agile Alliance” from that day on. I have no idea where the ® went but it certainly caused a lot of fuzz and noise on so-called social media. As I don’t really care and I don’t expect it to cause that much fuzz or noise on the workfloor, I wasn’t planning on joining any of the debates.
But, Frank Ray asked me on LinkedIn if I had any ‘take’ on this. Despite my initial thought “Not really”, his question was seemingly still enough to trigger me and to get me thinking anyhow (which is something to think about in itself). So, I decided I might as well jot down my thoughts quickly:
I am not involved in or associated with either organization, or their offerings. I never was. What strikes me most are the large, corporate structures that they both have in place. Too large, too corporate for me to feel comfortable with anyhow. So large, so corporate that I am not too sure about the extent to which they actually represent their practitioners and members. I obviously do know a lot of these practitioners and members.
I did find it interesting that Mike Cohn, one of the original co-founders of the Agile Alliance, shared on LinkedIn how the reason for this merger/absorption is the decline in revenues from events since the Corona crisis. Isn’t it fascinating how in general it is said that organizations need to become more ‘Agile’ in order to adapt to changing markets and business conditions? And that of all organizations, the home of Agile has been unable to do so unless giving up on its independence?
At the time of the creation of the Agile Manifesto (2001) and the subsequent establishment of the Agile Alliance (I know Ken Schwaber was also a co-founder but I have never been able to have a clear confirmation on who else was), the world of software development was “dominated by plan-driven, industrial views“[1], “in times when failing heavy-weight, waterfall approaches were replaced by heavy-weight, waterfall-like RUP implementations“[1]. At that time, the PMI certainly was part of the problem, and not of the way out.
On 6 & 7 June 2024, I joined the Regional Scrum Gathering in Ghent (in my home country Belgium). Besides delivering the closing keynote about “Moving (your) Scrum Downfield” and having many hallway conversations, I also attended a few sessions by fellow speakers.
In the summer of 2019 I got in touch with O’Reilly Media about their ambition to expand their “97 Things” series with a book about Scrum. Drained as I was after an engagement as Scrum Enterprise Coach at a large organization it was a great way to re-energize and practice some writing again. As the title of the series suggests, the idea was to publish 97 essays about Scrum, to be provided by people (‘experts’) from around the world. Having no other plans for that time being, I could completely focus on my work as curator: contacting people, collecting ideas for essays, reviewing potential essays, suggesting potential edits, ordering and categorizing the articles, reviewing the manuscript and the cover.
In August 2024, the 4th edition of my book “Scrum – A Pocket Guide” was published. I created it because I am continuously uncovering better ways of explaining Scrum and want to help people by sharing these ways. Luckily, my publisher, Van Haren Group, agreed that there was value in making my update available (again) for the many friends of Scrum around the globe.
In my announcement I said I was planning to share a few excerpts from the updated version. Find herewith a compilation of my thoughts and observations on Agile, agility, Scrum and organizational transformation from the updated edition of my book.
The challenge is real
The use of lightweight, Agile methods continues to gain traction with Scrum being the most widely adopted framework. The general level of interest in Scrum is already huge and still its use keeps expanding, in and beyond software and (new) product development.
In the spring of 2013 I abandoned my position as Principal Consultant at a large international consulting firm to engage in a partnership with Ken Schwaber and his organization Scrum.org, operating under the title “Director of the Professional Scrum series”. Next to and after co-developing the Agility Path framework, from which Evidence-based Management (‘EBMgt’) was derived, and the Nexus framework for Scaled Professional Scrum (‘SPS’), I vividly remember creating the first version of (what became) the PSM II assessment of Scrum.org. In my mind it was in the spring of 2015, but checking out my archives tells me it must have been the spring of 2016. That is most likely an indication of how flawed my memory actually is…
By that time, we observed how many people took the PSM I assessment (‘Professional Scrum Master level I’) and how few people were taking the assessment that was by then known as PSM II (‘Professional Scrum Master level II’). I remember (thereby potentially disregarding how flawed my memories can be) that at that time around 40k individuals held the PSM I credential while no more than a few 100 had achieved the PSM II certification. It felt like we were failing to help people understand Scrum better and demonstrate that knowledge. In practice, mostly people aspiring to become a Professional Scrum Trainer (‘PST’) were actually doing the PSM II assessment (as a mandatory requirement). I remember taking the assessment myself with that ambition in mind. Luckily I wrote a blog note on 8 September 2010 to ‘remember’ (hence: compensate for my flawed memory) that I was #27 worldwide to achieve it.
In August 2024, the 4th edition of my book “Scrum – A Pocket Guide” was published. I created it because I am continuously uncovering better ways of explaining Scrum and want to help people by sharing these ways. Luckily, my publisher, Van Haren Group, agreed that there was value in making my update available (again) for the many friends of Scrum around the globe.
In my announcement I said I was planning to share a few excerpts from the updated version. Find herewith the (slightly edited) excerpt with my thoughts and observations on the past waves of Scrum and the rise of the 4th Scrum Wave.
