Success With Scrum

It’s All About Leadership

Lately there has been a lot of discussion around scrum and failure. What was once seen as the saving grace of software development is now showing similar signs of failure as its waterfall predecessor. A survey conducted by Ambysoft in 2007 showed that 71.5% of Agile projects were successful as compared with 62.8% of waterfall projects.(1) This 8.7% difference is a much smaller margin than the 54.8% increase in success that was heralded by the original implementation of scrum over waterfall.(2)

Digital Onion is one of a minority that continues to experience great success in Scrum. In 2008, its engagements succeeded 80% of the time; an 8.5% margin over average Agile projects and a 17.2% margin over waterfall projects.

So, what allows some companies to experience continued success in scrum while others to fail? Digital Onion thinks it has found the answer.

Many companies we see today are implementing the mechanics of Scrum because most of the training out there only describes Scrum as a basic framework for success. What’s missing is the underlying principle of leadership. In his book “Agile Project Management with Scrum” Ken Schwaber even admits that “it’s not always easy to understand the role of the ScrumMaster.”(3) This leads us to believe that there is something more than just going through the motions of scrum.

Digital Onion’s Point Man Leadership System™ bridges the gap that companies are discovering between Scrum mechanics and successful projects. It recognizes that there is more to successful projects than procedures, and provides the missing ingredient for YOUR PROJECT SUCCESS.

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(1) IT Project Success Rates Survey: August 2007 http://www.ambysoft.com/surveys/success2007.html

(2) CHAOS, Standish Group Report, 1995 (16.7% waterfall success)

(3) Agile Project Management with Scrum, Ken Schwaber, Page 35

Add comment February 4th, 2009