Scrum is a methodology that Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland co-created for effective team collaboration on complex products. Scrum was primarily thought for software development projects to deliver new software capability every 2-4 weeks. It is a sub-group of agile also used in project management to improve startups’ productivity.
“In today’s fast-paced, fiercely competitive world of commercial new product development, speed and flexibility are essential. Companies are increasingly realizing that the old, sequential approach to developing new products simply won’t get the job done. Instead, companies in Japan and the United States are using a holistic method—as in rugby, the ball gets passed within the team as it moves as a unit up the field.”
And they further articulated:
“This new emphasis on speed and flexibility calls for a different approach for managing new product development.”
This approach was emphasized based on the study of the then-successful tech companies such as Fuji-Xerox, Canon, Honda, NEC, Epson, Brother, 3M, Xerox, and Hewlett-Packard.
And it consisted of the so-called Scrum Downfield, which could be emphasized through six development processes:
Built-in instability.
Self-organizing project teams.
Overlapping development phases.
“Multilearning.”
Subtle control.
Organizational transfer of learning.
Trust the process
While agile is a set of principles that drive the activities in software development.
Scrum is a methodology that applies those principles to make software development faster and more productive.
However, Scrum has also become a methodology for project management in the startup world.
When Jared Dunn (the character in the Silicon Valley Series), in the vest of a business developer, convinces Pied Piper’s founder, Richard Hendricks, to use the Scrum methodology, Richard is a skeptic.
Why would a group of smart software engineers fall into a management strategy?
Well, it turned out he was wrong.
In fact, Scrum is a process envisioned to make software development lighter, faster, and more suited to customers’ needs.
The method is now also used by startups for project management.
Yet, in reality, Scrum was a methodology born from the Agile Manifesto, a set of principles created in 2001 by software development experts.
Heavyweight vs. lightweight software development
The agile manifesto started out as a movement that wanted to challenge the assumption of the so-called heavyweight methods for software development that were based on more sophisticated and regulated approaches.
In fact, Scrum evolved as a lightweight software development method.
The main difference between heavyweight vs. lightweight is fundamental.
In fact, heavyweight software development methodologies, which prevailed a few decades back, consisted of many rules and protocols to follow.
Instead, a lightweight methodology is based on a few basic guiding principles. And it all started with the agile manifesto.
Agile manifesto: the guiding principles of Scrum methodology
In 2001, a group of seventeen software developers met to discuss these lightweight development methods, with the aim of challenging the old assumption of heavyweight software development.
They forged “The Agile Alliance,” as a group of independent thinkers about software development, which agreed on the Manifesto for Agile Software Development.
Together they published the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. It comprises twelve guiding principles from which many applications (comprising Scrum) were born.
Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through the early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.
Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
Working software is the primary measure of progress.
Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is essential.
The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.
Some of those principles might be given for granted today, yet they were not at all back in 2001.
This manifesto has also become the founding document for the Scrum methodology.
What are the benefits of using Scrum?
The benefits of using Scrum can be linked to the advantage of using an agile development methodology.
Organizations that have adopted agile Scrum should experience the following:
Happier customers due to more responsive to development requests by the software development company
Higher returns are given by the ability of the software developer to focus on high-impacting features
Better organization of work based on the team’s ability to work together
Reduced time to market due to the more efficient organization
The core tenants of the Scrum Methodology
Before moving ahead with the core elements of the Scrum Methodology, let’s tackle the six key tenants of it based on the 1986 HBR piece, “The New New Product Development Game.”
Built-in instability
Here the top management assigned to develop a product gives the team the freedom to develop while manufacturing tension and constraint to enhance creativity for the project.
Self-organizing project teams
Another critical element of the Scrum Methodology is the flat structure of the development teams.
This is established thourhg autonomy, self-transcendence, and cross-fertilization.
Development teams start from first principles, developing their own concept without influence from other parts of the organization.
Overlapping Development Phases
In this phase, while the team splits to tackle various tasks within a project, they all come together to overcome key obstacles in the process.
So even when bottlenecks form, the team pushes things forward together to reach fast iteration even while these team members are working on parallel tasks.
Multilearning
Multilearning consists of the ability of team members to work across multiple levels (individual, group, and corporate) and across multiple functions.
This makes them develop broader skills to tackle projects and overcome obstacles.
Subtle Control
Where the team has freedom in the development process, this freedom is not unconstrained.
