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HR
West
®
I
n 2001, a book called
Agile Software
Development with Scrum
turned the
software development industry on its head.
The book was based on
The Manifesto
for Agile Software Development
, a radically new
methodology developed by 17 software industry
experts and purported to produce better and
faster results than the traditional “waterfall”
development model.
Central to this new methodology was the idea that
software should be developed by self-organized,
cross-functional teams. “Scrum,” a metaphor
borrowed from rugby, illustrates an optimal level of
collaboration between team members. In a 1986
article for
Harvard Business Review
, the term
was used to describe “a flexible, holistic product
development strategy where a development team
works as a unit to reach a common goal.”
At a 1995 ACM (Association for Computing
Machinery) conference, two software industry
experts, Dr. Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber,
presented a paper applying scrum methodology
to software development, which would eventually
evolve into
The Scrum Guide.
The Scrum Guide
makes the following case for
self-organized, cross functional teams:
Self-organizing teams choose how best to
accomplish their work, rather than being
directed by others outside the team. Cross-
functional teams have all competencies needed
to accomplish the work without depending on
others not part of the team. The team model
in Scrum is designed to optimize flexibility,
creativity, and productivity.
The authors of
The Manifesto for Agile Software
Development
also address the issue of
quality, asserting that “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.”
While unconventional at the time of its
introduction, the agile approach to software
development has since become more rule than
exception. In addition to self-organization, agile
methodology emphasizes embracing change,
quickly identifying and eliminating obstacles,
diffused authority and efficient communication.
Agile solves several problems. The cross-
functionality of an agile team reduces the
team’s dependence on an individual member,
helps prevent a single member from becoming
overburdened, and results in shared knowledge—
all team members understand how the entire
application works. Self-organization creates an
enhanced sense of ownership, boosts motivation
and enables people, not structure, to determine
how best to get the job done. By minimizing the
impacts of overly complex processes, rigid job
roles and hierarchies, agile methodology enables
development teams to release working software
very quickly and to respond in real time to
user feedback.
Agile has proven so successful in software
development that companies outside the
software sector are beginning to experiment with
the methodology, and they’re discovering that
embracing the principles of self-organization and
cross-functional collaboration results in more than
just improvement in employee productivity and
the quality of a team’s output; it also results in
improved overall business agility.
Local Story
THE AGILE WORKFORCE:
FAST, FLEXIBLE & INNOVATIVE
By David Somers
