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Scrum of Scrums

How to scale scrum

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“Growth” is not the same as “scaling”

- Dominic Price in ‘ Unlearning these five fallacies will make you more innovative ’

Adding more people to the same problem only makes solving that problem harder. But if you find a way to become more effective as you grow, that, my friends, is scaling.

For decades, the Scrum Guide established a baseline for helping teams and companies address these needs. However, scaling scrum beyond individual teams requires a different approach. To accomplish this, the Scrum of Scrums technique – sometimes referred to as SoS – was created.

The history of Scrum of Scrums

The Scrum of Scrums methodology was first implemented in 1996 by Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber, two pioneers of the Scrum framework . Both Sutherland and Schwaber needed a way to coordinate eight business units with multiple product lines per business unit and synchronize individual teams with each other. So they tried a new way to scale scrum teams to accomplish this goal. The experience inspired Sutherland to publish an article in 2001 titled “Agile Can Scale: Inventing and Reinventing SCRUM in Five Companies,“ which mentioned Scrum of Scrums for the first time publicly.

Since then, Scrum of Scrums has increased in popularity as a practice closely associated with scaling agile. Embedded in the  Scrum@Scale Guide  and referenced in other scaled agile frameworks, it provides a structure for helping teams scale.

If you're struggling with scrum at the individual team level, you can't scale these practices across a team of teams. Pull the Andon Cord, and address your team's challenges before beginning to scale.

What is Scrum of Scrums?

Scrum of Scrums is a scaled agile technique that offers a way to connect multiple teams who need to work together to deliver complex solutions.

It helps teams develop and deliver complex products through transparency, inspection, and adaptation, at scale. It’s particularly successful when all high-performing scrum team members work towards a common goal, have trust, respect, and are completely aligned.

To support this, team sizing is critical. Research from Hackman and Vidmar suggests 4.6 people is the “perfect team size”, theoretically. Teams that are too small or large might struggle with the delivery of complex products.

Remember Brooks' Law from the book “The Mythical Man-Month": Adding manpower to a late software project often makes it later.

The larger a team size, the greater lines of communication between team members, making it harder to create trust and a common purpose.

Therefore, splitting a very large team into two or three smaller ones can help to develop personal relationships and maintain desired outcomes.

Be careful when splitting teams! It’s essential to balance skills across the teams, redefine established team interfaces, and carefully break down work duties. Unexpected dependencies and potential new bottlenecks might occur and slow down delivery. A strong focus on retrospectives and prioritization of improvement stories will help overcome these challenges.

When multiple teams are created to deliver a common objective, coordination is needed. This spawned the need for Scrum of Scrums.

The purpose of Scrum of Scrums

A Scrum of Scrums is a virtual team consisting of delegates with embedded links to the originating delivery teams. Compared to typical organizational hierarchies or project-based teams, these interlinking team structures reduce communication paths. The aim is to coordinate smaller, independent teams. Teams who apply Scrum of Scrums not only coordinate delivery, but ensure a fully integrated product at the end of every sprint. Therefore, Scrum of Scrums acts as a release team that delivers value to customers. 

Organizations typically use this approach as a first step to scale agile and organize delivery of larger and complex products.

Scrum of Scrums - the scaled structure

The newly formed Scrum of Scrums team applies nearly the same practices, participates in the same events, and has the same roles as a Scrum team . To deliver an integrated, potentially shippable product at the end of every sprint, additional roles might be required, like architects or quality assurance leaders.

For instance, there is the Chief Product Owner role. The chief product owner is responsible for overseeing the product owner team and helping to guide the overarching product vision.

This role doesn't need to be performed by a dedicated person and the role should have the same responsibilities as a product owner, just at scale.

Another new role is the Scrum of Scrum Master , who should focus on progress and impediment backlogs visible to other teams, facilitating prioritization or removal of impediments and continuously improving the effectiveness of the Scrum of Scrums. 

These new roles use the 15 minutes scaled daily scrum as a key meet-up align, improve and tackle impediments. A representative of each team or the product owner should discuss team impediments, risks to achieving the sprint goal or dependencies on other teams followed by discovered improvements that can be leveraged by other teams. 

Conclusion and considerations

Scrum of Scrums is widely used and a key way to scale scrum. An important prerequisite for scaling is to get the team composition right and provide the team enough time and space to grow through the phases of Tuckman's group development model: forming, storming, norming, and performing.

When teams are ready, here are some considerations that may be useful:

• Keep the scaled daily scrum meeting to 15 minutes, mirroring your team daily scrum
• Conduct the scaled daily scrum for 15 minutes after the last team daily scrum
• Establish a working agreement for the Scrum of Scrums
• Agree on the collective and individual definition of completed, and of course, share it!
• Establish a routine or agenda to keep the scaled daily scrum focused
• Start tracking the number of days you're blocked by impediments 
• Track how many scaled daily scrums were started and finished on time
• Focus on delivering stories that have dependencies first to reduce risk and enable other teams
• Track and visualize the days until the demo meeting

Truth be told, there’s no right way to scale agile. But many organizations have had great success evolving their processes, teams, and cultures using frameworks for scaling agile. Learn more about the top scaled agile frameworks used today and more in the Agile at Scale section of the Agile Coach.

Chris is a proud Atlassian and an advocate for new ways of working to unleash the potential of every team in your organization. He and his team help clients to reach better outcomes, through a transformational focus on people, practices and products. He drives engagements through an outcome centric and time-bound approach to maximize customer value at each step. Chris is focused on Agile@Scale for large enterprises across industries like technology, financial services, healthcare and retail.

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Examples of Scrum Case Studies

[Updated February 2024]

Successful Scrum Implementations across various Industries

In my Scrum training courses , students often ask for examples of Scrum case studies. This happens consistently in classes for Product Owners, Scrum Masters, and our Advanced courses . 

In general, I believe case studies are irrelevant to learning Scrum. To truly grasp Scrum, it is best to experience it firsthand. By trying it yourself, you can then evaluate (inspect and adapt) and make necessary adjustments. This is more effective than solely relying on reading about how others have implemented it.

However, I recognize the value of seeing successful adoption when learning new skills and toolkits. Today, I decided to succumb to this request and offer up these seventeen examples for your reading pleasure.

• Dutch Railways : this case study describes how Dutch Railways used a distributed team from the Netherlands and India to implement Scrum . It was successful after a previous project failed to deliver in three years. The case study discusses architecture, requirements, documentation, and other topics.
• Agile Project Management at Intel – A Scrum Odyssey:   is a detailed case study that describes how Intel used distributed Scrum within a traditional management culture to reduce cycle time by 66% and eliminate schedule slips within a year .
• Agile Case Study – H&R Block:  summarizes how a traditional, time-sensitive consumer tax preparation service transformed its business using Scrum. The real value in this case study are the links to the high-quality, short video testimonials from the participants explaining the benefits of Scrum .
• How to Implement Scrum in an Interrupted Environment:  If this sounds like your organization, then you have to read how Intronis, a leading provider of online backup services, doubled the productivity of its call center in six months. Scrum Inc. has shared its five steps to help this organization tame the interruption beast.
• Scrum Boosts Effectiveness at the BBC :  in this thirty-eight-minute video presentation, the Head of Development of the BBC's New Media Division discusses their multi-year journey to use Scrum effectively.
• Owning the Sky with Agile: this case study describes the results of Jeff Sutherland's effort to help Saab Defense adopt Agile practices to develop an advanced fighter jet. While the title says "Agile, "this is a case study of Scrum's effectiveness in building mission-critical software.
• Effects of Scrum Nine Months Later :  case study author Richard Bank identifies the lasting benefits of Scrum after a disastrous, piecemeal introduction of Scrum . Be sure to read his candid assessment of how he failed.
• Effective Practices and Federal Challenges in Applying Agile Methods :  the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviews the challenges and success factors for Agile projects within the federal government based on their investigation of four successful programs.
• Adobe Premiere Pro Scrum Adoption : in this 2012 study, Adobe explains how they used Scrum to successfully coordinate the actions of a distributed Scrum Team within an environment composed of non-Scrum Teams .
• Mayden's Transformation from Waterfall to Scrum:  the Scrum Alliance offers this short case study of how a young UK provider of cloud-based software used Scrum to break away from old habits to improve code quality and customer service.
• Rolling Out Agile in a Large Enterprise : This 2006 case study discusses how Yahoo! used Scrum to support over 100 software teams and provides interesting metrics on how to evaluate and monitor Scrum Teams in a large enterprise.
• Borland's Agile Journey – A Case Study in Enterprise Transformation :  in this 2009 case study, the Senior Vice President of R&D at Borland talks about the benefits they received and the key lessons learned in their three-year journey to apply Scrum to their business.
• Business Analysts and Scrum Projects :  This case study briefly describes how a business analyst's role changes when embedded full-time on a cross-functional Scrum Team.
• My Experience as QA in Scrum : This is a detailed experience report of the day-to-day activities of a tester on a Scrum Team.
• Moving Back to Scrum and Scaling to Scrum of Scrum in Less Than a Year :  this fifteen-minute video presentation explains how one Brazilian company struggled with Scrum, failed, and eventually succeeded .
• Introducing Scrum in Companies in Norway:  Nordic researchers provide this case study of the factors that lead to successful Scrum adoption and which factors lead to failure and frustration. 
• A CIO's Playbook for Adopting the Scrum Method of Achieving Software Agility :  this 28-page whitepaper from 2005 describes step-by-step how Ken Schwaber envisioned a Scrum business transformation might unfold .