The management still sets checkpoints as boundaries in the process to prevent chaos.
Transfer of Learning
For the whole process and methodology to effectively transfer learning within the team is critical.
The Scrum elements
The Scrum methodology comprises three main components and a set of rules.
Element
Description
Scrum Team
The Scrum Team consists of three primary roles: Product Owner, ScrumMaster, and Development Team. There are no hierarchical structures within the team.
Scrum Events
Scrum Events, also known as ceremonies, include Sprint, Sprint Planning, Daily Stand-up, Sprint Review, and Retrospective.
Scrum Artifacts
Scrum Artifacts are tangible outputs or documents that provide transparency and information to the Scrum Team. These include Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, and Increment.
Scrum Rules
Scrum teams define their own rules based on the organization’s values and expectations, emphasizing collaboration, flexibility, and continuous improvement.
Official Scrum Guide
The Official Scrum Guide provides comprehensive information about Scrum principles, roles, events, artifacts, and rules.
The Scrum Team
Within the team, there are three primary roles. It is important to remark that there is no hierarchy in the Scrum methodology.
But each of the team members will be accountable for a specific part of the project.
The Product Owner: this person is primarily accountable for managing the completed increments of work.
The ScrumMaster: this person does anything possible to help the team perform at the highest level.
The Development Team: There are no titles in the Development Team. The main aim is to break down the product into items that can be incrementally implemented.
Scrum Events (so-called Ceremonies)
The Sprint: 2-4 weeks period in which a specific part of the work is completed
Sprint Planning: those are meetings to assess which part of the product can be completed
The Daily Stand-up: it is a short meeting of no more than 15 minutes to evaluate the progress of the project
The Sprint Review: a demonstration to present the work completed during the sprint
The Retrospective: final team meeting to assess what worked and what didn’t to improve the process
Scrum Artifacts
Product Backlog: outlines every requirement for a system, project or product. It can be a to-do list consisting of work items
Sprint Backlog: list of items to be completed during the sprint
Increment: is the list of items completed after the last software release
Scrum Rules
The team will define those rules according to the organization’s values and expectations. Thus there isn’t a simple set of rules to follow.
Scrum guide
You can start right now by learning everything you need to know about Scrum from the official Scrum online guide.
Case Studies
Toyota:
Implementation: Toyota applied Scrum principles in its manufacturing processes by organizing production teams into small, cross-functional units known as “scrum teams.” These teams were responsible for specific aspects of production, such as assembly or quality control.
Key Practices: Daily Stand-ups were conducted to discuss progress and potential obstacles, while Sprint Planning sessions helped set short-term goals and priorities. Toyota also emphasized continuous improvement, with regular Retrospectives enabling teams to reflect on their performance and identify areas for enhancement.
Results: By adopting Scrum, Toyota improved communication and collaboration among production teams, reduced lead times, minimized waste, and enhanced overall efficiency in its manufacturing operations.
Spotify:
Implementation: Spotify adopted a scaled Scrum framework known as “Spotify Model” to manage its software development projects. The company organized development teams into autonomous squads, each responsible for a specific feature or product area.
Key Practices: Sprint Planning sessions were held to define objectives and allocate work to squads, while Daily Stand-ups facilitated communication and coordination within teams. Spotify also utilized Sprint Reviews to gather feedback from stakeholders and adjust product development accordingly.
Results: By leveraging Scrum, Spotify accelerated its product development cycles, improved collaboration among teams, enhanced flexibility in responding to market changes, and delivered new features to users more rapidly.
Amazon:
Implementation: Amazon incorporated Scrum practices into its software development processes to increase agility and responsiveness. The company organized development teams into small, self-organizing units and adopted iterative development approaches.
Key Practices: Amazon utilized Product Backlogs to prioritize and manage work items, while Sprints were used to focus on delivering incremental value to customers. Regular Sprint Reviews allowed stakeholders to provide feedback on product increments and guide future development efforts.
Results: By embracing Scrum, Amazon improved time-to-market for new products and features, enhanced collaboration and communication among development teams, and achieved greater customer satisfaction through continuous delivery of value.
Microsoft:
Implementation: Microsoft implemented Scrum across various departments, including software development, marketing, and sales. The company organized cross-functional teams and adopted Scrum ceremonies such as Sprint Planning, Daily Stand-ups, and Sprint Reviews.
