In the beginning, there was no Scrum.

The New New Product Development Game — where Scrum Comes From

In the beginning was no Word. Wise men gathered in Snowbird to define a Word describing practices that had helped them deliver valuable software. Among those intelligent persons were the founders of Scrum. The Word they decided on was Agile. So, on the third day, the Agile Manifesto saw its first light. The Word Agile was a representation of ideas and principles from their collective experience on “what does work” to deliver software successfully.

I feel sorry that the use of the word “Agile” or “Scrum” today, for many, is connotated with “what does not work,” based on their experience—the meaning of Agile has found a new beginning. Or at least the use of the word.

There are other beginnings. One beginning point was “The New New Product Development Game,” which probably is the most famous article of all time for Scrum fans. Despite its fame, I am still flabbergasted that not all agile fantasts have read the article — if Ken and Jeff were the fathers of Scrum, then this article is the mother.

When I lose track or experience dogma from discussing Scrum, I find comfort examining the source to get back to the basics. I find the article amazingly relevant and valid even after four decades.

The office Scene

While reading the article for the first time, I got a very vivid scene in my head. I imagined an almost…