[Scrum] Scrum for non-software projects

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Michael@Greenice

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May 3, 2010, 6:45:11 AM5/3/10
to Scrum Alliance - transforming the world of work.
I am keen to get in touch with people using the Scrum framework to
develop non-software projects. As a product development professional
with over 20 years experience I see a huge opportunity for Scrum to
break out from the software development community into development of
physical products in sectors such as engineering, manufacturing,
personal care, consumer goods etc. Lots of people say Scrum can be
applied to non-software projects but I can't find too many case
studies where this is happening.

Michael du Plessis
Sydney, Australia

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Mishkin Berteig

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May 3, 2010, 7:11:23 PM5/3/10
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Hi Michael,

I'm working with a community of people and some specific organizations
who are trying to apply agile methods outside of software. One area
where it is being applied, for example, is in a large oil industry
company that is using agile to plan and execute mining projects. In
doing this, we have found that Scrum is not quite applicable. As you
know, Scrum is ideal for new product development. This excellence
means that many people are trying to replicate the ideas of Scrum in
other areas, but often there are changes that are made. A really
simple example of this is a person who uses Scrum to manage their
personal to-do list. In this case, it is impossible to have a full-
time ScrumMaster and a full-time Product Owner who are not the same
person. This is a fundamental rule of Scrum and so breaking the rule
means that you are not doing Scrum.

OpenAgile is an attempt to take the principles of Scrum and other
agile methods, but generalize them slightly so that they are more
broadly applicable. It is also an open source community and we
welcome people to share experiences and help shape the direction of
OpenAgile.

Please take a look at OpenAgile (http://www.openagile.com and
http://wiki.openagile.org). Also see http://bit.ly/doZixj for a
comparison of OpenAgile and Scrum.

Thanks,
Mishkin.

Chris

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May 3, 2010, 8:58:55 PM5/3/10
to Scrum Alliance - transforming the world of work.
This has been discussed on the Scrum Alliance discussion group in
LinkedIn (not sure if you have access) -
http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&gid=49087&discussionID=14774066&sik=1272933801724&trk=ug_qa_q&goback=.ana_49087_1272933801724_3_1


Scrum after all is a framework for the management of any projects, not
just software projects.

I attended the Agile Australia Conference last year and sat in a
session about Lonely Planet's use of Scrum - Lonely Planet adopted
Scrum in their Product (Travel Guides) development. Prior to Scrum,
the development of a book was very sequential and required many hand-
offs and took a long a time to get a book out from conception to
publication.

Now they involve all players needed to put a book together (writers,
graphic artists, desktop publishing, marketing, editors etc) and
incrementally develop the book chapter by chapter following the Scrum
Framework.

I think this as a good example when speaking to folks in my company
about using Scrum beyond just software development.

Chris

Gerry Kirk

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May 3, 2010, 9:39:12 PM5/3/10
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Chris, do you have more details about how Lonely Planet uses Scrum? I'm planning to work with a few others on a course curriculum about Scrum using Scrum. :)

Daniel Teng

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May 4, 2010, 10:13:31 PM5/4/10
to Scrum Alliance - transforming the world of work.
Hi Michael

Actually, we shared our experience in applying agile into non-software
project at Scrum Gathering Shanghai http://www.slideshare.net/tengzy/scrum-beyond-software

In addition to this, there are still a couple available on internet
One session in Agile 2009, "Agile for Families"
http://pluralsight-free.s3.amazonaws.com/david-starr/files/AgileForFamilies.pdf
Scrum Is Not Just for Software http://www.scrumalliance.org/resources/548
Scrum in Church http://jeffsutherland.com/SutherlandScruminChurchAgile2009.pdf

Daniel

Bachan Anand

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May 5, 2010, 10:32:35 AM5/5/10
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Hi Mchael,
Here is a collection of areas where Scrum and Agile has been used in
Non IT setting includes using Scrum for Training , for house projects
, running wedding etc .

Here is my perspective of how Agile and Scrum would apply in any
projects / goals you want to achieve, this is more from a values and
principles perspective and less from a practices , however I believe
some of the practices can be leveraged.- http://shar.es/mGiDq


Collection of Articles on Scrum outside of Agile projects -
http://agile.conscires.com/category/scrum-in-life/

Hope you find this information useful.

--Bachan
2010/5/4 Daniel Teng <tengz...@gmail.com>:
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--Bachan Anand
+949 - 892 5482
Conscires - knowledge shared with others

Chris

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May 5, 2010, 5:57:01 PM5/5/10
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Hi Gerry,

Sorry I don't have any details on how they used it.


Here is the link to the slide deck -
http://www.slatteryit.com.au/Agile2009/Presentations/DAY1/Nigel-Dalton.pdf
The speaker was Nigel Dalton. Slide Number 12, which doesn't show
anything, is where using Scrum for Book development was discussed by
Nigel.

Now that you know a name, maybe you can try to track Nigel down at
Lonely Planet (assuming he is still there).

good luck.
Chris



On May 4, 11:39 am, Gerry Kirk <gerry.w...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Chris, do you have more details about how Lonely Planet uses Scrum? I'm
> planning to work with a few others on a course curriculum about Scrum using
> Scrum. :)
>
>
>
> On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 8:58 PM, Chris <c.c...@hp.com> wrote:
> > This has been discussed on the Scrum Alliance discussion group in
> > LinkedIn (not sure if you have access) -
>
> >http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&gid=4908...
> > scrumallianc...@googlegroups.com<scrumalliance%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>
> > .
> > > For more options, visit this group athttp://
> > groups.google.com/group/scrumalliance?hl=en.
>
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> > "Scrum Alliance - transforming the world of work." group.
> > To post to this group, send email to scruma...@googlegroups.com.
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> > scrumallianc...@googlegroups.com<scrumalliance%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>
> > .

Sameh Zeid

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May 8, 2010, 6:42:06 PM5/8/10
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Hi All,

Here is link from Orlando, Scrum gathering 2010 on using Scrum for process improvement project.

The discovery nature of process improvement coupled of high degree of uncertainty of what the solution will requires an evolving project management framework.

Thx,

Sameh
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Sameh Zeid
Email: sameh...@gmail.com, Phone: (226)444-1794
Twitter: @sameh_zeid
http://www.linkedin.com/in/samehzeid
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