Key Practices: Microsoft emphasized iterative development and regular feedback loops to iterate on product features and improve customer engagement. The company also focused on continuous improvement, with Sprint Retrospectives enabling teams to reflect on their performance and identify areas for enhancement.
Results: By leveraging Scrum, Microsoft increased collaboration and alignment across departments, accelerated product development cycles, and delivered solutions that better met customer needs and market demands.
Netflix:
Implementation: Netflix applied Scrum principles to manage its content production and platform development initiatives. The company organized cross-functional teams into autonomous units and adopted iterative development approaches to deliver value to subscribers.
Key Practices: Netflix utilized Sprint Planning sessions to define content priorities and allocate resources, while Daily Stand-ups facilitated communication and coordination among production teams. Sprint Reviews allowed stakeholders to provide feedback on content releases and guide future production efforts.
Results: By embracing Scrum, Netflix optimized its content delivery pipeline, accelerated time-to-market for new releases, and improved user experience on its streaming platform, leading to increased subscriber satisfaction and retention.
General Electric (GE):
Implementation: GE implemented Scrum in its engineering and product development divisions to accelerate innovation and improve project outcomes. The company organized cross-functional teams and adopted Scrum ceremonies such as Sprint Planning, Daily Stand-ups, and Sprint Reviews.
Key Practices: GE emphasized collaboration and transparency, with regular Sprint Reviews allowing stakeholders to provide feedback on product increments and guide future development efforts. The company also focused on continuous improvement, with Sprint Retrospectives enabling teams to reflect on their performance and identify areas for enhancement.
Results: By leveraging Scrum, GE improved project visibility, increased collaboration among engineering teams, and delivered solutions that better met customer requirements and market demands, leading to enhanced customer satisfaction and business performance.
IBM:
Implementation: IBM adopted Scrum to manage its software development projects and consulting engagements. The company organized cross-functional teams and implemented Scrum ceremonies such as Sprint Planning, Daily Stand-ups, and Sprint Reviews.
Key Practices: IBM focused on iterative development and regular feedback loops to iterate on software features and improve client engagement. The company also emphasized collaboration and transparency, with Sprint Reviews allowing stakeholders to provide feedback on product increments and guide future development efforts.
Results: By embracing Scrum, IBM increased collaboration among project teams, accelerated time-to-market for software solutions, and delivered products that better met client expectations, leading to improved customer satisfaction and business outcomes.
Airbnb:
Implementation: Airbnb utilized Scrum to manage its website and mobile app development initiatives. The company organized cross-functional teams into autonomous squads and adopted iterative development approaches to deliver value to users.
Key Practices: Airbnb embraced Sprint Planning sessions to set short-term goals and prioritize development tasks, while Daily Stand-ups facilitated communication and coordination within development teams. The company also leveraged Sprint Reviews to gather feedback from users and stakeholders, guiding future development efforts.
Results: Through the adoption of Scrum, Airbnb achieved accelerated product development cycles, improved collaboration among teams, and enhanced responsiveness to user feedback. This led to the delivery of features and enhancements that enriched the user experience, driving higher engagement and satisfaction levels among Airbnb’s global community of hosts and guests.
Key takeaways
The Scrum methodology is based on the Agile Manifesto created in 2001.
However, its history dates back to 1986, when in an HBR article entitled “The New New Product Development,” Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka emphasized the core processes within the Scrum Methodology.
It is a project management process whose primary aim is to make complex product development more effective.
This methodology that has mainly been used for software development can be applied to startup project management processes.
The important aspect of Scrum is that there are not hierarchical structures or roles.
Key Highlights:
Scrum Methodology: Developed by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, Scrum is a project management methodology focused on effective team collaboration, initially for software development projects.
Agile Principles: Scrum is based on the Agile Manifesto, which emphasizes customer satisfaction, flexibility, frequent software delivery, collaboration between business people and developers, and continuous improvement.
Seeds of Scrum: Originating from the article “The New Product Development Game” by Takeuchi and Nonaka, Scrum emphasizes speed, flexibility, self-organizing teams, overlapping development phases, multilearning, subtle control, and organizational transfer of learning.
Scrum Components: Scrum comprises three main components: the Scrum Team (Product Owner, ScrumMaster, Development Team), Scrum Events (Sprint, Sprint Planning, Daily Stand-up, Sprint Review, Retrospective), and Scrum Artifacts (Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, Increment).
