Teaching Tip: Play Ball: Bringing Scrum into the Classroom

1. INTRODUCTION Scrum is an iterative and incremental framework containing simple roles, activities, artifacts, and rules founded on empirical process control theory. It has become a widely accepted agile framework in industry. For example, Capital One started an initiative in 2013 that called for a move to 80% Scrum, 20% Waterfall. The 10th Annual Survey of Agile (Version One, 2016) found that 82% of respondents used Scrum or a Scrum variant in their organization. As a result, Information Systems recruiters and executives have recently been placing a focus on students with Scrum knowledge. For example, Erica McDowell, a Booz Allen Hamilton executive states: In the last three years of my career I have yet to see one government RFP that did not include some form of a Scrum reference. These days, the Scrum framework and agile thinking have become the norm. Therefore, we place a strong emphasis on students who have been exposed to agile thinking in general and the Scrum framework in particular. (personal communications, April 22, 2015). Unfortunately, current System Analysis and Design textbooks provide cursory attention to Scrum. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to introduce one way of teaching Scrum at the university level by presenting a classroom exercise (Ball Game) that can be used as a means for revealing various aspects of the Scrum framework. Additionally, this paper will discuss the pedagogical value that this exercise offers both students and faculty. Ultimately, we view this paper as a starting point for a larger Scrum pedagogical research agenda. The next section of this paper includes a brief background of the Scrum framework and ways that it has been used in university settings. We then introduce our exercise, the Ball Game, and provide suggestions on how this exercise can be incorporated into a Systems Analysis and Design course. Finally, we provide student, faculty, and recruiter reaction to the Ball Game in particular and the impacts of teaching Scrum in general. 2. SCRUM BACKGROUND The Scrum framework originates from development processes created in Japan to enhance development speed and to provide flexibility for handling change (Takeuchi and Nonaka, 1986). Scrum was introduced in the United States by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland in 1995 at the annual OOPSLA (Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages and Applications) conference (Sutherland et al., 2012). Schwaber and Sutherland (2016) define Scrum as a framework within which people can address complex, adaptive problems while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value. Scrum is one of many methodologies and frameworks that fall under the agile philosophy. The 4 basic tenets of agile place: (1) individuals and interactions over processes and tools, (2) working software over comprehensive documentation, (3) customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and (4) responding to change over following a plan (Beck et al., 2001). Additionally, Scrum is grounded by empirical process control theory as opposed to the defined process control model used with traditional approaches. In simplest terms, empirical process control theory posits that rich knowledge comes from what we learn through experience and places less focus on a priori assumptions or fixed plans. The notions of transparency, inspection, and adaptation are all common to agile thinking in general and the Scrum framework in particular (Vinekar and Huntley, 2010). 2.1 The Scrum Framework Scrum is a technology development framework containing simple roles, activities, and artifacts. The three roles, as referenced in Figure 1, are the Product Owner (single cube), Scrum Master (whistle), and the Development Team (three cubes). As shown in Figure 1, the activities include Sprint Planning, Sprint Execution, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and a Sprint Retrospective. …