I love scrum. It’s an interesting implementation of the theory behind agile development that has been extended to the point that it’s like watching a ritual.

Every company has its own interpretation of scrum and the rules and roles that come with it.

Once per day, everyone stands up and gathers with kindred spirits to hold the daily stand up. This is almost always done standing because the scriptures say so.

The product owner pretends to be as external as possible to provide the right perspective despite just being someone within the team, like one of those fancily dressed up people in the rituals surrounding the UK elections.

The scrum master is like the shaman for the scrum rituals, spending days on complicated processes that don’t seem to add anything. They’re not the project manager, so they can only guide the rituals and gatherings and not the major forces behind life/projects.

As with many religious experiences, reflection is a critical part, and several different types of reflections are held to give everyone a chance to bring their lessons learnt to the community. After solemn reflection, the shaman will guide everyone towards a plan of development for the coming time.

The community works together on a colorful artwork called the “scrum board” on which bright, colourful shapes are placed. Some of those shapes and colours have meaning, but that depends on one’s community and its interpretation of the scripture. This artwork is worshipped as the guiding star by the community, and tarnishing it is met with severe consequences.

There are, of course, different churches of scrum. Some swear by paper plan poker, others have switched to digital. The exact interpretation of the scrum poker scripture can differ from office to office, but everyone agrees on the intent. Some companies have replaced the scrum poker ritual with alternative rituals.

In the end, for many companies scrum ends up being waterfall development with rituals. It’s a bit like atheist catholics, who have stopped believing in god but still go to church for the rituals and the sense of community.

Scrum is not the only religion. There are many others, each with their own rituals, religious figures, myth, and scripture.