Scrum Benefits: Organizations adopting Scrum experience happier customers, higher returns, better organization of work, and reduced time to market due to its efficient organization and responsiveness to change.
Core Tenets of Scrum: Built-in instability, self-organizing project teams, overlapping development phases, multilearning, subtle control, and transfer of learning are the key tenets of the Scrum methodology.
Scrum Rules: Scrum teams define their own rules based on the organization’s values and expectations, emphasizing collaboration, flexibility, and continuous improvement.
Scrum Guide: The official Scrum guide provides comprehensive information about Scrum principles, roles, events, artifacts, and rules, making it a valuable resource for learning and implementing Scrum.
Application in Startups: While initially developed for software development, Scrum has found application in startup project management processes, providing a lightweight and flexible approach to managing complex projects.
Hierarchical Structures: Scrum promotes flat structures with no hierarchical roles, fostering autonomy, collaboration, and accountability within the team.
Related Frameworks
Description
When to Apply
Kanban
– A visual management method for workflow optimization, often used in conjunction with Scrum. Kanban visualizes work items on a board, tracks their progress through different stages, and limits work in progress (WIP) to improve flow and productivity.
– When managing work processes and improving team efficiency. – Implementing Kanban to visualize work, manage priorities, and optimize workflow effectively.
Lean Software Development
– A set of principles and practices derived from Lean manufacturing, emphasizing the elimination of waste, continuous improvement, and delivering value to customers. Lean Software Development complements Scrum by providing principles for optimizing processes and reducing inefficiencies.
– When aiming to streamline software development processes and deliver value more efficiently. – Adopting Lean Software Development principles to identify and eliminate waste, improve flow, and maximize customer value effectively.
Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
– A framework for scaling Agile practices across large organizations, providing guidance on roles, ceremonies, and artifacts at the portfolio, program, and team levels. SAFe extends Scrum by offering additional practices and structures for coordinating multiple Agile teams and aligning with business objectives.
– When scaling Agile practices to enterprise-level initiatives involving multiple teams and stakeholders. – Implementing SAFe to coordinate Agile release trains, manage dependencies, and synchronize delivery effectively.
Extreme Programming (XP)
– A software development methodology focused on delivering high-quality software through continuous feedback, frequent releases, and close collaboration between developers and customers. Extreme Programming (XP) complements Scrum by providing technical practices such as test-driven development (TDD), pair programming, and continuous integration.
– When emphasizing technical excellence, rapid feedback, and customer collaboration in software development projects. – Incorporating Extreme Programming (XP) practices to enhance software quality, responsiveness, and adaptability effectively.
DevOps
– A culture, set of practices, and collaboration philosophy that aims to bridge the gap between development and operations teams, enabling faster and more reliable software delivery. DevOps integrates with Scrum by automating build, deployment, and monitoring processes, facilitating continuous delivery and feedback loops.
– When aiming to improve collaboration, automation, and efficiency in software development and deployment. – Adopting DevOps practices to streamline development workflows, accelerate time-to-market, and enhance product quality and reliability effectively.
Agile Project Management
– An approach to project management that emphasizes flexibility, adaptability, and iterative delivery of products or services. Agile Project Management complements Scrum by providing principles and practices for managing projects in Agile environments, including risk management, stakeholder engagement, and iterative planning.
– When managing projects in dynamic or uncertain environments with evolving requirements. – Applying Agile Project Management practices to foster collaboration, prioritize value delivery, and adapt to changing priorities effectively.
Scrum of Scrums
– A technique for coordinating work among multiple Scrum teams working on the same project, program, or product. Scrum of Scrums enables alignment, communication, and collaboration between teams, facilitating the resolution of dependencies and impediments.
– When scaling Scrum practices to projects involving multiple teams or stakeholders. – Conducting Scrum of Scrums meetings to synchronize activities, address cross-team dependencies, and promote alignment effectively.
Continuous Improvement
– A philosophy and practice of constantly seeking ways to enhance processes, products, and services incrementally over time. Continuous Improvement is integral to Scrum, encouraging teams to reflect on their performance, identify areas for improvement, and experiment with new approaches.
– When striving to optimize team performance, product quality, and customer satisfaction. – Embracing Continuous Improvement to foster a culture of learning, innovation, and adaptation within Scrum teams effectively.
Lean Startup
– A methodology for developing and managing startups, emphasizing rapid experimentation, validated learning, and iterative product development. Lean Startup principles align with Scrum by promoting customer-centricity, hypothesis-driven development, and minimum viable products (MVPs).
