Over at the Agile Software Development blog, Janusz Gorycki reminds us that scrum activities–daily stand-up, planning, retrospectives–play an important role beyond the purported goal of each activity:
The quality of the team and the caliber of its members is more important than the efficiency of its processes – nothing controversial about this statement really, this fact has been well documented in some pretty classic books on team management (“Good To Great†by Jim Collins comes to mind). And the old fashioned rituals are crucial in maintaining the team spirit and identity. This is because people happen to be wired in such a way that it makes them feel safe and comfortable if they can devote some time every day to repeatable old habits. And teams become better integrated if they have some common habits that they care to repeat every day – as a team. Liturgies and rituals do matter a lot – and there is no reason for these rituals to be overly efficient. That’s not their purpose to be efficient.
I love it that he calls these scrum activities “liturgies.” As a church-goer, I think it’s an apt analogy. I recognize that there is indeed a certain value in just coming together with my fellow parishoners each week and at the very least, going through the motions together. Though with church, as with work, you need to try to keep the point of the ritual in mind.