Moving to Scrum: Making the Case to Management

oon after I joined a startup online service company I realized that for the first time in my career there was no project manager keeping track of the team's progress and helping clear obstacles. The absence was noticeable in the disorganized manner work was delegated, tracked, and planned. I had just come from a dot-com that was trying out Scrum and I had become an enthusiastic believer in the efficacy of the process. So, I set about figuring out how to sell Scrum to my IT department and business management.

In this article I'll attempt to use my experience to help you advocate for implementing Scrum at your workplace. I'll help you predict and avoid the obvious pitfalls and help you prepare for the questions that are sure to arise from your colleagues and managers. This article presumes that you are familiar with basic Scrum and agile terminology. Some exposure to the concepts of Lean development is helpful but not essential. This article won't detail what Scrum is or how it works but you can find pointers to excellent books and online information in the resources section at the end of the article or read our short, practical guide to Scrum.