– When launching new products, services, or ventures in uncertain or competitive markets. – Applying Lean Startup principles to validate assumptions, gather feedback, and iterate on product ideas effectively.
Empirical Process Control
– A fundamental principle of Scrum based on transparency, inspection, and adaptation. Empirical Process Control recognizes that complex systems are unpredictable and evolving, requiring frequent feedback and adjustments to achieve desired outcomes.
– When managing complex projects or processes with inherent uncertainty and variability. – Embracing Empirical Process Control to promote transparency, enable informed decision-making, and adapt to changing circumstances effectively.
AIOps is the application of artificial intelligence to IT operations. It has become particularly useful for modern IT management in hybridized, distributed, and dynamic environments. AIOps has become a key operational component of modern digital-based organizations, built around software and algorithms.
Agile started as a lightweight development method compared to heavyweight software development, which is the core paradigm of the previous decades of software development. By 2001 the Manifesto for Agile Software Development was born as a set of principles that defined the new paradigm for software development as a continuous iteration. This would also influence the way of doing business.
Agile Program Management is a means of managing, planning, and coordinating interrelated work in such a way that value delivery is emphasized for all key stakeholders. Agile Program Management (AgilePgM) is a disciplined yet flexible agile approach to managing transformational change within an organization.
Agile project management (APM) is a strategy that breaks large projects into smaller, more manageable tasks. In the APM methodology, each project is completed in small sections – often referred to as iterations. Each iteration is completed according to its project life cycle, beginning with the initial design and progressing to testing and then quality assurance.
Agile Modeling (AM) is a methodology for modeling and documenting software-based systems. Agile Modeling is critical to the rapid and continuous delivery of software. It is a collection of values, principles, and practices that guide effective, lightweight software modeling.
Agile Business Analysis (AgileBA) is certification in the form of guidance and training for business analysts seeking to work in agile environments. To support this shift, AgileBA also helps the business analyst relate Agile projects to a wider organizational mission or strategy. To ensure that analysts have the necessary skills and expertise, AgileBA certification was developed.
Agile leadership is the embodiment of agile manifesto principles by a manager or management team. Agile leadership impacts two important levels of a business. The structural level defines the roles, responsibilities, and key performance indicators. The behavioral level describes the actions leaders exhibit to others based on agile principles.
The andon system alerts managerial, maintenance, or other staff of a production process problem. The alert itself can be activated manually with a button or pull cord, but it can also be activated automatically by production equipment. Most Andon boards utilize three colored lights similar to a traffic signal: green (no errors), yellow or amber (problem identified, or quality check needed), and red (production stopped due to unidentified issue).
Bimodal Portfolio Management (BimodalPfM) helps an organization manage both agile and traditional portfolios concurrently. Bimodal Portfolio Management – sometimes referred to as bimodal development – was coined by research and advisory company Gartner. The firm argued that many agile organizations still needed to run some aspects of their operations using traditional delivery models.
Business innovation is about creating new opportunities for an organization to reinvent its core offerings, revenue streams, and enhance the value proposition for existing or new customers, thus renewing its whole business model. Business innovation springs by understanding the structure of the market, thus adapting or anticipating those changes.
Business modelinnovation is about increasing the success of an organization with existing products and technologies by crafting a compelling value proposition able to propel a new business model to scale up customers and create a lasting competitive advantage. And it all starts by mastering the key customers.
A consumer brand company like Procter & Gamble (P&G) defines “Constructive Disruption” as: a willingness to change, adapt, and create new trends and technologies that will shape our industry for the future. According to P&G, it moves around four pillars: lean innovation, brand building, supply chain, and digitalization & data analytics.
That is a process that requires a continuous feedback loop to develop a valuable product and build a viable business model. Continuous innovation is a mindset where products and services are designed and delivered to tune them around the customers’ problem and not the technical solution of its founders.
A design sprint is a proven five-day process where critical business questions are answered through speedy design and prototyping, focusing on the end-user. A design sprint starts with a weekly challenge that should finish with a prototype, test at the end, and therefore a lesson learned to be iterated.
Tim Brown, Executive Chair of IDEO, defined design thinking as “a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.” Therefore, desirability, feasibility, and viability are balanced to solve critical problems.
