Why do Software Teams Deviate from Scrum? Reasons and Implications

Human, social, organizational, and technical aspects are intertwined with each other in software teams during the software development process. Practices that teams actually adopt often deviate from those of the used frameworks, such as Scrum. However, currently there is little empirical insight explaining typical deviations, including their reasons and consequences. In this paper we use observations to investigate selected activities of the software development process in two companies that use Scrum. We study identified deviations to understand their reasons and consequences, using a survey and interviews. We identify 13 deviations and we categorize reasons based on type. The deviations’ consequences are investigated in terms of their impact. Most deviations can be found in multiple teams. Reasons are doubts of the teams, organizational structures and complexity of the work. Consequences of deviations affect product development and team work.