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How the world is successfully
applying the most popular Agile
approach to projects
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
a noteworthy trend as
organizations seek to find for
themselves what works for their
specific domains and needs.
How Often and Why They
Use Scrum
In terms of current Agile
approaches, Scrum leads the
way: 40% of those sampled
claimed to be adherents. It
was followed by Kanban (15%)
and Lean (11%). 19% of the
participants used Scrum for
up to a quarter of their projects
that fall outside of IT, the
majority (38%) of which are in
R&D, operations or production.
60% of the survey participants
used Scrum regularly. 39% used
Scrum more broadly throughout
their business as one of their
project management practices,
while 16% used it exclusively
for software development
projects. 46% of the participants
are deploying and managing
Scrum projects within a Project
Management Office (PMO), and
24% feel that managing and
deploying Scrum projects this
way is effective and successful.
In terms of business priorities
for Scrum projects, 41% feel
that fulfilling customer needs is
highest, while meeting budget,
time and scope constraints as
well as engaging in projects
that drive innovation and market
share followed with 36%. In
terms of providing customer
satisfaction while using Scrum,
27% feel having active senior
management support is vital,
SURVEY RESULTS
USA
India
35%
12%
Canada
Australia
United
Kingdom
4%
4%
4%
Germany
3%
South Korea
Mexico
Belgium
Brazil
Malaysia
New Zealand
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
Other
26%
Project Manager
Project managers
led the way at
Project
managers
31%, followed
by
led
the
way
with
ScrumMasters at 18%.
31%, followed by
ScrumMasters at 18%.
31%
ScrumMaster
18%
Other
15%
Program Manager
14%
Product Owner
6%
Executive Management
(CXO)
5%
Business Analyst
4%
IT Manager
3%
2%
Software Developer
2%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
28%
Project Management
Professional (PMP: PMI)
28%
I have no certification
13%
Other
10%
Certified Scrum
Product Owner (CSPO:
Scrum Alliance)
6%
Professional Engineer
5%
3%
3%
Professional Scrum
Master (PSM: Scrum.org)
2%
1%
Program Management
Professional (PgMP: PMI)
1%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
15%
14
510
18%
47%
19%
81% of the
participants have
worked on at
least one or more
Agile projects.
None
Over 10
Note: Individual results were rounded up and down; actual data totals 100%.
5. Industry
Not surprisingly, IT leads the way at 41%, but other industries noted
were law enforcement, agriculture, oil & gas, equipment rental and
arts & entertainment. This indicates a growing interest in Agile/Scrum
outside of the traditional IT industry, no doubt due to its ability to
deliver high-quality solutions quickly.
Information Technology
This indicates a
growing interest in
Agile/Scrum outside
of the traditional
IT industry.
41%
Finance
12%
Other
8%
Government
6%
Healthcare
6%
Telecommunications
5%
Construction
4%
Education
4%
Insurance
4%
Automotive
2%
Manufacturing
2%
2%
Retail
2%
Aerospace
1%
Public Utilities
1%
Transportation
1%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Note: Individual results were rounded up and down; actual data totals 100%.
10
6%
99 or fewer
6%
21%
100499
20%
5,0009,999
12%
500999
16%
20,000+
19%
1,0004,999
6%
9%
21%
Over $1B
Under $1M
12%
I dont know
20%
14%
$50 - $500M
$1 - $10M
$10 - $50M
17%
Note: Individual results were rounded up and down; actual data totals 100%.
11
8. Organizational certifications
(select all that apply)?
Nearly half of our participants do not have organizational certifications.
ISO 9001, which focuses on quality and process, is the most common
certification (at 28%). Certifications that focus on maturity assessment are
all in the single digits. This may be significant in that one of the common
barriers to the successful organizational adoption of Scrum is the lack of
maturity with regard to processes, standards and governance within an
organization. Organizations with a higher maturity assessment may be
better equipped to adopt a new practice such as Scrum.
N/A
48%
ISO 9001
28%
8%
6%
4%
Other
4%
OPM3
2%
1%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Note: Individual results were rounded up and down; actual data totals 100%.
12
Scrum
40%
Kanban
15%
N/A
12%
Lean
11%
7%
Feature Driven
Development
4%
Unified Process
(e.g., RUP, AUP, OUP)
4%
Other
2%
Team Software
Process (TSP)
2%
Crystal (including
Crystal Clear)
1%
DSDM
1%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
13
13%
Frequently
Usually
27%
15%
Sometimes
Almost half of
survey participants
are using Scrum
frequently or always.
25%
20%
Rarely
Always
14
39%
16%
13%
11%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Note: Individual results were rounded up and down; actual data totals 100%.
15
Scrum projects
are deployed and
managed through
the PMO
46%
54%
Scrum projects
are deployed and
managed outside
the PMO
15%
Somewhat effective
and successful
Ineffective and
unsuccessful
32%
24%
I dont know
Effective and
successful
29%
16
27%
22%
19%
17%
15%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
17
Fulfilling customer
needs
Other
9%
Unknown
11%
18%
Completing projects
that will drive
innovation and
market share
41%
18%
13%
20%
14%
The Scrum team is
empowered to do
its work
19%
15%
The facilitating
factor for the
success of Scrum
boils down to
the team.