DevOps refers to a series of practices performed to perform automated software development processes. It is a conjugation of the term “development” and “operations” to emphasize how functions integrate across IT teams. DevOps strategies promote seamless building, testing, and deployment of products. It aims to bridge a gap between development and operations teams to streamline the development altogether.
Product discovery is a critical part of agile methodologies, as its aim is to ensure that products customers love are built. Product discovery involves learning through a raft of methods, including design thinking, lean start-up, and A/B testing to name a few. Dual Track Agile is an agile methodology containing two separate tracks: the “discovery” track and the “delivery” track.
eXtreme Programming was developed in the late 1990s by Ken Beck, Ron Jeffries, and Ward Cunningham. During this time, the trio was working on the Chrysler Comprehensive Compensation System (C3) to help manage the company payroll system. eXtreme Programming (XP) is a software development methodology. It is designed to improve software quality and the ability of software to adapt to changing customer needs.
Feature-Driven Development is a pragmatic software process that is client and architecture-centric. Feature-Driven Development (FDD) is an agile software development model that organizes workflow according to which features need to be developed next.
A Gemba Walk is a fundamental component of lean management. It describes the personal observation of work to learn more about it. Gemba is a Japanese word that loosely translates as “the real place”, or in business, “the place where value is created”. The Gemba Walk as a concept was created by Taiichi Ohno, the father of the Toyota Production System of lean manufacturing. Ohno wanted to encourage management executives to leave their offices and see where the real work happened. This, he hoped, would build relationships between employees with vastly different skillsets and build trust.
GIST Planning is a relatively easy and lightweight agile approach to product planning that favors autonomous working. GIST Planning is a lean and agile methodology that was created by former Google product manager Itamar Gilad. GIST Planning seeks to address this situation by creating lightweight plans that are responsive and adaptable to change. GIST Planning also improves team velocity, autonomy, and alignment by reducing the pervasive influence of management. It consists of four blocks: goals, ideas, step-projects, and tasks.
The ICE Scoring Model is an agile methodology that prioritizes features using data according to three components: impact, confidence, and ease of implementation. The ICE Scoring Model was initially created by author and growth expert Sean Ellis to help companies expand. Today, the model is broadly used to prioritize projects, features, initiatives, and rollouts. It is ideally suited for early-stage product development where there is a continuous flow of ideas and momentum must be maintained.
An innovation funnel is a tool or process ensuring only the best ideas are executed. In a metaphorical sense, the funnel screens innovative ideas for viability so that only the best products, processes, or business models are launched to the market. An innovation funnel provides a framework for the screening and testing of innovative ideas for viability.
According to how well defined is the problem and how well defined the domain, we have four main types of innovations: basic research (problem and domain or not well defined); breakthrough innovation (domain is not well defined, the problem is well defined); sustaining innovation (both problem and domain are well defined); and disruptive innovation (domain is well defined, the problem is not well defined).
The innovation loop is a methodology/framework derived from the Bell Labs, which produced innovation at scale throughout the 20th century. They learned how to leverage a hybrid innovation management model based on science, invention, engineering, and manufacturing at scale. By leveraging individual genius, creativity, and small/large groups.
The Agile methodology has been primarily thought of for software development (and other business disciplines have also adopted it). Lean thinking is a process improvement technique where teams prioritize the value streams to improve it continuously. Both methodologies look at the customer as the key driver to improvement and waste reduction. Both methodologies look at improvement as something continuous.
A startup company is a high-tech business that tries to build a scalable business model in tech-driven industries. A startup company usually follows a lean methodology, where continuous innovation, driven by built-in viral loops is the rule. Thus, driving growth and building network effects as a consequence of this strategy.
As pointed out by Eric Ries, a minimum viable product is that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort through a cycle of build, measure, learn; that is the foundation of the lean startup methodology.
Kanban is a lean manufacturing framework first developed by Toyota in the late 1940s. The Kanban framework is a means of visualizing work as it moves through identifying potential bottlenecks. It does that through a process called just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing to optimize engineering processes, speed up manufacturing products, and improve the go-to-market strategy.
Jidoka was first used in 1896 by Sakichi Toyoda, who invented a textile loom that would stop automatically when it encountered a defective thread. Jidoka is a Japanese term used in lean manufacturing. The term describes a scenario where machines cease operating without human intervention when a problem or defect is discovered.
The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle was first proposed by American physicist and engineer Walter A. Shewhart in the 1920s. The PDCA cycle is a continuous process and product improvement method and an essential component of the lean manufacturing philosophy.