Qualifying for the List:

• Do "out-of-the-box" Scrum with very few modifications.
• Write a document or blog entry describing their experience (a PowerPoint presentation without narration does not qualify).
• Case Study is freely available on the internet.

Additional Resources for Scrum Learning

Continuous learning and adaption are persistent themes in successful Scrum Implementations.  To set yourself and your teams up for success, attend an upcoming public or private CSPO or CSM course.  

Already a Certified Product Owner or Certified Scrum Master?  Check out our online, on-demand advanced training programs.   The world’s first online, on-demand Advanced Scrum Certification offers you the unique ability to earn an A-CSM, A-CSPO, CSP-PO, or CSP-SM at a pace that works for you.

Editors Note: This blog was initially published in 2012 and has been revised repeatedly, republished in 2022, and most recently updated in February 2024. Do you have a case study you'd like to add?    Contact us .

Carlton Nettleton

Carlton Nettleton is the former SVP of Product at Applied Frameworks, and co-creator of the company's Advanced Scrum Online Academy and Profitable Software Academy. Carlton has over twenty years of industry experience working with clients to improve quality, increase productivity, build great teams, and launch new products using Agile software development practices and techniques. Today, Carlton is the President of Look Foward Consulting and focuses on mentoring and supporting Scrum and Agile practitioners who work in less-than-ideal conditions. He shares his energy and enthusiasm with learners so they can achieve their personal and professional goals. Carlton is fluent in both English and Spanish, has written a short book on Scrum, and has been Certified Scrum Trainer® since 2012.

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A comprehensive guide to Scrum of Scrums (and how to run one)

Georgina Guthrie

February 02, 2022

You’ve likely heard the saying ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’— which basically means that if too many people work on one thing, problems will arise. The same is true of projects. Adding more people and moving parts can cause issues and communication breakdowns .

Agile processes are prone to this issue when organizations scale up a project. The solution? Split up large teams into smaller offshoots, who then come back together to share insights on solving cross-team problems.

A Scrum of Scrums works well when specialist teams design different aspects of the same product solution. Each team needs the authority to solve their piece of the puzzle while still communicating with others regularly to ensure everything integrates as planned.

The ‘coming back together’ phase is known as the Scrum of Scrums (or SoS), which was developed to combat the ‘too many cooks’ issue. Originating with Ken Schwaber between 1999 and 2001 , it’s intended to give development teams a single place where all members can be brought up to speed quickly. Let’s take a closer look at what this involves.

What is Scrum of Scrums?

The daily standup meeting has been a pivotal piece of agile methodology since its inception by Extreme Programming (XP). Scrum simply extended this concept into a more formalized arrangement, and this process has been the foundation of Scrum methodology ever since.

The Scrum of Scrums, or meta scrum, is a standup meeting that brings together multiple teams that are working cross-functionally on a complex product. After the daily scrum, each development team chooses a representative to report to the Scrum of Scrums about team progress.

Representatives gather together to process information quickly and generate insights about how work is progressing across the different functions. Meta scrums don’t have to be a daily event. The frequency usually depends on the degree to which each development team relies on others to make progress.

The history of Scrum

Before we get into the hows and whys, let’s go back to the beginning.

Agile methodologies have been around for decades. The first was the XP methodology, which started making the rounds in 1995. In 2001, a group of software developers (including Ken Schwaber) got together to find a way to increase quality and reduce waste during their next release cycle.

They arrived at an iterative approach that used timeboxing to improve efficiency. Each iteration included activities such as unit testing and integration testing, which they could complete within a time limit before moving on to the next set of tasks.

Daily meetings known as “Scrums” originated from this process. The name “Scrum” comes from the rugby term. Just as players would huddle around a scrum-half before taking possession of the ball, these daily meetings were meant to bring everyone together to discuss work that was completed, in progress, or upcoming.

Scrum of Scrums is introduced

Scrum of Scrums first came into play when Ken Schwaber conducted an experiment at his company in 2001. He observed that individual teams within his system were using different processes, which caused confusion when team members tried to integrate their code.

Scrum of Scrums was originally designed to bring cross-functional teams together to identify problems early on and resolve them quickly.

Why hold a Scrum of Scrums meeting

During larger projects, it’s difficult for one person to keep track of the entire scope . Scrum of Scrums helps agile teams manage a complex product with a large number of cross-functional dependencies. It also enables teams to resolve support requests from each other in a timely manner.

Thanks to this agreement, every team knows what the others are working on, and they’re available to provide assistance when necessary.

In addition to providing routine status updates, meta-scrums create another opportunity to discuss relevant but lower-priority topics. If you’re unable to share every issue in the shorter daily scrum, the meta scrum offers another chance to explore problems and solutions in more depth.

Advantages of a Scrum of Scrums

The purpose of a Scrum of Scrums is to allow all developers working on a project together to see each other’s progress firsthand. As a result, teams can resolve issues that arise from conflicting development goals easier and faster, since everyone is in one place. Other advantages include:

• A shared vision guiding all teams
• Better cross-team collaboration
• Reduced silos and greater project consensus
• Maximum transparency
• A consistent approach to problem-solving
• Increased insight and creativity

Participants in a Scrum of Scrums

Scrum of Scrums meetings should include a  Scrum of Scrums Master and ambassadors from all teams with a task or workflow dependency. The ambassador can change from meeting to meeting if it makes sense. The person best qualified to communicate their team’s issues should attend. Sometimes, this will be the product owner or Scrum Master; at other times, it’ll be a Scrum team member.

Additionally, it can include stakeholders collaborating on tasks completed in another team’s sprint. Some tasks rely on completed work from another team in order for the product owner to meet their own sprint objective.

How to prepare for SoS meetings

Prior to a Scrum of Scrums meeting, each team needs time to plan out their upcoming sprint . That way, SoS ambassadors know which features have been completed and will be available for demonstration at the next Scrum of Scrums. It’s also good to encourage team members to think about progress and any issues they anticipate in the near future.

How to run a Scrum of Scrums meeting

Gather everyone together. For each scrum team in the room, include their Scrum Master and product owner. Based on their team’s standup meeting from the previous day, every representative should come prepared to answer the following questions:

• What did the team accomplish since the last SoS meeting?
• Which tasks are your team prioritizing today and the rest of the week?
• Are there challenges preventing the team from completing work?
• Is your team working on something that could pose an obstacle for another team?

The individual teams then communicate with each other to solve any dependencies or conflicts to make sure all PBIs are delivered by the sprint’s end. The scrum masters representing each team will also discuss whether their teams are working together effectively. If not, the teams may need restructuring to allow for shared effort across development groups.

Scrum of Scrums best practice

Using the Scrum of Scrums method, teams can dynamically change which processes they use based on how well they’re working together. Scrum Masters gain a steady flow of feedback to address any bottlenecks occurring within individual teams or across their whole delivery system. Here are some considerations to help keep things running smoothly.

