Question
SCRUM is an iterative and incremental agile software development method for managing software projects and conducting product or application development. What are the pros & cons of SCRUM? Does it really shorten product development?
Answer
A comparison by Capers Jones of ten different software development methodologies including Agile/SCRUM2 was published in Project Performance International’s (PPI’s) System Engineering News Letter (SyEN), January 2012, viewable and downloadable at http://www.ppi-int.com/newsletter/systems-engineering-newsletter.php.
The comparison is based on very extensive hard data (let me know if you need the full set of data sources).
The conclusion: agile/SCRUM2 is very good on time and initial development cost, but performs relatively poorly on software quality and software cost of ownership over 5 years. Software cost of ownership includes the cost of fixing design/coding errors and defective requirements after software release.
Team Software Process – TSP performs almost as well as agile/SCRUM2 on time and initial development cost, and comes out way ahead of the field with respect to software quality and cost of ownership. TSP is a Watts Humphrey SEI integration of facets of agile, extreme programming, formal inspections, and other approaches.
