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08.29.2007

Scrum deals and 'What is Scrum?'
I've been practicing Scrum to varying degrees over the past five years, and wanted to bring a counterpoint to Tom Buscaglia's recent article regarding the structuring of development deals when Scrum is involved.

To get the ball rolling, "Scrum" is not an acronym. It is not spelled in all-caps.

Scrum is an agile process, but not all agile processes are called "Scrum." Indeed, iterative development is nothing new, and the listed companies are not historically "Scrum" shops; while they are starting to use it to some degree these days, their success is due to their iterative process before their adoption of Scrum.

Scrum can function just fine within the confines of a "traditional" publishing agreement with milestones etc. Indeed, using an iterative development process under such an agreement can highlight trouble areas long before they become trouble, so the developer can adjust their focus or perhaps even communicate the issues with the publisher. If the game is coming along better than expected (that's the promise of Scrum, right?), then it seems like it'd be an easy sell to adjust the milestone document.

It is feasible to bring in an "external" person to be your Scrum Master, but this isn't advisable for a number of reasons. Regardless, it is in no way "necessary to get training" to be a Scrum Master, unless you want to put "Certified Scrum Master" on your own resume.

There are some people in positions at publishers who insist that teams use Scrum. It's been a long road, but these agile processes are gaining traction throughout the industry. I would advise that any team with any interest pick up a book or two and try it out. Contrary to what the article states, it costs nearly nothing to try it out (especially with a small group), and it yields benefits quickly if the management is amenable to those benefits.

The real danger with Scrum is that so many people write articles about it without really understanding what it's all about. It's really simple: Scrum is about making product development easier, more consistent, and more reliable. It's hard to imagine a publisher saying, "no, actually, we'd rather you knowingly make it less likely that you'll ship this game on time and on budget, and here, we'll help you!"

-Tom Plunket