• Keep the meeting to around 15 minutes . This keeps things concise and to the point, minimizing the chance of people losing focus or interest.
• Don’t hold the Scrum of Scrums every day (unless you really need to). Once a week should be enough in most cases.
• Experiment with different formats , such as conference calls, video, online project management tools , chat apps, or in-person meetings.
• Keep an agenda . This will help prevent any issues with differing opinions when debating certain topics where quick decisions are necessary. It’ll also help ensure nothing falls through the cracks.
• Stick to your priorities . The Scrum Master should identify priorities for discussion before the meeting and ensure all relevant team members attend. Decide who is invited to speak beforehand, and don’t allow others to interrupt unless they have information directly related to the topic.
• Track the number of days impediments block you , as well as how many scaled daily scrums started and finished on time. Tracking these metrics will help you understand whether you’re prioritizing the right things and communicating well. If the numbers become concerning, it’s time to take action to correct issues and re-emphasize priorities.
• Simplify meetings by keeping them time-boxed . One of Scrum’s strengths is its simplicity. Set a maximum duration for each meeting to prevent them from dragging on forever. Also, reflect the ‘standup’ mentality by keeping updates short and encouraging participants to ask questions outside the meeting if necessary.

How project management software can help

Developing complex systems with many components requires lots of communication between team members. With Agile project management software , you can make sure Scrum of Scrums meetings are easy, simple, and productive. It can also help you organize the meeting, maintain transparency across your project, and measure team progress over time.

With Backlog , our own project management tool, you can easily set up an agenda before meetings, including tasks under review and who is responsible for each one. Meanwhile, the Scrum Master can give everyone on the team updates on progress using automatically generated charts that are easy to understand at a glance.

Plan upcoming Scrum of Scrums meetings in minutes thanks to built-in calendar integration. You can save time by syncing events directly from Google Calendar without ever leaving the platform.

The bottom line? The easier you make cross-team communication, the better. Agile is all about collaboration. With the right project management software in place, you can help everyone stay on the same page, cut down on emails, and focus on important work (instead of wasting hours manually updating tasks).

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Top Scrum Case Study Examples in Real-life 2024

Home Blog Agile Top Scrum Case Study Examples in Real-life 2024

Scrum has gained significant traction as a widely adopted and successful framework for the efficient execution of intricate projects within project management. Real-life case studies provide valuable insights into how organizations successfully implement Scrum methodologies to overcome challenges and achieve their project goals. In 2024, several notable Scrum case studies have emerged, showcasing the practical application of Scrum in diverse industries and contexts. These case studies demonstrate the versatility of Scrum and its ability to drive efficiency, collaboration, and innovation. 

By examining these real-life examples, we can gain inspiration and learn from the experiences of organizations that have leveraged Scrum to navigate complex projects and deliver exceptional results. Also, by incorporating  Agile training online, we can drive successful Agile transformations.

What is the Importance of Case Studies in Scrum?

Case studies play a crucial role in Scrum as they provide valuable real-world examples and insights into the practical implementation of the framework. 

• Learning from Experience: Scrum master case study examples offer an opportunity to learn from the experiences of others who have already implemented Scrum. They provide valuable insights into the challenges faced, solutions implemented, and the overall journey of organizations in adopting Scrum.
• Practical Application: Scrum case study examples demonstrate how Scrum principles and practices can be applied in real-world scenarios. 
• Identify Challenges: Scrum case study examples can also help teams to identify potential challenges and pitfalls that they may face when implementing Scrum. This can help them to plan and develop strategies for addressing these challenges.
• Best Practices and Lessons Learned: Case studies often share best practices, lessons learned, and success stories. They provide valuable guidance on what worked well and what pitfalls to avoid during the Scrum implementation.
• Inspiration and Motivation: Scrum master case study examples can inspire and motivate teams and organizations by showcasing the positive outcomes and benefits achieved through Scrum adoption. 
• Continuous Improvement: Scrum case study examples contribute to the continuous improvement of Scrum practices by providing feedback and insights to the Scrum community.

Overall, Scrum master case study examples serve as a valuable resource for Scrum practitioners, helping them gain knowledge, inspiration, and practical guidance for successful Scrum implementation and continuous improvement. Combining case studies with KnowledgeHut Agile training online allows a holistic understanding of Scrum and its practical implementation.

Top Scrum Case Study Examples

1. mayden’s transformation from waterfall to scrum.

The scrum master case study example below showcases the need for embracing agile methodologies:

Mayden, a small and innovative company in the U.K. that develops managed web applications for the healthcare sector was facing challenges with their traditional waterfall approach to software development. They encountered difficulties in delivering projects on time, meeting customer expectations, and responding to changes in requirements.

How it was solved:

Mayden recognized the need for change and the opportunity to develop a new product using new technology. The company decided to transition from Waterfall to the Agile framework, specifically adopting Scrum. The following solutions were implemented:

• Agile Training: A member of the development team, Rob Cullingford, attended a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) course and became an advocate for Agile. Mayden brought in Agilify and Paul Goddard to provide CSM training to the entire team, fostering a shared understanding of Scrum principles and practices.
• Management Support: Mayden's management team embraced the concepts of Scrum and recognized its potential to transform project delivery. Their support and foresight were instrumental in driving the adoption of Scrum throughout the organization.
• Enthusiastic Embrace: The development team, along with managers and support staff, enthusiastically embraced Scrum. The decision to pursue Scrum training was made quickly, and 20 people attended the ScrumMaster training within a week.

2. Scrum Methodology as Used by a Capstone Team

Below is a scrum master case study example that shows the effectiveness of forming a scrum team:

Problem: 

The capstone team faced the challenge of managing their project effectively and maximizing their velocity. They needed to find a way to improve their project management processes to increase productivity and ensure successful project completion.

How it was Solved: 

The team decided to adopt the Scrum methodology to address their project management challenges. They implemented specific process modifications and utilized Scrum practices to improve their velocity. Some key solutions they implemented include:

• Scrum Framework: The team embraced the Scrum framework, which provided a structured approach to project management. They defined roles (Scrum Master, Product Owner, Development Team) and implemented Scrum ceremonies (Daily Stand-ups, Sprint Planning, Sprint Review, Retrospective) to facilitate effective communication and collaboration.
• Asynchronous Daily Meetings: Instead of traditional synchronous daily stand-up meetings, the team conducted asynchronous daily meetings. This allowed team members to update their progress and communicate asynchronously, reducing scheduling conflicts and improving flexibility.
• Sprint Reviews: The team conducted regular sprint reviews to showcase their work and gather feedback from stakeholders. These reviews helped ensure that the project was on track and met the expectations of the stakeholders, leading to course corrections and improvements.
• Velocity Tracking: The team tracked their velocity, which is a measure of the amount of work completed in each sprint. They analyzed their velocity at different points in the project and compared it to the process modifications they made. This analysis allowed them to identify correlations between their process modifications and improvements in velocity.

3. Increasing visibility and cross-product alignment at Radware

This scrum case study example shows how adopting scrum brought more visibility and collaboration at Radware.

Radware, a global leader in cybersecurity and application delivery solutions, faced several challenges in its development and delivery processes:

• Waterfall-like Processes: Radware followed development processes with long handoffs between product, development, and QA teams, resulting in extended cycles, low visibility, and predictability. This approach did not align with the fast response time required in the security market.
• Dependencies and Product Lines: Radware had dependencies on hardware and interdependencies between its five distinct product lines. This created complexity and posed challenges in the release and delivery processes.

How was it Solved: 

To address these challenges, Radware implemented the following solutions:

• Management Workshop: Conducted workshops within each product line to analyze organizational-level challenges and identify necessary change management strategies. This involved engaging top management to understand the requirements for successful Agile transformation.
• Global Engagement: Collaborated with Radware managers and teams worldwide to ensure consistent adoption of Agile practices and principles. This involved creating a shared understanding of Agile and aligning processes across different locations.
• ALM Tool Adoption: Utilized the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) tool, Rally, as the central source of truth for all participants. This helped provide visibility, transparency, and collaboration across teams, ensuring everyone had access to accurate and up-to-date information.
• Training: Conducted comprehensive training sessions for Product Owners, Scrum Masters, and all teams involved in the Agile transformation. This enabled individuals to understand their roles and responsibilities within the Agile framework and equipped them with the necessary knowledge and skills to implement Agile practices effectively.
• Agile Release Trains (ART): Designed and launched five Agile Release Trains, one for each product line. Agile Release Trains provided a structured and synchronized approach to product development, ensuring alignment and coordination across teams working on different products.
• Program Increment Planning: Implemented Program Increment Planning, which allowed for the alignment of priorities and synchronization of work across teams. This provided a clear roadmap and facilitated better planning and execution of development efforts.
• Stabled and Synchronized Cadence: Established a stable and synchronized cadence across the entire company. This involved implementing regular Agile ceremonies and ensuring consistent timelines and iterations for planning, development, and review activities.

