How to Explain Scrum to Management

Alex Brown

July 15, 2014

When software companies build a product for a particular customer segment, they often start by putting themselves in their customers’ shoes. What pain points need to be addressed? Which features would be most valuable? And, ultimately, how will the product make those customers’ lives easier?
When software company teams want to encourage their management teams to implement Scrum, Alex Brown, COO of Scrum Inc., says those teams should approach that conversation the same way — by putting themselves in their leaders’ shoes and focusing in on the real value of Scrum to the company’s bottom line.
In the video below, Brown shares two specific value propositions that can help your management team better understand and easily see the value of Scrum.

How to Explain Scrum to Management: Key Takeaways

1) Scrum is a growth accelerator

Scrum has a proven track record of helping software companies build better products faster, better address customer needs, and create a stronger corporate culture — three factors that almost always lead to stronger company growth.

2) Scrum consistently leads to better outcomes

According to research by Gartner, products developed through Scrum have three times the success rate of traditional waterfall or non-agile products. More importantly, Scrum products are rarely abject failures.

Partner

<strong>Alex Brown</strong> is a partner at <a href="http://reconstrategy.com/">Recon Strategy</a>. Prior to this role, he was the Chief Operating Officer of Scrum Inc., a firm specializing in agile strategy and rapid new product innovation. Before that Alex spent 6 years at BCG, where he was a leader in the healthcare and consumer strategy practice areas. His engagements included re-envisioning high performance network design for a major national PBM; and designing a "nudge unit" leveraging consumer psychology to improve patient outcomes for a leading retail pharmacy. Prior to BCG, Alex led demand forecasting of complex transportation networks for major public investments. Alex graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. and Masters in Engineering, and earned an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.