In 2013 I ended up writing a book about Scrum for Van Haren Publishing, a publishing house specialized in IT publications based in the Netherlands. They wanted to add a book about Scrum to their portfolio. By that time, I had been applying Scrum for 10 years and in the two years preceding the actual creation of my book, I had been at the heart of the Scrum storm that was sweeping the Netherlands. And survived.
Writing a book about Scrum was anything but a long-lived hope, ambition or dream. Rather, it was an accidental and unplanned endeavor. At the same time, writing a simple book with as few lines of text as possible actually turned out taking a lot more time and energy than I thought it would take. I went through that effort in the time between ending my position as a Principal Consultant at a large international consulting company and embarking on my partnership journey with Ken Schwaber (Scrum co-creator) as the Director of the Professional Scrum Series at Scrum.org.
Imagine my surprise that more than a decade later the 4th edition of my book is now globally available via diverse channels.
In the summer of 2019 I got in touch with O’Reilly Media about their ambition to add a book about Scrum to their “97 Things” series. Drained as I was after an engagement as Scrum Enterprise Coach at a large organization it was a great way to re-energize and practice some writing again. As the title of the series suggests, the idea was to publish 97 essays about Scrum, to be provided by people (‘experts’) from around the world. Having no other plans for that time being, I could completely focus on my work as curator: contacting people, collecting ideas for essays, reviewing potential essays, suggesting potential edits, ordering and categorizing the articles, reviewing the manuscript and the cover.
Among the contributors was James Coplien. I had never spoken to or met James before but I remember him for responding very enthusiastically when I fearfully approached him. Much to my delight, he ended up contributing no less than 5 essays.
I embarked on my Agile journey in 2003 when we wrapped eXtreme Programming in Scrum. Besides having engaged with many teams and organizations I have also created and facilitated many Scrum workshops and classes about various topics for various audiences since then. In 2011 I obtained my license as a Professional Scrum Trainer for Scrum.org from Ken Schwaber (co-creator of Scrum). From 2013-2016 I maintained the official “Professional Scrum” series of Scrum.org meanwhile training candidate-PSTs and shepherding the global community of Professional Scrum Trainers and coaches. After ending the exclusivity of Scrum.org over my work in 2016, I had to think about a new title. I started calling myself “Scrum Caretaker” because it best represents what it is that I do. As a one-person company, all other titles felt silly too (like CEO, CFO, cleaning person, helpdesk, sales agent, office manager or spreadsheet administrator). I added ‘independent’ to my self-chosen title to emphasize that I am not part of any fixed structure, small nor big. As from the start of the program, my company and business vehicle, Ullizee-Inc, became a member of the Professional Training Network of Scrum.org. Next to teaching Professional Scrum classes, I keep evolving my Scrum Pocket Classes, a series of proprietary half-day workshops based upon my book “Scrum – A Pocket Guide”.
Let there be no misunderstanding: money is important.
Money is important for our family. My wife is my stability (1993). We have three kids (2001, 2003, 2013) of which the two oldest (sons) have a disability (Duchenne and Down Syndrome). My family is my stability. Throughout the years we lost people (some dear, some not). We cope. We gained liberty. Money is important because it pays our bills. As a family, we need and use money to keep us fed, pay off our mortgage, buy stuff and lead a materially somewhat comfortable life. My work as an independent Scrum Caretaker via my one-person company Ullizee-Inc is the sole source of money for our family. We have no backup or additional sources of income. Scrum is what I do for a living. Scrum is what I’ve been practicing for the past 20+ years.
Beyond the fact that not even all my Scrum Caretakery work is paid work or even about money, I can’t escape giving up financially more beneficial Scrum Caretakery activities to spend a substantial proportion of my time on (what I call) my Home Caretakery activities. I am inescapably needed at home a lot of the time to provide our (adult) sons with the specific care they need as a result of their respective disabilities. There is no other way given the physical nature of that care. There is no other way given the absence of a network around us and given the lack of the funding that would be needed to purchase professional care that would be sufficiently tuned to their needs.
Still, I am unable to blindly go after money only, not even in situations where it might be justified. Regardless of ethics, values, principles or purpose, it is also a conscious choice to take my Home Caretakery and being with my family seriously, and to some extent I wouldn’t want it otherwise. Money is important, but it is not what drives us.
Money was not what drove my wife and I when I gave up my position as software engineer and aspiring project manager in favor of running a bookshop (1996). It wasn’t when I refused the position of CIO at Belgium’s first e-com (2001). It wasn’t when we gave up on my wife’s income to allow her to develop her creative talents (2007). It wasn’t when I abandoned a position of Principal Consultant and a future higher-up the ladder function at a large international consulting company (2013). It wasn’t when we bought a house we didn’t think we could afford because of the increasing wheelchair-dependence of our son (2014). It wasn’t when I decided to go completely independent with my one-person company Ullizee-Inc (2016) and not be part of any fixed structure for the time being (which is to this date).
