Is Scrum Anti-Agile Because It Can’t Be Changed?

No! In fact, the opposite is true—Scrum is a very agile framework, but there are a lot of common misunderstandings that lead people to believe otherwise. If you’ve ever felt confused about Scrum’s “fixed” nature or seen teams try to modify it before fully understanding it, you’re not alone. Let’s clear up some of these misconceptions.

1. Scrum Doesn’t Tell You How to Work

First off, here’s a biggie: Scrum is not here to dictate every step of your work process. It’s a framework, not a blueprint. Think of Scrum as a bring-your-own-process system. What does that mean? It provides the skeleton—roles, events, and artifacts—but you fill in the gaps with how you and your team want to operate.

Now, this can feel overwhelming, especially for teams used to being told exactly how to operate. Some teams get lost, expecting Scrum to define everything for them, but that’s not its job. It’s there to guide frequent inspection and adaptation, not micromanage every task. The magic happens when teams take ownership of their processes within Scrum.

2. Agility Is Not “We Can Do Whatever We Want”

This is another huge misunderstanding that I see way too often: people equate being agile with being able to do whatever they want. Nope. That’s not agility—that’s chaos. In reality, agility requires more discipline, structure, and professionalism than traditional, rigid frameworks.

Think about it—non-agile, Tayloristic organizations (the ones with tons of rules, best practices, and hierarchy) rely on outer structures to keep things moving. But in an agile environment, the outer structures become lighter. What needs to step up? The inner structures of discipline, collaboration, and self-management. Agile doesn’t work without that.

This is why agile transformations can feel so hard! You’re stripping away external control and telling teams, “It’s on you now!” That’s no small shift, and it’s why teams need to develop that inner structure to truly thrive in agility.

3. Understand Before You Change

Here’s where Chesterton’s Fence comes in. It’s a simple principle: before removing or changing something, understand why it was there in the first place.

I’ve seen teams jump into changes—skipping events, removing roles—without fully grasping the purpose behind them. This is where problems arise. When you don’t understand why something exists, you’re at risk of breaking the very mechanisms that enable agility. So, before you adjust or discard any part of Scrum, ask yourself: Do we truly understand its value and purpose? If not, it’s time to dig deeper before making that decision.

In short, Scrum is about providing just enough structure to support agility, while also leaving enough room for teams to define how they’ll work within that framework. When people try to tweak or drop parts of Scrum without understanding why they’re there, they lose out on the benefits the framework is designed to offer. So, before making changes, make sure you really understand the purpose behind every element.

Remember: Scrum isn’t anti-agile—it’s actually one of the most agile frameworks out there. It’s all about continuous inspection, adaptation, and improvement. But to get there, we have to respect the structure before bending or breaking it. Embrace the framework, build the inner discipline, and then let agility work its magic.

That’s how you do Scrum right!

Thank you for reading The Agile Compass. I’m Matthias, here to help you help those around you become agile.

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