Comments on: Is Scrum Right for Your Product?

By: Roman Pichler

Roman Pichler — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 11:35:22 +0000

In reply to Scott Cunningham.

You’re welcome Scott!

By: Scott Cunningham

Scott Cunningham — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 16:31:47 +0000

In reply to Roman Pichler.

excellent…thanks!

By: Roman Pichler

Roman Pichler — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 16:29:53 +0000

In reply to Scott Cunningham.

Hi Scott, Your question triggered me to review the article and make small adjustments to it. But it essentially stayed the same. While I regularly update my articles, the age alone does not indicate that the concepts and techniques covered are no longer relevant. Take the product life cycle model used in the article. It was developed in the early 1960ies and continues to be a very valuable tool for product people. Hope this helps.

By: Scott Cunningham

Scott Cunningham — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 15:40:11 +0000

Given that this article is 5 years old, would you change anything today?

By: Roman Pichler

Roman Pichler — Mon, 21 May 2018 08:12:31 +0000

In reply to Umang. Thanks for the feedback and sharing your question Umang. I have found it difficult to combine an agile way of working with a traditional, plan-based approach primarily due to the different values and principles being used. I have therefore a preference to apply agile practices across the entire life cycle and adjust the process, as suggested in the article. Does this help?

By: Umang

Umang — Sat, 19 May 2018 16:45:08 +0000

Hi Roman,
Great post. I agree with your suggestion that process should follow the product.
It makes total sense that product will benefit from processes like scrum or kanban when there is uncertainity in what to develop and how to enhance the product.
Incase of a mature product and especially operating in a B2B enterprise environment, where Roadmap is driven by feature requests from the customers, the uncertainty seems to be low.
In such a case, would the product and team benefit from plan based development approach?
Would it help to do little more upfront design, a little more architectural clarity and little more upfront requirements, and little more project plan?
Or not?
The 3x model of Kent Back tries to explain why waterfall model may work for some product teams.
Do you feel the same way?
Would some teams benefit from waterfall model?

By: tushar

tushar — Wed, 28 Dec 2016 05:58:32 +0000

Hi, thank you for this post I Agree with you that A process like Scrum is a great fit for your product when it is brand-new or young, and when you extend its life cycle, as shown in the picture below. very useful information

By: Harihara Prasath

Harihara Prasath — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 16:13:55 +0000

In reply to Roman Pichler.

Thank you for the nice explanation Roman.

By: Roman Pichler

Roman Pichler — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 10:45:28 +0000

In reply to Harihara Prasath.

If you thoroughly understand who uses your product and why, and if you understand how to develop it, then you are facing little uncertainty. You can still use Scrum, of course, but you should consider if it is still the best process for you, see my post The Scrum Cycle.

I don’t think you can and should expect that your users are generally able to tell you what the product should do. I regard it as the responsibility of the product manager/owner and the dev team to discover the right features and UX.

Hope this helps!

By: Harihara Prasath

Harihara Prasath — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 09:49:34 +0000

Especially in the following points:

Do you understand how to address the market needs and solve the users’ problem?
Me : If we understood clearly the market needs and if we are constantly solving the user’s problem, then in what way it is not advisable in doing Scrum.

Do you know how to develop, market, and sell the product?
Me : If we know how to develop, mark and sell the product, what is there in not executing this with scrum

And more specifically, can the users confidently tell you which functionality they require and which aspects of the product need to be improved?

Me : If the users confidently tell us what functionalities they required, is it not the expectation for any project? How it differs for not qualifying as a Scrum Project.

Sorry for my long question. I want to understand better. Thanks in advance for your answer