4. Blue Flash Conversion to Scrum Practices 

The scrum master case study example presented here is highly compelling as it revolves around the remarkable achievement of a student team named "Blue Flash," who employed Scrum and Kanban methodologies to construct a race car for a prestigious international competition.

The Blue Flash team, consisting of volunteers and sponsors, faced several challenges. These challenges included the need for improved cross-team collaboration, empowerment of teams, adapting to changing conditions, and addressing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on team composition and priorities.

How it was solved: 

To address the challenges, the Blue Flash team implemented the following solutions:

• Adoption of Agile and Scrum: In March 2020, the team decided to adopt the Agile way of working and specifically chose Scrum as their framework. This decision aimed to improve cross-team collaboration and empower the teams to work more effectively.
• Agile Kick-off Meeting and Agile Coach: The team's sponsor organized an agile kick-off meeting where they met their Agile coach, who agreed to assist them. Over a period of six months, the Agile coach dedicated his spare time to working with the team, conducting workshops, and providing guidance on Scrum practices and principles.
• Formation of Scrum Teams: The team formed two Scrum teams, with each team consisting of a Scrum Master, developers, and a shared Product Owner. This enabled the teams to work autonomously and become self-organized, promoting efficiency and collaboration.
• Remote Work and Reduced Team Size: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team had to adapt to remote work and reduce the number of team members. By selecting fewer team members with the necessary skills and compatible personalities, the teams were able to maintain productivity and cohesiveness despite working remotely.
• Use of Kanban for Backlog Management: To manage their Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, and Daily Scrum, the team utilized the Kanban methodology. This provided visual clarity and transparency, helping the teams stay organized and focused on their work.

5. Agile Project Management at Intel – A Scrum Odyssey

Here is a scrum case study example that shows how applying scrum master led to effective project management.

Microprocessor giant Intel faced several challenges in its engineering development process, including a waterfall culture, functional silos, overburdening of teams, missed schedules, poor morale, and high turnover rates. They also encountered difficulties due to a lack of off-the-shelf software validation solutions and a proprietary language environment. These issues hindered their ability to deliver high-quality products efficiently.

How it was Solved:

Intel decided to implement Scrum in its engineering development process to overcome these challenges. They adopted Scrum in three phases, each addressing specific issues and gradually transforming their work culture.

• Phase 1: Preparing for Silicon - In this phase, Intel hired an external company for Scrum training and coaching. They formed a Process Action Team (PAT) to monitor progress and implemented Scrum in six teams. They focused on scaling work across teams, sharing best practices, and establishing Scrum as the standard means of managing requirements.
• Phase 2: Surviving Silicon - During this phase, the Scrum teams focused on debugging Scrum events and maintaining Scrum artifacts. Some teams initially struggled and reverted to old habits, but through perseverance and collaboration, the surviving Scrum teams emerged stronger. They reintroduced two-week Sprints and improved their ability to identify and prioritize business value.
• Phase 3: Preparing for Manufacturing -To further enhance their progress, Intel identified the handoff between functional groups as a significant issue. They ran a pilot test on cross-functional teams to minimize handoffs and influence the organization's leadership for better Scrum implementation.
• Reduced Cycle Time: Scrum was instrumental in achieving a remarkable 66 percent reduction in cycle time. 
• Performance to Schedule: The implementation of Scrum resulted in the establishment and maintenance of capacity-based planning and a two-week cadence for over a year.
• Improved Morale: Scrum brought about improved communication and job satisfaction within the organization.  
• Increased Transparency: The adoption of Scrum led to the implementation of formal standards, such as CMMI-style VER (Verification) and VAL (Validation).

6. Scrum Boosts Productivity at BBC  

The following scrum master case study example looks at how agile methodologies improved productivity at BBC.

The New Media division of BBC was grappling with significant challenges stemming from a high degree of uncertainty and an emergent software process. The lack of flexibility and adaptability posed significant challenges in meeting the division's evolving needs.

• Introducing Scrum Framework: Andrew Scotland, as a certified Scrum Master, recognized the need for a more collaborative and flexible approach. He initiated the introduction of the Scrum framework across the division's development teams. Scrum provided a structured framework for iterative and incremental development, fostering better communication and encouraging cross-functional collaboration.
• Formation of Cross-Disciplinary Scrum Teams: Andrew facilitated the formation of cross-disciplinary Scrum teams, ensuring representation from Software Engineering, User Experience, Information Architecture, Editorial, Product Management, and Project Management. This approach promoted shared ownership, increased collaboration, and enhanced transparency throughout the development process. 
• Scrum Master Training and Support: Andrew provided Scrum Master training and ongoing support to team members responsible for leading the Scrum teams. This empowered the Scrum masters to guide their respective teams through the Agile transformation effectively and address any challenges that arose.
• Adoption of Agile Practices: The teams embraced Agile practices, including daily stand-up meetings, sprint planning, backlog refinement, and sprint reviews. These practices facilitated regular communication, prioritization of work, and continuous feedback, enabling faster response to change requirements and delivering value incrementally.
• Continuous Improvement and Learning: Andrew fostered a culture of continuous improvement by encouraging regular retrospectives where teams reflected on their processes, identified areas for improvement, and implemented changes to enhance productivity and efficiency.

7. Effective Practices and Federal Challenges in Applying Agile Methods

Numerous examples of lengthy IT projects in the federal government have experienced cost overruns, schedule delays, and limited mission-related outcomes. This has prompted the need for a more effective approach to software development. In response, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recommends the use of Agile practices, which advocate for modular software delivery and iterative development, to mitigate risks and improve project outcomes.

The case study conducted by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) focuses on the effective practices and challenges in applying Agile software development methods to IT projects in the federal environment. 

• Agile guidance and adoption strategy: Clear guidelines and a well-defined strategy were provided for adopting Agile practices within the organization, ensuring that teams understood the principles and values of Agile and how they aligned with the organization's goals.
• Migration with Agile terms and examples: The transition to Agile was facilitated by using Agile terminology and providing practical examples to help teams understand and apply Agile concepts in their work, fostering a common language and understanding across the organization.
• Continuous improvement: A culture of continuous improvement was encouraged by regularly evaluating and refining Agile practices at both the project and organizational levels, seeking feedback, and implementing changes that enhanced efficiency and productivity.
• Identified and addressed impediments: Any obstacles or impediments that hindered the adoption of Agile practices were actively identified and addressed, whether they were at the project or organizational level, ensuring smooth progress and removing barriers to Agile success.
• Obtained frequent stakeholder/customer feedback: Regular engagement with stakeholders and customers was conducted to gather feedback on the product or project, ensuring that their needs and expectations were met and leveraging their input to guide iterative development and improvement.
• Empowered small, cross-functional teams: Small, self-organizing teams were formed and empowered to make decisions, fostering collaboration, accountability, and efficient delivery of value.
• Risk Mitigation: Security considerations and monitoring requirements were incorporated as part of the backlog, ensuring that they were prioritized and addressed throughout the Agile development process to mitigate risks and maintain a secure product.
• Demonstrated value at the end of each iteration: A tangible, working product or a valuable outcome was delivered at the end of each iteration or sprint, providing stakeholders with a clear demonstration of progress and ensuring that the product continuously evolved based on their feedback.
• Application of Tools: Appropriate tools and metrics were utilized to track and visualize progress, such as burndown charts or velocity charts, enabling teams to monitor their performance, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions.
• Monitoring Progress: Progress was tracked and visualized on a daily basis, fostering transparency and accountability. Daily stand-up meetings or team boards were used to ensure that everyone was aware of the status and any potential issues that needed to be addressed promptly.

Key Takeaways from the Case Study

1. Mayden's Transformation from Waterfall to Scrum:

Transitioning from Waterfall to Scrum enabled Mayden to overcome the challenges of inflexibility and lack of customer engagement. Scrum facilitated iterative development, increased collaboration, and improved customer involvement.

2. Scrum Methodology as Used by a Capstone Team:

The Capstone team's use of Scrum methodology resulted in effective project management. Iterative planning, cross-functional collaboration, and quick decision-making were key factors in their success.

3. Increasing visibility and cross-product alignment at Radware:

Radware enhanced visibility and cross-product alignment by implementing regular communication channels, cross-functional collaboration, and centralized project management tools. Leadership support played a significant role in driving this transformation.

