Agile or Scrum - where does it really work best?

When it comes to Agile Software Development – I’ve found companies (and well really management) tends to focus on project-based work. That is, it’s always new work.

I’ve found Agile or Scrum can work in such circumstances, but under very specific conditions –

• The business process or the market is undefined or completely new, as is the technology.
• The number of people involved is very small, at least initially.
• The ‘customer’ can provide direct and repeated feedback.

Essentially, in the software business, it’s what’s called an Alpha, or a Beta release or a startup for that matter.

But really the other major place it can work, is when you have an already existing product that requires sustainment work where the infrastructure to support analysis, coding, testing, deployment are already in place, there is sufficient domain expertise in place in the form of experienced professionals who are running the sustainment efforts, and your business processes are well-defined and well supported.

When this is not in place, it’s generally not a good use of resources, time, energy, and money.