June 17, 2020

Does Agile mean Scrum?


In talking about Agile with a colleague a bit ago, he said “I’ve never seen a person or team do Agile projects without using Scrum”.  It’s likely true that most software development projects use Scrum because it gives a framework, but Scrum doesn’t have to be used to be Agile.

Agile and Scrum are popular terms in the software development world. So - are they the same? Different?

Agile showed up as an “official” term in 2001. It represents a way to think about working – agilely, as in being able to adapt quickly. Going along with this are corresponding values and principles, such as collaboration is more important than contracts. For more info, the Agile Alliance’s website is valuable. 

The definition of Scrum, from Scrum.org, is

Scrum: a framework to support teams in complex product development. Scrum consists of Scrum Teams and their associated roles, events, artifacts, and rules, as defined in the Scrum Guide™.

Scrum is based on Agile principles. So, if you use the Scrum framework, you’re being Agile. But you can work agilely without using the Scrum framework. I'm taking a course that considers its development agile, and I'm pretty sure the developers didn't think of using Scrum.

Thanks for reading. As always, I’d be happy to discuss. Brenda

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Brenda’s company, BrenDaniel Productions Corp., works with organizations to deliver their products and services successfully through project work. BrenDaniel’s products and services include training, coaching and support, in traditional project management, Agile and Scrum.

Contact Brenda at brenda@brendaniel.com