4. Blue Flash Conversion to Scrum Practices:

Blue Flash's successful conversion to Scrum practices involved training, team restructuring, and the implementation of Scrum ceremonies. Continuous improvement was emphasized throughout the process.

5. Agile Project Management at Intel - A Scrum Odyssey:

 Intel's adoption of Agile project management, specifically Scrum, improved project execution. Iterative development, cross-functional teams, stakeholder engagement, and continuous learning were key aspects of their success.

6. Scrum Boosts Productivity at BBC:

The BBC experienced increased productivity by embracing Scrum. Streamlined workflows, cross-functional collaboration, continuous improvement, and customer-centricity were significant contributors to their success.

Benefits of Using Scrum in the Project

• Flexibility: Scrum allows for flexibility and adaptability throughout the project lifecycle. It embraces changing requirements and promotes incremental and iterative development.
• Increased collaboration: Scrum fosters collaboration among team members and stakeholders.
• Transparency and visibility: Scrum provides transparency into project progress, work completed, and upcoming tasks.
• Quick value delivery: Scrum emphasizes delivering value early and regularly. By breaking the project into smaller, manageable units called sprints, the team can prioritize and deliver the most valuable features incrementally.
• Risk mitigation: Scrum helps to mitigate risks by focusing on short development cycles and frequent inspection and adaptation.
• Enhanced customer satisfaction: By involving the customer or product owner throughout the development process and regularly seeking their feedback.
• Continuous improvement: Scrum promotes a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.

In conclusion, Scrum case studies serve as invaluable resources for teams contemplating the adoption of Scrum or facing difficulties in its implementation. They offer profound insights into successful applications of Scrum within various organizations, shedding light on potential obstacles and pitfalls while fostering inspiration and motivation. These case studies provide teams with the necessary confidence to persist in their Scrum endeavors by showcasing how other teams have surmounted challenges and achieved notable accomplishments. By delving into these resources, teams can enhance their comprehension of Scrum's multifaceted aspects and gain practical knowledge on its effective implementation.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The Scrum values consist of commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect. Team members commit to sprint goals and delivering value. They exhibit the courage to tackle challenges and make collective decisions. The team stays focused on the sprint goal, avoiding distractions. Openness is fostered through transparent communication. Respect is shown for each other's skills and contributions, promoting a collaborative environment.

An example of applying Scrum is in software development, where a cross-functional team collaboratively works in short iterations called sprints to deliver increments of working software, following Scrum ceremonies and utilizing the product backlog for prioritization.

• Transparency: All aspects of the Scrum process are visible to all team members.
• Inspection: Scrum team regularly checks to see if the project is on track.  
• Adaptation: Scrum team is willing to change the project plan if necessary.

Lindy Quick

Lindy Quick, SPCT, is a dynamic Transformation Architect and Senior Business Agility Consultant with a proven track record of success in driving agile transformations. With expertise in multiple agile frameworks, including SAFe, Scrum, and Kanban, Lindy has led impactful transformations across diverse industries such as manufacturing, defense, insurance/financial, and federal government. Lindy's exceptional communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills have earned her a reputation as a trusted advisor. Currently associated with KnowledgeHut and upGrad, Lindy fosters Lean-Agile principles and mindset through coaching, training, and successful execution of transformations. With a passion for effective value delivery, Lindy is a sought-after expert in the field.

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What is Scrum of Scrums?

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Scrum of Scrums

Scrum of scrums is a technique used to scale Scrum to a larger group working towards the same project goal. In Scrum, we consider a team being too big when going over 10-12 individuals. This should be decided on a case by case basis. If the project is set up in multiple work streams that contain a fixed group of people and a common stand-up meeting is slowing down productivity: scrum of scrums should be considered. The team would identify the different subgroups that would act as a separate scrum teams with their own backlog, board and stand-up .

The goal of the scrum of scrums ceremony is to give sub-teams the agility they need while not loosing visibility and coordination. It also helps to ensure that the sub-teams are achieving their sprint goals, and they are going in the right direction to achieve the overall project goal.

The scrum of scrums ceremony happens every day and can be seen as a regular stand-up :

• What was done the day before by the sub-team.
• What will be done today by the sub-team.
• What are blockers or other issues for the sub-team.
• What are the blockers or issues that may impact other sub-teams.

The outcome of the meeting will result in a list of impediments related to coordination of the whole project. Solutions could be: agreeing on interfaces between teams, discussing architecture changes, evolving responsibility boundaries, etc.

This list of impediments is usually managed in a separate backlog but does not have to.

Participation

The common guideline is to have on average one person per sub-team to participate in the scrum of scrums. Ideally, the Process Lead of each sub-team would represent them in this ceremony. In some instances, the representative for the day is selected at the end of each sub-team daily stand-up and could change every day. In practice, having a fixed representative tends to be more efficient in the long term.

This practice is helpful in cases of longer projects and with a larger scope, requiring more people. When having more people, it is usually easier to divide the project in sub-teams. Having a daily scrum of scrums improves communication, lowers the risk of integration issues and increases the project chances of success.

When choosing to implement Scrum of Scrums, you need to keep in mind that some team members will have additional meetings to coordinate and participate in. Also: all team members for each sub-team need to be updated on the decisions at a later point to ensure a good flow of information.

The easiest way to measure the impact is by tracking the time to resolve issues in the scrum of scrums backlog. You can also track issues reported during the retrospective related to global coordination (is it well done? can it be improved?).

Facilitation Guidance

This should be facilitated like a regular stand-up .

Guide to Scrum of Scrums: An Answer to Large-Scale Agile

The number of people on your team can significantly impact your business. When you’re starting your business initially, it’s easy to keep track of everything that needs to be done. But as the team grows, things can get out of hand. 

Hey there! This blog is almost about 2600 +  words long & not everyone likes to read that much.

We understand that.This is precisely why we made a podcast on the topic. Mitul Makadia, CEO & Founder of Maruti Techlabs, talks to Bikshita Bhattacharyya about his Agile implementation, strategy, and process during the nascent stages of the company.

He walks us through the challenges he faced, how the business benefited from scaling Agile, and how important is the scrum master in making Agile a success at the organizational level. Here is a small snippet from that episode. Check it out!  

At the same time, if multiple teams work parallel on one product, they need to communicate regularly and effectively. In most cases, people across many teams will not collaborate closely or even see each other regularly, so how can they communicate efficiently? How can they divide work between them if they don’t meet each other face-to-face?

For decades, the Scrum Guide has proven to be a helpful resource in supporting teams and companies that need to address these issues. Scrum is a framework for developing products, which embraces empiricism and is optimized for complex projects. 

Here’s when the Scrum of Scrums technique comes to play. Scrum of Scrums is the process of managing multiple Scrum-based projects of any size as an integrated and unified business process. As Scrum is one of the most popular agile frameworks , it requires a unique set of capabilities and a shift in thinking for everyone involved. 

Scrum of Scrums refers to a customer and project management technique that utilizes concurrent development rather than serial. It provides a lightweight way to manage the interactions between several scrum teams across the organization. 

This guide will study the working, structure, and benefits of a scrum of scrum practices in detail to help you scale and integrate your work with multiple Scrum teams working on the same project. 

History of Scrum of Scrums(SoS)

The Scrum of Scrums framework was first introduced by Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber in 1996 while operating at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The original purpose of this framework was to coordinate the activities of eight business units with multiple product lines per business unit in a single development cycle. 

Sutherland and Schwaber found that having separate scrum teams for each business unit impeded workflow within and across business units, so they experimented. They gathered all eight product teams into a single room. They had their work together by forming a meta-team or “Scrum of Scrums” to create an environment where independent teams could synchronize their efforts more efficiently.

Later, in 2001, Sutherland published this experience under the title “ Agile Can Scale: Inventing and Reinventing SCRUM in Five Companies ,” which mentioned Scrum of scrums for the first time. 

What is Scrum of Scrums?

Scrum of Scrums is designed to be a lightweight solution for scaling agile methods. The main benefit of the Scrum of Scrums approach is to provide a way to enhance communication by connecting people from different Scrum teams who need to collaborate and coordinate with each other. 

The essential Scrum of Scrums’ purpose is that multiple teams are working on a single product, and there needs to be a way for all of these teams to communicate with each other. 

