Yalbo Business Space

I had some time this week (my last week at NDS), so I've decided to start learning a bit more about Scrum... 

Scrum is an iterative incremental process of software development commonly used with agile software development. The following diagram I've found on wikipedia provides a good descriptions of the general idea behind Scrum:

We had some attempts to implement a flavor of Scrum in some SW development projects, to be honest the results were mixed. Based on my analysis (mainly conducted via interviews with stakeholders), if we focus for a sec on the management functional layer, it seems that 4 key points are essential to increase the chance of success for SW development projects using Scrum:

A. Pick an experienced leader (one & only one) who was involved in the management of similar development projects before, and that is seen as a true leader in his field. I personally see Scrum as a toolkit, as in the real life, not all the tools available are adapted for a specific work. One of the first tasks for the leader will be to define the internal processes (The Framework) that will direct the project. The framework should be optimized for your needs. As any methodology, Scrum is here to help you achieving business results, you should NOT be in ANY CASE the slave of Scrum. 

B. The leader will need to get a formal buy-in on the process from the following parties (in this specific order) : (1) his task force members (2) his management (3) the customer (4) the 3rd parties

C. Mapping the interfaces/interactions between your new internal processes and the external world (customer, 3rd parties, etc...)

D. Be ready for change! Review your internal processes at the end of every sprint/iteration.

You need to ask the correct questions (and be honest): What can I learn from the way this iteration was handled? What may be the best way to achieve the next business objective? Should I add fast tracks in parallel to my sprints to be better prepared for the next next iteration? etc...

Comments are welcome.

As a bonus, please find embedded an excellent video from the Scrum Guru, Ken Schwaber, founder of the Agile Alliance and Scrum Alliance. This video is from Google Tech Talks of September '06 :