Overview
The Scrum Problem
--> Traditional Scrum creates artificial constraints that slow down AI-assisted development teams.

Every senior developer and product manager recognizes this pattern:
The Traditional Scrum Reality:
Work forced into 2-week containers regardless of natural completion
Product/UX work happens separately from engineering
Discovery and design occur in silos, creating handoff friction
Constant cycle of refinement → planning → refinement → planning
No real value delivered during singular sprints + constant spillovers
Developers become order-takers rather than collaborative problem-solvers
Meeting Fatigue - process overhead dominates productive time
Traditional methodologies were designed for purely human teams, but we now work in hybrid AI-human environments where these constraints create artificial friction rather than enabling flow.
The Hydro Solution

The Hydro Reality:
Work completes when dependencies are satisfied and quality gates pass
Integrated Teams - 2-3 engineers + product working as a cohesive unit
Solutioning, design, and technical decisions running alongside implementation
Waves cascade naturally across time based on actual completion
Each cycle ends with reflection and methodology evolution
Different task types optimize for AI capabilities while maintaining human expertise
Why "Hydro"? Like water finding the most efficient path around obstacles, Hydro enables work to flow naturally around dependencies and constraints while maintaining direction toward business objectives.
What You'll Learn
The following sections explain how hydro works in practice:
Flow Principles - Why dependency-driven development works
Core Concepts - Waves, epics, tasks, and dependencies
AI-Human Collaboration - How humans and AI work together
Ready to understand the underlying principles? Let's start with why flow matters.
Hydro methodology provides a technical framework for optimizing human-AI collaboration while maintaining enterprise quality standards.
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