RAD was first introduced by author and consultant James Martin in 1991. Martin recognized and then took advantage of the endless malleability of software in designing development models. Rapid Application Development (RAD) is a methodology focusing on delivering rapidly through continuous feedback and frequent iterations.
Retrospective analyses are held after a project to determine what worked well and what did not. They are also conducted at the end of an iteration in Agile project management. Agile practitioners call these meetings retrospectives or retros. They are an effective way to check the pulse of a project team, reflect on the work performed to date, and reach a consensus on how to tackle the next sprint cycle. These are the five stages of a retrospective analysis for effective Agile project management: set the stage, gather the data, generate insights, decide on the next steps, and close the retrospective.
Scaled Agile Lean Development (ScALeD) helps businesses discover a balanced approach to agile transition and scaling questions. The ScALed approach helps businesses successfully respond to change. Inspired by a combination of lean and agile values, ScALed is practitioner-based and can be completed through various agile frameworks and practices.
The SMED (single minute exchange of die) method is a lean production framework to reduce waste and increase production efficiency. The SMED method is a framework for reducing the time associated with completing an equipment changeover.
The Spotify Model is an autonomous approach to scaling agile, focusing on culture communication, accountability, and quality. The Spotify model was first recognized in 2012 after Henrik Kniberg, and Anders Ivarsson released a white paper detailing how streaming company Spotify approached agility. Therefore, the Spotify model represents an evolution of agile.
As the name suggests, TDD is a test-driven technique for delivering high-quality software rapidly and sustainably. It is an iterative approach based on the idea that a failing test should be written before any code for a feature or function is written. Test-Driven Development (TDD) is an approach to software development that relies on very short development cycles.
Timeboxing is a simple yet powerful time-management technique for improving productivity. Timeboxing describes the process of proactively scheduling a block of time to spend on a task in the future. It was first described by author James Martin in a book about agile software development.
Scrum is a methodology co-created by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland for effective team collaboration on complex products. Scrum was primarily thought for software development projects to deliver new software capability every 2-4 weeks. It is a sub-group of agile also used in project management to improve startups’ productivity.
Scrumban is a project management framework that is a hybrid of two popular agile methodologies: Scrum and Kanban. Scrumban is a popular approach to helping businesses focus on the right strategic tasks while simultaneously strengthening their processes.
Scrum anti-patterns describe any attractive, easy-to-implement solution that ultimately makes a problem worse. Therefore, these are the practice not to follow to prevent issues from emerging. Some classic examples of scrum anti-patterns comprise absent product owners, pre-assigned tickets (making individuals work in isolation), and discounting retrospectives (where review meetings are not useful to really make improvements).
Scrum at Scale (Scrum@Scale) is a framework that Scrum teams use to address complex problems and deliver high-value products. Scrum at Scale was created through a joint venture between the Scrum Alliance and Scrum Inc. The joint venture was overseen by Jeff Sutherland, a co-creator of Scrum and one of the principal authors of the Agile Manifesto.
Six Sigma is a data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating errors or defects in a product, service, or process. Six Sigma was developed by Motorola as a management approach based on quality fundamentals in the early 1980s. A decade later, it was popularized by General Electric who estimated that the methodology saved them $12 billion in the first five years of operation.
Stretch objectives describe any task an agile team plans to complete without expressly committing to do so. Teams incorporate stretch objectives during a Sprint or Program Increment (PI) as part of Scaled Agile. They are used when the agile team is unsure of its capacity to attain an objective. Therefore, stretch objectives are instead outcomes that, while extremely desirable, are not the difference between the success or failure of each sprint.
The Toyota Production System (TPS) is an early form of lean manufacturing created by auto-manufacturer Toyota. Created by the Toyota Motor Corporation in the 1940s and 50s, the Toyota Production System seeks to manufacture vehicles ordered by customers most quickly and efficiently possible.
The Total Quality Management (TQM) framework is a technique based on the premise that employees continuously work on their ability to provide value to customers. Importantly, the word “total” means that all employees are involved in the process – regardless of whether they work in development, production, or fulfillment.
The waterfall model was first described by Herbert D. Benington in 1956 during a presentation about the software used in radar imaging during the Cold War. Since there were no knowledge-based, creative software development strategies at the time, the waterfall method became standard practice. The waterfall model is a linear and sequential project management framework.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
