I have tremendous respect for Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland. What they had the guts to do back in the 1980s and 1990s and their ability to really create an “Agile groundswell” in the 2000s will ensure that they, along with Kent Beck, Martin Fowler, Bob Martin, James Grenning, Ron Jeffries, Mike Cohn, and others will be remembered for a very long time. The creation of Scrum was a turning point in software engineering and software product development — a necessary turning point — a realization that Tayloristic management principles work fine for product manufacturing, but not so for software development.
Recently, however, Ken has launched an unnecessary and unwarranted attack on both the Scrum Alliance and the Certified Scrum Trainers (of which I am a member), painting all of us as money-grubbing opportunists and himself as being rededicated to “doing the right thing.” In truth, Ken says “most CSTs” when he points his finger at other people, but if I were to say, for example, “most Schwabers don’t check their facts very well before they post inflammatory blogs,” I don’t expect he’d feel very comfortable if I assured him that I meant “most Schwabers,” but definitely NOT him.
I don’t appreciate the picture Ken paints about us money hungry CSTs because, frankly, it simply isn’t true. If I generated something close to the income that Ken claims the average CST makes every year ($300,000), I would be a very happy person. I drive a six year old Honda Odyssey (when I’m lucky enough to be home to drive it) and I live in a small house. I’m happy, but I’m not financially independent. I work hard for my customers, and I’m not making tons of money doing it. I do it to make a living, yes (who wouldn’t, I have a wife and four children, I have to earn a living somehow), but I do THIS work because I enjoy the positive impact it has on the developers, the product, the customers, and the organization. I do it because I love doing it. I don’t know where in the hell Ken Schwaber gets his facts and figures, but I resent being characterized as focused only on money when I work my ass-off more today than ever before, and I see my children one heck of a lot less.
And I’m not alone. There are a lot of CSTs traveling the world. Teaching, coaching, and helping their customers. Have I run into a few that have done much better than me? Yes. But does that mean they are money hungry or does it mean they’re simply good business people? I’m not going to judge them. Frankly, I’m not going to judge Ken either. I don’t know how much money he’s made from his books and from teaching classes longer than any of us, and from his speaking engagements. I don’t know and I don’t care.
But, Ken, don’t you dare accuse me of being money hungry and tell me that you’ve refocused yourself to do the right thing. You don’t have an exclusive on wanting to do the right thing. The rest of us have morals too. If you want to launch your next venture, go for it. Good luck! Past history has shown that you’ll be successful. But knock off the attacks against the Scrum Alliance and against people that you can’t speak for — your attacks aren’t necessary and they aren’t helpful.
Now, having aired my final concerns about Ken Schwaber and his new attitude and new outlook on life, this website (www.artisansoftwareconsulting.com) and this blog will no longer discuss Ken Schwaber until he becomes relevant in the industry again as a positive change agent instead of a disruptive, negative one. I’m tremendously saddened to do this, as I thought Ken was a friend and a colleague. To me, he was even a mentor. I guess I was wrong.
Scrum is entering a new phase. The reality is that Scrum needs to grow to embrace large organizations, a new and broader customer/user base, global concerns, and the future. Scrum has completed it’s childhood and is entering adolescence. It won’t always be fun and it won’t be easy, but it will be fruitful if we work together to learn and grow. We can and will change the world of work. We ARE changing the world of work.
