Scrum (n): A framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value.
Scrum is:
- Lightweight
- Simple to understand
- Difficult to master
Scrum has been used to manage work on complex products since the early 1990s. Scrum falls within “Agile,” which is the umbrella term for several types of approaches to getting any complex, innovative scope of work done. The concept is to break large projects into smaller stages, reviewing and adapting along the way.
The term “Scrum” comes from a 1986 Harvard Business Review article in which authors Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka made an analogy comparing high-performing, cross-functional teams to the scrum formation used by rugby teams.
