Scrum or Agile for process excellence?

The world of process management is fast-moving and ever-evolving, borrowing from a myriad of industries and business models in an ongoing pursuit of process excellence. Two key concepts that have risen near the top have emerged from the software development industry: Scrum and Agile.

For a lot of people, these terms are synonymous, but they’re distinct concepts that developed alongside each other. Scrum was an idea proposed in a 1986 Harvard Business Review article that used the sport of rugby as a metaphor for creative processes. The idea was formalized and presented as a software development approach nearly 10 years later.

Agile was the brainchild of 17 software developers who drafted a manifesto in 2001. They presented four values and 12 principles that they hoped would change the cumbersome, document-heavy approach to software development they were used to.

The two ideas share a great deal, including some of the earliest developers, but they’re still individual concepts, and both have a lot to offer process management. Scrum represents how to go about consistently producing better outcomes through good practices. Agile represents the mindset that makes it possible and drives those results. For process experts, they exemplify the twin foundations of good practices and a healthy process culture.

Scrum focuses on tightly defined teams

Scrum focuses on tightly defined teams with distinct goals that make incremental improvements on a project through deliberate cycles of action and review. Scrum teams have clear roles, including stakeholders who steer the project management and specialists focused on product outcomes. Excellent process management should mirror this, with process owners overseeing the development and improvement of their procedures and dedicated subject matter experts contributing their experience to shape those protocols.

The emphasis on “sprints” – short cyclical periods of planning, executing and then reviewing – is a model of great continuous improvement. Good process managers know that unexamined processes become more brittle over time, and regular reviews ensure that the cracks are identified before they cause breakdowns.

Scrum also makes those retrospectives collaborative. In process terms, the people responsible for executing processes are the subject matter experts and should be involved in reviewing systems and procedures and suggesting improvements. They know what works best, and where there may be weak points.

Agile is a continuous pursuit

Agile contributes to a lot of these factors but from a different angle. It flies the flag of a healthy process culture that drives effective Scrum practices.

Agile development emphasizes collaboration between all stakeholders, including the customer. In process terms, that spreads the responsibility for process excellence beyond a few business analysts to every person in the organization. Recognizing the impact of improving on and following effective processes should motivate both front-line teams and management to constantly evaluate how things are done.

That also speaks to Agile’s emphasis on usable outcomes. Rather than parts that are assembled into a workable whole at a final stage, Agile seeks workable results through each cycle. Similarly, business process management (BPM) can’t be relegated to revising the entire procedure manual every few years. Attention to regular and constant improvements in processes yields positive outcomes throughout an organization’s regular operations, not just every once in a while.

Agile is a way of approaching work, not a job in itself. That’s how businesses need to see process excellence, too. It’s the perspective that looks at good and asks what better might look like. Agile is collaborative too, recognizing that everyone has a part to play. In a healthy process culture, process improvements should be encouraged from any and every link in the chain. Who better to find new ways of working than the people involved in the tasks?

Finally, Agile is a continuous pursuit, not a short-term exercise. Like process management, it can’t be a one-and-done project. As the business and its context evolve, so must the way the organization operates. Regular cycles of process reflection and correction ensure better ongoing outcomes for all concerned.

Scrum is not the only Agile methodology, but it is a strong one, and when Scrum practices are implemented with an Agile mindset, great things can happen. That’s not just for software development, either. By harnessing the Scrum approach to process management with an Agile perspective on process culture, organizations can build a solid framework for better outcomes and create consistent momentum through ever-improving processes.