Scrum in 100 Words
The idea for this blog post came from a conversation I had a few weeks ago. I was at a business networking event and was asked to described what Scrum was and what I as a ScrumMaster did.
However, when I had finished their was a glazed look in the questioners eyes. While I had explained things, from a business perspective, he just didn’t get it.
This post is the result. So first I want to explain what I think Scrum is in as few words as possible.
Scrum is…
I would describe Scrum in a 100* words or less as…
Scrum is an agile process that allows us to focus on delivering the highest business value in the shortest time.
It allows us to rapidly and repeatedly inspect an actual working product, typically every two weeks, in a period called a ‘sprint’.
The business sets the priorities. Teams self-organize to determine the best way to deliver the highest priority features.
Every two weeks anyone can see a real working product and decide to release it as is or continue to enhance it for another sprint.
And, it’s as simple as that.
Astute readers will notice that the definition does not mention software at all. Although Srcum is most commonly applied to the process of software development and release, the process is not specific to software. Scrum can be used to build just about anything.
* actually 85 words.