Inventing and Reinventing SCRUM in Five Companies

In recent months, a wide range of publications—Software Development, IEEE Software, Cutter IT Journal, Software Testing and Quality Engineering, and even The Economist— have published articles on agile software development methodologies, reflecting a growing interest in these new approaches to software development (Extreme Programming, Crystal Methodologies, SCRUM, Adaptive Software Development, Feature-Driven Development and Dynamic Systems Development Methodology among them). In addition to these "named" methodologies, scores of organizations have developed their own "lighter" approach to building software. The formation of the Agile Alliance by a group of expert consultants and authors on development process has fueled increasing interest in ways to deliver quality software in short, fixed delivery schedules, under severe time to market pressures (Fowler and Highsmith 2001).