Senior management
actively endorses and
supports Scrum
19%
18
Our organization
requires certification
16%
32%
Unknown
Our organization
recommends
certification
6%
7%
Agree
37%
Disagree
13%
17%
Unknown
No difference
Strongly agree
20%
19
17%
ScrumMasters
are certified
15%
An in-house Scrum
Coach/Trainer is available
11%
No training or coaching
support is provided
11%
10%
10%
A Scrum Coach/Trainer
can be consulted
9%
N/A
8%
Product Owners
are certified
6%
Scrum Teams
are certified
3%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
20
75%+
5075%
5%
8%
N/A
2550%
19%
64%
025%
36% of our
participants are
in organizations
that are using
Scrum in some
capacity on their
non-IT projects.
6%
4%
6%
N/A
38%
Financial or
accounting
8%
19%
Operations or
production
19%
21
24%
There is a dedicated
ScrumMaster role
There is a project
manager in addition
to the ScrumMaster
41%
35%
A traditional project
manager will act in the
role of ScrumMaster
22
15%
22%
There is a dedicated
Product Owner who
has the authority to set
business priorities for
the project and works
directly with the customer
There is no Product
Owner role
24%
Note: Individual results were rounded up and down; actual data totals 100%.
23
8%
9%
11%
The ScrumMaster or
project manager
generally drives the
work estimates and
team communication
The Scrum Team is
cross functional
(generalist who can
work on most any task)
20%
12%
16%
7%
10%
46
3 or less
36%
12%
35%
1014
79
24
6+ weeks
6%
Unknown
7%
2 weeks
38%
Variable durations
8%
46 weeks
8%
1 week
29%
34 weeks
7 or more
3 or less
36%
19%
46
31%
25
Prior to a Sprint
At the beginning
of the project
24%
60%
No Sprint planning
meetings are done
8%
10%
Daily
59%
23%
Not done
26
At the end of
the project
25%
No retrospectives
are held
62%
13%
When needed
Weekly
28%
17%
22%
20%
Daily
Multiple times
throughout the day
27
5%
13%
Used extensively and
in every Scrum project
38%
19%
N/A
24%
15%
Continuous integration/build
13%
13%
13%
11%
9%
Test-driven development
8%
N/A
7%
6%
Pair programming
4%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
28
49% of our
participants
use Scrum and
Waterfall side
by side and/or
together.
31%
24%
13%
9%
After a thorough
evaluation of a projects
type, requirements and
parameters, a decision is
made to use either Scrum
or Waterfall
8%
8%
6%
We attempted an
integration of Scrum
and Waterfall and it
was not successful
2%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
Note: Individual results were rounded up and down; actual data totals 100%.
29
13%
Delivering business
value to the customer
N/A
32%
13%
19%
Schedule deadlines
Delivering customer
value is considered
the highest priority
in the Agile world.
Cost
Quality
24%
Note: Individual results were rounded up and down; actual data totals 100%.
30
It was difficult to
transition from a
Waterfall-based
method to one driven
by Scrum practices
Other
7%
17%
23%
18%
N/A
10%
25%
Ensuring that
teams have access
to training and
coaching support
can ensure Scrum
is successfully
deployed and
implemented.
Product Owners
and Teams were just
not willing and/or
enthusiastic about
following Scrum
best practices (daily
stand-up meetings,
prioritizing backlog
items, ensuring
working deliverables
at the end of each
iteration, etc.)
31
17%
75%+
2550%
34%
20%
025%
29%
5075%
Very likely
50%
Somewhat likely
22%
Neutral
14%
We never used it
and dont plan to
9%
Not likely
4%
1%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
32
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
33
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
34
49% of respondents
either used Scrum
in addition to an
existing Waterfall
method or used it
for some projects
while using Waterfall
for the rest.
35
36
37
38
Scrum can be
viewed as a
bundle of roles
and practices
that is best
deployed as a
whole, rather
than piecemeal.
39
40
41
42
43
44
organizations executives
when it comes to the delivery
of Scrum-based projects.
In his book The Leaders Guide to
Radical Management: Reinventing
the Workplace for the 21st Century,
management guru Steve Denning
writes that the notion of delighting
the customer is the central focus
for Agile wherever it is applied. This
background of both technology
and business has given rise to a
new project management format:
one that is more strategically
focused on satisfying the customer.
45
FINAL THOUGHTS
46
REFERENCES
1. Denning, Steve, Scrum Is a Major Management Discovery, Forbes,
April 29, 2011. http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/04/29/
scrum-is-a-major-management-discovery/
2. Denning, Steve, The Leaders Guide to Radical Management:
Reinventing the Workplace for the 21st Century, Jossey-Bass, 2010.
3. Hitchcock, John, Agile Reinvents Retail, SandHill.com, September 24,
2012. http://sandhill.com/article/agile-reinvents-retail/
4. Phelps, Andrew, Agile, Social, Cheap: The New Way NPR Is Trying to
Make Radio, Nieman Journalism Lab, April 27, 2012. http://www.
niemanlab.org/2012/04/agile-social-cheap-the-new-way-npr-is-tryingto-make-radio/
5. PricewaterhouseCoopers, Insights and Trends: Current Portfolio,
Programme, and Project Management Practices, The Third Global Survey
on the Current State of Project Management, PWC, 2012.
6. Takeuchi, Hirotaka and Nonaka, Ikujiro, The New New Product
Development Game, Harvard Business Review, January-February 1986.
7. West, David, Water-Scrum-Fall Is the Reality of Agile for Most
Organizations Today, Forrester Research, July 26, 2011.
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