It’s particularly relevant for organizations with teams across geographies and time zones because it provides a means for teams to synchronize their work, communicate any issues or delays, and coordinate planning activities. 

According to the definition of Jeff Sutherland , “Scrum of scrums as I have used it is responsible for delivering the working software of all teams to the Definition of Done at the end of the Sprint, or for releases during the sprint.”

A Scrum of Scrums (SoS) is a meeting between two sprints, where the development team discusses their inter-team dependencies. The scaled agile framework is run by the development team members, who are best positioned to discuss inter-team dependencies and find a solution.

Scrum of Scrums helps deploy and deliver complex products by adapting transparency and inspection at a large scale. It enables scrum teams to work towards common goals and complete the project by aligning. 

Participants present at the Scrum of Scrums answer similar questions like daily Scrum. For instance:

• What has been the team’s progress since we last met?
• What problems are the team facing, and can the other teams resolve them?
• What tasks will the team carry out before the next meet?

There are various techniques by which you can implement the Scrum of Scrums. It could be a meeting within the team or with all teams. Therefore, scrum of scrum definition aims to get all teams in sync with each other so that any dependencies between teams have been identified and resolved.

How does SOS work?

Scrum of Scrums divides a large team into smaller scrum teams or subteams. Each subteam will have its daily standups, sprint planning sessions, and other events as part of a Scrum of Scrums meetings. 

The basic idea is to give each subteam the autonomy to plan their work independently while still coordinating with the rest of the team—just as independent teams do in a traditional scrum. Here, the large number of people divided into smaller scrum teams can include up to 10 members in each team. 

Each team chooses one developer to act as spokesperson, often known as “ambassador” for daily standups during their scaled Scrum. Another role is the Scrum of Scrums master, similar to the Scrum Master for Scrum methodology but at a higher level. 

Purpose of Scrum of Scrums

A Scrum of Scrums meeting can be a valuable way to communicate with organizations with different goals. Here’s how:

• Organizations use this approach as the initial step to scale agile and organize the delivery of large, complex products.
• The Scrum of Scrums supports the agile teams by enhancing their productivity and coordinating their work with other teams.
• When problems arise in one part of a system, they can affect the rest of the system directly and indirectly. Scrum of Scrums provides an effective way to identify these issues and address them on time.
• Through this meeting, representatives from each team can share updates about their progress and report on issues that may have arisen.
• Scrum of Scrum meetings helps ensure that tasks are synchronized, and team members are kept up to date with the work remaining on their project.
• Scrum-of-Scrum teams not only coordinate delivery but ensure a fully integrated product at the end of every sprint.
• Scrum meetings are also helpful for solving problems and making decisions. 
• This meeting helps ensure transparency by providing everyone with the latest information on the project.

Structure of the Scrum of Scrums

A Scrum of Scrums team is a cross-functional team that includes representatives from multiple Scrum teams. It follows the same practices and events as an individual Scrum team, and each member of the Scrum of Scrums team has the same role as a member of the corresponding Scrum team. However, to deploy the potentially integrated product at the end of every sprint, new additional roles are included here, not found in Scrum teams. 

For instance, there is the quality assurance leader in every Scrum of Scrums team. The quality assurance leader is responsible for overseeing, testing, and maintaining the quality of the final product at the end of each sprint. 

Another such role is Scrum of Scrums Master, who is responsible for focusing on the progress and product backlogs, facilitating prioritization, and continuously improving the effectiveness of Scrum of Scrums. 

These roles take up the 15 minutes of scaled daily Scrum meet-ups to align and improve the impediments of the project. Here, each team’s product owner or ambassador discusses each team’s requirements, risks, and sprint goals with the other team. It also identifies the improvements of their team that other groups can leverage to achieve the final product. 

Benefits of a Scrum of Scrums

Scrum of Scrums is indeed considered one of the agile best practices for more effective teams . It facilitates better collaboration, coordination, scalability, and flexibility, especially in larger and more complex projects. Here are some key points highlighting the benefits and principles of Scrum of Scrums:

• Scrum of Scrums enables you to streamline the cross-team collaboration between different teams working on the same project. 
• SoS is more accessible for large enterprises to handle and deal with at a large scale.
• It helps to spread the information to individual Scrum teams via their representative. Hence, every team is informed about the current and to-be-achieved details of the project. 
• SoS meetings encourage a better decision-making process, which reduces the conflict among the team members regarding the project. 
• It makes the problem-solving process easier by discussing the issues and difficulties faced by any team. 
• Scrum of Scrums reinforces each team’s role, preventing them from drifting apart from project goals and putting them back on track. 
• It provides a way to handle new and unforeseen development problems that can affect multiple parts of the project and the team in the future. 

Scrum of Scrums Best Practices 

Scrum of Scrums is the best way to scale agile to organizations with multiple teams. As for the Scrum of Scrums( SoS) meeting agenda, below are some of the SoS best practices to consider for getting the team composition right and conducting an effective meeting: 

• Establish the length and frequency of every meeting ahead of time. Schedule to meet, not more than twice a week, with the time frame of regular scrum meetings, i.e., 15-30 minutes, tops. 
• Set aside time to address problems and prevent them from becoming a roadblock. 
• Track the progress of ongoing and finished scaled daily Scrum.
• Encourage transparency between your team and establish a positive environment to create a collective agreement on the definition of “complete.”
• Make sure each team is prepared to share its progress points in the meeting.
• Deliver stories that depend on other teams early in the sprint so you can build in time to discover and address issues they might uncover.
• Prepare and track a timeline for the team’s demo meeting.
• Make sure the meeting attendees represent each team. Selecting the appropriate people will ensure a productive meeting.
• Remember that Scrum meetings are not the same as status meetings. Status meetings are a holdover from waterfall methodology and have no place in agile practice.
• Instruct each attendee to report back to their team about the meeting. If people don’t know why they are attending, what good are these meetings?

Who Attends Scrum of Scrums?

The Scrum of Scrums Meeting is not prescribed by an official description, as it depends on the theme of the sprint. For example, if the theme is user experience, one team can send an expert in this area. The teams can send different experts depending on the Sprint theme; however, one rule applies: nine people can be there in the end.

Although sending a Scrum master to a Scrum of Scrum meeting makes sense, shipping a product owner or development team member with more excellent technical knowledge might be even better. The Scrum of Scrum representative may change over time as issues arise.

The Scrum of Scrums can continue at higher levels as well. Meetings can occur not only among teams but also between experts, for instance, between two product owners, to discuss the feasibility of their product towards the market condition. It is not uncommon for this meeting to be called a “Scrum of Scrum of Scrums,” but this designation is not always used.

Frequency of Meeting 

The team itself should decide the frequency of this meeting. According to  Ken Schwaber , the sessions should happen daily and last no longer than 15 minutes. However, a Scrum team may discover that it does not need to meet as often as initially planned.

It is more effective to schedule meetings less frequently yet for more extended periods. You can do it by holding two or three sessions a week instead of daily encounters. It allows team members to focus on any issues that may arise, rather than addressing them in the daily meeting, often revisiting prior problems and concerns.

When an issue is identified that requires attention and discussion, you must discuss it as soon as possible. When many people are involved in determining the issue, it is often a problem affecting the work of large groups of people. It deserves to be resolved as soon as possible. Therefore, while a scrum of scrums meeting may last only fifteen minutes, everyone should budget more time to discuss potential problems.

Agenda of Scrum of Scrums

An excellent scrum of scrums agenda should reflect the format of the daily Scrum, which has the following questions to answer:

• What achievement has the team made since the last Scrum of Scrums meeting?
• What will your team do before we meet again?
• What limitations or hurdles are holding the team back?
• Can an action taken by one team interfere with another team’s work?

The Scrum of Scrums meeting begins by answering these four questions by each participant present in a relatively short and fast-paced manner. This helps the scrum ambassador ensure the operational effectiveness of each team and that they are working towards the common goal of the project.

During this part of the meeting, the facilitator should encourage participants to raise questions and issues but not discuss possible solutions until everyone has had a chance to answer the above questions. 

One of the best techniques to achieve this is to leave the names out of the conversions, which can ultimately help you keep the discussion at the appropriate level of detail. This process aims to create a sense of coordination and cooperation between all the teams by involving cross-team synchronization across the organization.

Once the process is complete, the focus of the meeting shifts to address the issues and challenges discussed in the initial phase or maintained on the Scrum of Scrums backlog.

