In February 2015, Scrum Alliance surveyed almost 5,000 people about their use of Scrum. In the survey, respondents contributed from 108 countries that cover more than 14 industries. They reflect a range of functional areas, including IT, software development, product development, operations, human resources, executives, and sales and marketing.
From the survey results, we see that Scrum is becoming an increasingly popular and in-demand framework. In fact, nearly half the respondents report that Scrum is being used 50% or more of the time in their organizations, and 29% of respondents report it’s used much more frequently than that.
The survey uncovered following findings:
Scrum users - 82% of respondents are currently using scrum, and another 11% are piloting Scrum.
Delighting the customers as a primary reason of using scrum: Nearly half the respondents (49%) cite fulfilling customer needs as the highest business priority for Scrum projects and the second-highest priority is delivering shippable increments on time and on budget.
Most respondents report that they adhere to core Scrum and standard recommendations for practicing Scrum in terms of using Scrum artifacts and activities and following the recommended roles and the team size.
Mix and match approaches and frameworks:
• 42% of respondents report using Scrum exclusively.
• 63% practice Scrum alongside Waterfall.
• 43% combine Scrum with Kanban.
• 21% combine Scrum with Lean.
Scrum success is increasing: The overall success rate of projects delivered using Scrum is 62%
Role of certification: 81% of respondents believe certification has helped their Scrum practice.
Scrum is expanding beyond software: Scrum has expanded into a variety of departments within organizations. Respondents reveal the use of Scrum in non-IT projects run by operations, production, research and development, and sales and marketing.
Report reveals that the size of an organization impacts scrum implementation and success.
As organizational size increases, some key measures change significantly:
• Sprints get longer, averaging 2.7 weeks for teams of 10+ members.
• The top challenge shifts from measuring Scrum success to transitioning from Waterfall to Scrum
The survey shows that there is an increase in demand of scrum and it will continue in upcoming years.
The forecast for Scrum is positive. 95% of respondents say they plan to continue to use Scrum moving forward. Given that Scrum is expanding beyond software, we expect to see not only continued demand but in fact an intense surge in demand for skilled Scrum practitioners and experts.
Maria Matarelli, Certified Scrum Trainer (CST) and Harvey Wheaton, Chairman of the Board for Scrum Alliance, gave a webinar on the scrum survey report. Recording of the webinar and the presentation are available on Scrum Alliance Website.