Original Scrum Model for Software Development
The Original Scrum Teams
In the 1980s, Nonaka and Takeuchi analyzed how teams worked at technology companies that achieved higher levels of efficiency and value in their products: Fuji-Xerox, Canon, Honda, NEC, Epson, Brother, 3M, Xerox, and Hewlett-Packard. This analysis was published in the article The New New Product Development Game (Harvard Business Review, January 1986). The teams they observed shared characteristics that departed from the classic industrial model:
- Small, self-managing teams with a high degree of autonomy.
- Incremental development in short, overlapping iterations.
- Continuous learning within the team and with the customer.
- Direct and frequent communication as a substitute for handoff documentation.
Nonaka and Takeuchi used the metaphor of the rugby scrum to describe this style of work: the team moves forward together, continuously adjusting to the situation on the field of play.
Schwaber and Sutherland's adoption
Ten years later, Ken Schwaber presented at OOPSLA (1995) a description of the adoption of this model in software development projects. Together with Jeff Sutherland, he formalized the framework under the name Scrum, incorporating the sprint cadence, the roles, and the artifacts we know today.
Common mistake
Believing that Scrum was invented by Schwaber and Sutherland. Schwaber and Sutherland formalized and implemented Scrum in the context of software development, but the model they based it on was described by Nonaka and Takeuchi from their observation of real teams in product companies. Scrum emerged from observing how the most effective teams work, not from a theoretical model designed from scratch.
References
- Nonaka, Ikujiro; Takeuchi, Hirotaka. (1986). "The New New Product Development Game". Harvard Business Review, January 1986.
- Schwaber, Ken. (1995). "SCRUM Development Process". OOPSLA'95 Workshop on Business Object Design and Implementation.
See also
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