It got me - bad SCRUM
I just have to vent.
Disclaimer:
I have worked as a freelancer for a lot of companies and am convinced SCRUM works, agile works. And I absolutely love it when it works.
But now I am trapped in an IT org where the worst mutation of "scrum" is running imaginable.
The PO is simultaneously PL, architect, lead BA and personally very invested. He dominates everything and decides most stuff alone.
He decides and even provides the technical implementation guidelines, so the dev team is free from all responsibilities.
Estimations or velocity are not really challenged or measured at all and they don't make sense. Stuff that is really complicated and a lot of work is "5" this sprint and a simple attribute change with no side effects is "5" next sprint.
The external SM who has no authority is hust moderating meetings.
The dev team is just doing a 9-5 office job.
Testing and Quality commitments are not existing.
The retro is moderated by the SM but "run" by the PO. The SM has no stake so doesn't do anything.
If anybody suggestes to change or improve something he justifies the status quo and denies any reason to do so or even discuss about it. Not by conflict (that would spark discourse) but suffocating it by endless "understanding" monologue but closing with _"I still don't see how this would help us in any way."_
The management has no idea and doesn't care.
So it's all just an endless unmotivated "just doing something" ...
Rant off..