SoS in Large Organizations

A Scrum of Scrums framework can be very effective in large organizations with multiple teams, provided the Scrum of Scrum meetings are well-run and focus on solving issues that affect teams. 

The purpose of a Scrum of Scrums meeting is not to report the progress of development teams to manage but rather make sure that the individual teams are fulfilling their sprint goals and that the overall project goal is accomplished.

Did you find the video snippet on What are the benefits of smaller pizza-sized teams? to be insightful? We have a ~22 min video where Mitul Makadia gets into the weeds, and we discuss about Implementing & Scaling Agile to streamline Software Development. Take a look –

Scrum of Scrums is a unique approach to lead your organization towards agility. It’s a method of holding meetings and tracking progress while maintaining productivity. SoS ensures that meetings are more efficient, streamlined, and effective. It can help your organization become more agile—as it allows for faster development cycles and improved communication amongst the various teams involved in any given project.

We hope you enjoyed learning about Scrum of Scrums and how you can implement it to help your team deliver products in a timely and cohesive manner. 

Also read : A Comprehensive Guide to Scrum Sprint Planning.

With over 12 years of experience in addressing business challenges with digital transformation, we have what it takes to help companies bridge the gap between digital vision and reality.

A perfect software product demands an equally excellent execution methodology. At Maruti Techlabs, follow Agile, Lean, and DevOps best practices to create a superior prototype that brings your users’ ideas to fruition through collaboration and rapid execution. Our Agile experts can also help you identify the possible impediments that can be destructive for your business in achieving sprint goals.

Get in touch with us for a free consultation and learn how our product development services can transform your business vision into market-ready software solutions.

Mitul is the Founder and CEO of Maruti Techlabs. From developing business strategies for our clients to building teams and ensuring teamwork at every level, he runs the show quite effortlessly.

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Scrum of Scrums

If we have multiple scrum teams working on the same product backlog, Can we start multiple sprints simultaneously

Certainly, but each team will need to agree on a common Definition of Done for the release they are contributing to. A Scrum of Scrums is a suitable forum for release-level collaboration between multiple teams working on the same product.

This is quite common when we have to follow Distributed scrum. Multiple scrum teams can be spread across the world even though Scrum doesn't advocate this setup. If that is the case the binding factor is the Continuous Integration that the multiple teams must follow. My team has a robust Configuration Management process which ensures that everyone in any team is always looking at the latest revision of any artifact. A scrum of scrums is usually the textbook approach that is recommended but recent studies show that a Scrum of Scrums is quite unnecessary and serves no additional purpose. If there are issues to be sorted out then Scrum team members should reach out across teams immediately and this should be facilitated by the Scrum Masters of the respective teams. Scrum of Scrums are unwieldy and ineffective and can never provide timely remedies to anything. At best they are forums for erstwhile managers to flex their muscles and go against the philosophy of transparency since only one person from each team usually participates and information loss is possible. Secondly in a proper Scrum environment all members are equal and Scrum of Scrums creates a forum where the first among equals always attend it. Scrum of Scrums are best avoided. Instead use a good collaboration tool and a good configuration management system which ensures transparency across teams and enables good communication.

> A scrum of scrums is usually the textbook approach that is recommended but recent studies show that a Scrum of Scrums is quite unnecessary and serves no additional purpose. Can you please point me to these recent studies? I've personally seen SoS be quite effective. The ones I've seen be ineffective were poorly executed. Charles

It wasn't so much a case of poor execution as being a case of redundancy. Atleast that was the case in my experience. Most of the issues need not have waited for the Scrum of Scrums and we noticed that not having the Scrum of Scrums really didn't hamper anything. >>>Can you please point me to these recent studies? Yes I can if the Scrum trainer and coach whose training I attended and who mentioned this agrees to my pointing out the sources. >>>I've personally seen SoS be quite effective. The ones I've seen be ineffective were poorly executed. Can you please point me to any published case studies? I'm still learning Scrum and I would love to have the facts. Having all these opposing camps with different viewpoints can get quite irritating.

Here is an excerpt from an excellent book, based on the numerous and decades of experiences of the author (as good a case study as you'll get on this topic probably): http://bit.ly/Hg48GT Most people make the common mistake of making SM's the focus of a SoS, when it should be Dev Team member reps instead. That book above is the very best book on Scaling Scrum that I've ever seen, best by far. (Companion book is of the same quality)

The first time I set up a Scrum of Scrums I messed it up. The problem was I didn't make the remit clear, and I didn't make a good job of getting executive sponsorship first. I fudged two quite separate concerns: - The need for Scrum teams to co-operate so a release is successful - The desire of Scrum teams to have a common forum for sharing tips, issues, and lessons learned This lack of clarity was a problem, and the lack of sponsorship killed it. Attendance fizzled out even though I had resorted to bribing attendees with cookies. I ended up running a series of "best practice" workshops instead. It was all a bit of a shame. A good opportunity to establish a viable SoS was missed. On the other hand, at my present client we have 2 SoS meetings a week: - One is a 15 minute standup (Friday) that addresses release matters...what teams have done and are doing to contribute to the release; any impediments they have; and any impediments (or work) they are likely to be putting another team's way. I'd call that the "real" SoS. I expect it will be held more often as the client gains agile maturity. - A one hour meeting (Tuesday) for sharing issues/concerns etc. I'd just call that a Scrum forum. Unfortunately both are called "Scrum of Scrums". This did cause some confusion among attendees, but it has settled down now, and rather than unpick the matter I'm just letting it be. Both sessions are working and stable. Interestingly, the value is such that no cookies are needed for attendance, despite the fact that there has been no executive sponsorship in this case either.

Excellent anecdotes, Ian! You have inspired me to share a couple as well! One product where there only two teams, and it was a brownfield app, I recommended that they not even do a SoS. I suggested instead that each team send a visitor or two to the other team's Daily Scrum every day. It also helped, though definitely not ideal, that the SM and PO for both teams were the same. I'd much prefer SM's and PO's only have one team. Anyway, the practice seemed to work very well. I should also mention that these teams did sometimes utilize the "after party pattern", as described below, so that members from the *other* team could participate and share cross team knowledge that was needed. http://www.scrumcrazy.com/SP-Daily+Scrum+Pattern+-+The+After+Party Another product, green field, 6 teams, all teams brand new to Scrum. We essentially followed Larman's advice linked above, as well as Cohn's advice about having a 2 part SoS -- a 15 minute standup, followed by an optional 30-45 minute, sit down, working session. Note well that the focus is on cross team issues, NOT status or "yesterday our team did X", etc. More info here: http://bit.ly/19eZnYz In the beginning, with all of the unknowns, and being green to Scrum, I required them to send 2 dev team members(Dev teams were average size of about 5) to a *daily* SoS, that happened after the morning team DS's occurred. SM's and PO's were invited as optional, but they didn't participate in the standup portion (except for 1 SM, who acted as facilitator only). In the beginning, the daily SoS seemed very useful and helpful, but once some of the typical green field/bootsrapping obstacles were removed, it didn't seem as fruitful, and I knew this. I knew it would get very old in a hurry, so I purposefully let it get to a point where numerous teams were complaining about having to go every day, and send 2 members, etc. At that point, I sent all teams an email and said, (paraphrasing) "I've heard your complaints. Anyone with an opinion or interest in this topic, come to the SoS tomorrow and we'll discuss in the after party" Then, I essentially mentored them through a mini retro on the SoS. I first reminded them of all of the purposes of the SoS, and that there is no hard and fast rules on Sos's because they're not part of the Scrum framework. I did remind them of some proven practices, like making the Dev Team members the focus of the SoS, and focusing on team coordination issues. I then asked them to do some plusses and deltas about the current SoS. I then facilitated them to some new decisions that reflected what they think would be a productive SoS. They created about 7 new SoS working agreements, as well as a couple of new "After Party" working agreements. The net effect was that they cut the SoS down to 2 days a week, and down to a minimum of 1 Dev Team member (but no max). I then suggested, and they agreed, to try this for 2 sprints and then retrospect on it again. They retrospected 2 sprints later and made only a couple of minor tweaks, and from then on out, they owned the SoS, and they made very good use of it. Note that this product group also had CoP's, so much of the deep knowledge sharing happened there. The SoS was much more about organizational obstacles, cross team dependencies, and adapting the product DoD(which occured more often due to the green field dev). In my professional opinion as a Scrum Coach, it was VERY effective.