It took me a very long time, nearly a life time, to even start realizing what it is then that drives me, if not money. I still find it difficult to put words to what that is and articulate it with some precision. Ultimately, it boils down to people and working with people, treating people as human beings and not accepting otherwise. It leads to my personal mission of promoting and establishing more humane working environments and humanizing the workplace in an attempt to reduce toxic and abusive behaviors and restore people’s engagement (at work). Humanizing the workplace equals undoing the past mechanization of the workplace (during the dominance of the industrial paradigm), while helping leadership and anyone involved see and understand that workplace humanization equals company deworrification. Because, ultimately, engaged people care more (about team, customer and company outcomes of their work).
It took me even longer (another life time?) to understand where this drive comes from, what its roots are, unveil the why of why I’m doing what I do, why I can’t let go, why I often behave in the way that I do, take the decisions that I take–often intuitively, fiercely and stubbornly, regardless of the financial consequences. I have gradually discovered that it is most likely an attempt to turn the traumas of my childhood and my youth into a mission. I guess I needed to take the pain of my youth and transform it into a mission. The result is a mission and a life of serving others to break (not continue or start anew) a circle of emotional violence and mental abuse, to turn a downward spiral around and make it go upward. The roots of my mission is what I call my Past Continuous Sorrow. It is a sort of sorrow that nobody recognizes, notices or sees. While every day I am reminded of this hole that cannot be filled. But I find comfort in my lack of importance in the fact that in 4-5 billion years our dear sun, before disappearing after a life expected to take 9-10 billion years, will swallow us whole anyhow, as a sign of tenderness.
I believe that these specifics of my past are why I engage and want to have an impact, make a difference and help create a better world. I believe it is why I’m completely insensitive to anything Career, Hierarchy, Title, Position, Role, Power, Fame (etc.). These big capital words are not what drive me. They are no goals to me. And more than just being insensitive to them, I’ve even found that it typically turns out rather counterproductive if people ‘use’ it to ‘motivate’ me, and even more when connecting money to it. It is the only explanation for my past, instinctive anti-responses in situations where that was essentially what was happening. Money is important, but it is not what drives me. Money is important, but integrity is more important. Every time I left a company was essentially because of integrity. Integrity is why I ended up this one-person company aspiring to change the world for the better. Doing this in all independence is made even more difficult by not being acknowledged for the work I’ve done as part of company structures in the past and the legacy I tried to leave in favor of Scrum and humanizing the workplace.
But if it was money that drives me, I would never have had the time to become what I didn’t know I wanted to be. And although it may look as if there was a plan, there wasn’t. If it was money that drives me, I would have created my own proprietary program of Agile/Scrum classes and a certification scheme when I went independent (which seems to be what many people thought I was going to do). If it was money that drives me, I would have created my own proprietary Agile scaling model (without calling it a model, obviously) and set up even more classes and extend my certification schemes. If it was money that drives me, I could have created my own proprietary development framework (ending up with yet another Scrum derivative) as a foundation for even newer courses and more certifications and an even larger ‘model’ to scale it. If it was money that drives me, I would be giving mass production trainings for people not interested in learning, but in quickly certifying. If it was money that drives me, I would do individual coaching of people not interested in experience, but still wanting level III certifications. If it was money that drives me, I wouldn’t spend time on writing. If it was money that drives me, I would be out there in the market to shamelessly, vigilantly, relentlessly and ruthlessly market, promote, sell, oversell and resell my 20+ years of experience (like a real consultant would do) while pushing competitors out of the market rather than spending time at home taking care of our sons and exploring give-and-take collaborative partnerships (even when largely unsuccessfully). If it was money that drives me, I would be speaking at events only when offered large sums of money with no other intent than entertainment and self-promotion.
Rather, after abandoning several (financially more rewarding) positions and titles, once upon a time I started calling myself a Scrum Caretaker (2016). In the expanded version that became an independent Scrum Caretaker to leave no doubts that I am not a part of any fixed structure, big nor small (2017). I added my personal mission to it: an independent Scrum Caretaker on a journey of humanizing the workplace with Scrum (2019). I’ve noticed how the term “Scrum Caretaker” resonates with people across the planet. Maybe more Scrum Caretakers will emerge. Maybe some day we will form a Scrum Caretakers Collective.
Maybe it will happen once enough people start realizing that the time has come to restore the balance between the ‘people’ aspect of Scrum (“Self-organization”) and the ‘process’ aspect of Scrum (“Empiricism”). Because the focus of many Scrum adoptions is still tilted heavily towards the process aspect, and not barely enough on the people aspect. Scrum is too much limited to a way to create and deliver product; more features, sooner, faster. The added value of adopting Scrum for the people doing the work is conveniently ignored. But, guess what, people who are truly engaged and motivated will build better products. Ultimately, using Scrum as a tool to humanize the workplace is the way forward.
Let there be no misunderstanding: money is important.
Unfortunately, too many people and enterprises take it for granted that it is not money that drives me (not willing to pay, to not return a favor, to not grant me a piece of the cake, but some bread crumbs only). So, in case of doubt: although money is not what drives me, I am trying to make a living out of my mission too, not in the least to support my family but also to fund my ways of offering inspiration that are beyond money. The alternative is charity and a hungry family. A good start, and thus one of my ambitions as from 2024 is to speak for free less. I know you now understand.
