ComparisonScaling Software Development - ZeroBlockers vs Scrum: Which product development framework is better for you?

The core difference between the frameworks is that Scrum focuses on the delivery of the solution while ZeroBlockers starts earlier in the process, focusing on the discovery to identify the best opportunities, design to evaluate solutions and then the delivery of the solution.

Another key differentiator is that Scrum looks to minimise collaboration time between members of the team while ZeroBlockers looks to maximise collaboration because the philosophy is that the additional overhead is offset by the time saving from the removal of handoffs and the resulting miscommunication and eventual rework.

Finally, Scrum advocates for releasable increments each sprint but it doesn't provide guidance on the testing challenges that teams face. ZeroBlockers provides guidance on how to implement automated testing and how to ensure that the product is in a continuously releasable state.

While Scrum advocates for breaking up solutions into releasable increments it doesn't give teams any strategies for executing on this. Releasing software has a cost involved, and since it isn't a core metric that teams are tracked on, it encourages teams to do demos instead of actually releasing a working increment. If you don't need to release it is more efficient to break features into separate technical component pieces. This is more efficient per component, and it enables a demo but the system can't run until every component is done.

In contrast, ZeroBlockers forces teams to release early and often by making it a core metric. The framework gives teams strategies for breaking down solutions into working iterations so that teams can achieve very short lead times and get the critical feedback required to improve their products.

The other core difference regarding efficiency is that Scrum focuses on how a single team operates but often the biggest challenges are how teams work together. As companies scale the number of dependencies between teams increases and this slows down delivery. ZeroBlockers focuses on removing these dependencies.

Scrum is based on the concept of a separation between the business and IT. The business are the stakeholders who define the features to be built in a business case. The PO then prioritises the order of delivery of the signed off features and business stakeholders confirm their acceptance during the demos.

ZeroBlockers takes a completely different approach because the core principle is that you cannot know how customers will react to new features until they have them in their hands. It is not fair to ask a business person to specify the outcome of a feature because we don't know. We all have ideas that sound great but few of them work. Therefore solution evaluation and iteration are integral parts of the process. We empower teams to identify the best solutions and then hold them accountable for outcomes.

Shared code is subject to the tragedy of the commons. Each team has a tight deadline so they need to cut corners at the end. While Scrum advocates adding technical debt reduction items to the backlog based on team retrospectives it is difficult to fix all of the issues given the incentive to produce debt in every sprint. That is why in ZeroBlockers each team owns their own code. They are responsible for ensuring the health of their code so they can work sustainably.

There are a million ways we can change how we work but not all of them are improvements. Even though managers have a lot of experience comparing potential improvements can lead to battles of opinions unless there is a clear vision. ZeroBlockers has a vision of having zero blockers in the flow of work so teams now have a target to aim towards and something to use to compare alternative options for improvement. You'd be surprised how much time this saves.

Burnout isn't caused by challenging targets or high workloads. It is caused by being held to targets that you can't control such as an unrealistic deadline that was imposed on you. By giving teams autonomy over the way they achieve the product goals you are putting them in control. We can still set challenging stretch targets but, once teams can control how they achieve the targets, this can energise rather than cause burnout.

The core difference between the frameworks is that Scrum focuses on the delivery of the solution while ZeroBlockers starts earlier in the process, focusing on the discovery to identify the best opportunities, design to evaluate solutions and then the delivery of the solution. This means that in ZeroBlockers we have skills and events dedicated to the discovery and design phases.

The Scrum framework has an advantage in implementation because it is more established, requires less changes and has more support.

ZeroBlockers involves changes across the business - because software is integral to our products today - not something just tacked on. This means you need more buy-in to get started. But you can start small - one product, one value stream. With over 10 years of UXDX content and case studies, there is also a large body of resources to assist in the rollout of the framework. It might be tougher to implement but it will deliver better outcomes.