All-Out Organizational Scrum as an Innovation Value Chain

When Scrum extends beyond software development into the organization, Agile techniques, notably Scrum, provide a built-in innovation process. There is more to innovation than coming up with good ideas. Innovating involves capitalizing on well implemented ideas. Implementing good ideas involves risk and consequently should be managed carefully.Scrum effectively implements Lean methods into organizations by providing simple yet effective tools and techniques. These tools and techniques extend beyond software. Unfortunately, because of Scrum's success and roots in software project management, the language of Scrum is software-centric. This paper describes the Scrum language from a business perspective so when Scrum extends into the organization, innovation in the form of value creation is a natural by-product.Two companies are in the process of implementing organizational Scrums, one a professional services organization and the other, an Internet-based product company. The description of all-out Scrum in this paper is based on these efforts.