Sushilkumar - You absolutely should start the Sprint for multiple teams working the same backlog at the same time. If the teams are co-located (or at least can get physically together on the first day of the Sprint), I have all teams in the same room planning their Sprint Backlogs at the same time. That way, when one team wants to select a Product Backlog Item, the other teams are right there to resolve conflicts. Likewise, when one team needs a special skill resident on another team, they are right there to discuss the tasks. Any planning issues can be resolved right on the spot. (By the way, any Release planning that you might need to do is best handled in a similar environment.) The other posters are right about Scrum of Scrums; the initial planning on the first day is only the start an you need regular coordination to update all the team's plans based on what is really happening. You didn't ask but I would also have all teams at a common Sprint Review and also Sprint Retrospective. That way, they can update the Product Backlog, Definition of Done, and other engineering practices together. They are all working on one product so they need to work together, even though they are broken up into smaller teams. Scrum on!

+1000 to Mark's comments. I should also mention this disclaimer that I have on my web site, on the page where I have my favorite Agile resources: Warning: Scaling Scrum is not for people or orgs new to Scrum. The first focus should be on doing "single team Scrum". After that, when scaling, we strongly recommend getting Scrum Coaching help. The resources below, while all excellent, are dangerous in the hands of people new to Scrum. We realize this is a self serving statement since we provide coaching services, but we honestly believe it based on our own experiences of having to rescue companies from poor performing implementations. It costs much much less to get started on the right foot than to rescue an organization. http://www.ScrumCrazy.com/resources

Thanks for the info. My team does not have much experience scaling Scrum and we have the added constraint of our Scrum teams being distributed across the globe. I will try and make a mention at our next SoS or retrospective but it has become the defacto std in our team only to have SMs and the PO and some other line managers hence it is not very effective. Some of the SMs are not even knowledgeable about Scrum and have been made SMs just because in their previous incarnation they were leads or architects. It became obvious to me that we really were not having an effective SoS but the PO is the former SW Dev Manager and none of us have it in us to question his wrong interpretation of Scrum. Add to this the fact that we have no Scrum coach. I totally agree with your point that it is easier to learn things the right way at the very beginning.

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Scrum In Design + Construction

Why Scrum In Design + Construction

A Better Way To Design, Plan, and Build

Agile and Scrum are revolutionizing Design + Construction. From mega-projects and infrastructure to commercial buildings and residential construction, Scrum projects are safer and consistently come in under budget and early. Embracing agility improves owner satisfaction, quality, collaboration, and important metrics like average tool time by decreasing waste and costly delays.

We understand that tradespeople, no matter their field, take great pride in their work. You’ve taken years, sometimes decades, mastering your craft. You want to take part in creating the extraordinary. Scrum in Design + Construction leads to better outcomes, happier employees and partners, and higher profits for contractors and subcontractors alike. Deliver quality on-time, on budget, and better.

Real-World Success

Boosting productivity by 200% or more.

Accurate cost estimations are both crucial and complex. A small error can mean the difference between a profitable project with a happy owner and a late, over-budget disaster. Therefore, construction estimation teams must be efficient and effective especially given current trends like fixed-bid projects.

This is why one such team at McCarthy Building Companies decided to implement Scrum. Before they started, they could successfully manage two or three projects simultaneously. In short order, they were using Scrum to successfully manage all the tasks on a large healthcare patient bed tower project while simultaneously managing up to six smaller projects ranging in size from half a million to several million dollars in value.

Now, just three years on, they can successfully manage nine simultaneous projects. That’s a 200%-350% increase in productivity achieved with the same personnel. And they work fewer hours than before.

Design + Construction Specific Thought Leadership

Our Steel and Sticky Notes Blog Series and More

Steel and sticky notes part 3: how stable teams dramatically boost productivity.

No matter the trade, function, or job, stable teams will always be your most productive teams. Scrum Inc.’s Dee Rhoda recently saw how a stable Design+Construction team boosted productivity by 467%. She explores how and why this occurs.

Steel and Sticky Notes Part 2: Lean, Scrum, and a Priority Culture

Lean Thinking is starting to make an impact on the Design and Construction industry. But Lean alone can only take you so far. Scrum Inc.’s Dee Rhoda examines how combining Scrum and Lean helps companies and teams achieve more, innovate, and deliver.

Steel and Sticky Notes Part 1: Alignment

The use of Scrum in the Design and Construction industry continues to grow. But some companies are not sure where – or how to start. This series answers those questions through the example of a massive project being built now in Sacramento.

11 Simple Steps to Launch Your Scrum in Construction Pilot

11 Simple Steps to Launch Your Scrum in Construction Pilot by Felipe Engineer-Manriquez | August 26, 2020 | Blog Scrum is a team framework that allows complex projects to be delivered with adaptation yet supports people to both productively and creatively produce work...

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Scrum Inc.’s Dee Rhoda and a panel of industry and Agile experts from around the globe explore how and why Design + Construction projects done with Scrum are safer, come in under budget, and finish early. We also share strategies you can implement right now to give you an advantage and take the lead in your market.

Additional Resources

What Others Are Saying About Scrum In Design + Construction

Scrum in Front-End Planning: ABInBev Capital Project

ABInBev produced a case study on a Scrum implementation during the Front-End Planning phase of a capital project. Using Scrum, the team was able to reduce the $50 million total project value by 15% with no significant changes in project scope. Interdependence between team members in the accomplishment of their tasks, resulting in an overall increase in the quality of product delivered. A universal theme among all team members was that Scrum dramatically increases the accountability of the team collectively and the individual team members.

Read the  full case study .

Cemetery Road Baptist Church – Sheffield, England

Read the case study from Ollio, The Building Performance Consultancy 

The Secret to Gaining Market Advantage in the Construction Industry

Are you one of those people who think that Scrum is for a bunch of software nerds who sit around programming all day? Maybe it’s time to shift your perspective.

Scrum has returned to its roots making waves in other industries from oil and gas to consumer products, and the military. Apart from the US Army, companies such as Tesla and Google use agile delivery methods to improve their project delivery.

Scrum is now entering design and construction with early adopters gaining market advantage.

Read this blog featured on Lean IPD .

Destination For Creatives – Sheffield, England

In this case study Ollio worked with Kollider Music, and its future tenant customers Barclays Eagle Labs, TMI The Writers collective to create a new destination for writers, musicians and producers of music. The project was a critical component of the success of the Kollider venture in Sheffield to bring a tech innovation hub to the city. Using Agile, they sparked something that all involved thought was truly special.

Featured on the The EBFC (Easier, Better For Construction) Podcast

Dr. Jeff Sutherland and Scrum Inc. Principal, Dee Rhoda, share why design & construction companies are implementing Scrum to gain market advantage, honor people to increase pride in work well done, drive towards desired outcomes, deliver projects on-time, deliver on-budget, and better meet customer expectations. Listen to the podcast .

Understanding The Basics Of Scrum

Scrum allows you and your Scrum Team to inspect and adapt your product, process, and plans more quickly. This short video explains the basic 3-5-3 structure of the Scrum Framework.

Read The Scrum Guide

Scrum is a lightweight framework that helps people, teams, and organizations generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems. The 13 page Scrum Guide explains each element of the framework and how they fit together.

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Resolving Government Project Inefficiencies with Agile Solutions

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• Preface to the Scrum@Scale Guide
• Purpose of the Scrum@Scale Guide
• Definitions
• Values-Driven Culture
• Getting Started: Installing an Agile Operating System
• Scaling The Teams
• The Team Process
• The Scrum of Scrums (SoS)
• Scaling in Larger Organizations
• Scaling the Events and Roles
• Event: The Scaled Daily Scrum (SDS)
• Event: The Scaled Retrospective
• Role: The Scrum of Scrums Master (SoSM)
• The Hub of the SM Cycle: The Executive Action Team (EAT)
• EAT Backlog and Responsibilities
• Continuous Improvement and Impediment Removal
• Cross-Team Coordination
• Scaling the Product Owner – The Product Owner Cycle
• Role: The Chief Product Owner (CPO)
• Scaling the Product Owner Team
• The Hub of the PO Cycle: The Executive MetaScrum (EMS)
• Coordinating the “What” – The Product Owner Cycle
• Strategic Vision
• Backlog Prioritization
• Backlog Decomposition and Refinement
• Release Planning
• Product Feedback and Release Feedback
• Metrics and Transparency
• Some Notes on Organizational Design
• People and Organizations