Can SCRUM be used for testing projects only?

Yesterday there was a post from a user group member "Do you have experience in driving a SCRUM project only for testing?"

Of course many folks pitched in to try and help. However one thing that perturbed me about some of the responses is just how quickly folks are to jump to conclusions that this sort of thing is NOT Agile and just another great example of Scrum-But.

Here was an honest question from a user trying to get his feet wet with Scrum. At least my assumption was that they're obviously in a situation where development is either complete and have only testing left or their software is already complete but they have quality problems and need to figure out a way out of the mess.

So my answer to the question was a definite yes to using Scrum in this scenario to get the software testing phase complete. I'd much rather be using Scrum for testing only than not using Scrum. I think of all the added benefit of daily scrum meetings, a burndown to track process, team ownership, proper planning etc. 

Today I was on a call with a prominent Agile consultant in Toronto area who is using Scrum to extend it as a learning framework to all aspects of the business, not just software development. 

Therefore, I would argue that this is not a case of Scrum-But, but rather a case for an opportunity for this company to pilot Scrum and give them the best shot at turning things around. Scrum after all is a learning framework and will most definitely help in this scenario

My 2 cents


Written by Jack Milunksy - COO at Brightspark, certified ScrumMaster and Co-founder of Agilebuddy (Agile project management software that lets you easily Create, Estimate, Plan and Track your software development projects). For great Agile tips follow Jack at: www.twitter.com/agilebuddy. To get more info on Agilebuddy please visit: www.agilebuddy.com

Comments

[Bob Galen]

If it helps, in June of 2006 I published an article in ST&P magazine that explored how I used Scrum to 'wrap' the work that my testing team was performing - testing - in a waterfall environment. While it wasn't a 'pure' Scrum instance, I was at the time (and still am) quite pleased with the results that it drove.

You can read the article here - http://www.stpmag.com/issues/stp-2006-06.pdf

I think many in the agile communinity can miss the utility and practicality of agility by adopting too purist of a view. Just my .02...

Please pass this along to those on the discussion group.

Bob.

[Bob Galen]

If it helps, in June of 2006 I published an article in ST&P magazine that explored how I used Scrum to 'wrap' the work that my testing team was performing - testing - in a waterfall environment. While it wasn't a 'pure' Scrum instance, I was at the time (and still am) quite pleased with the results that it drove.

You can read the article here - http://www.stpmag.com/issues/stp-2006-06.pdf

I think many in the agile communinity can miss the utility and practicality of agility by adopting too purist of a view. Just my .02...

Please pass this along to those on the discussion group.

Bob.

[Chuck vdl]

Another potential scenario here is outsourced testing. the test folks may be completely separate from the dev group.

and I see no reason why Scrum could not be used for this. After all scrum seems (at least to me) far more about choosing, prioritizing and tracking what work you will do, not the type of work being done, the methods used to do that work, etc.

I've never seen anything that says scrum is only for software development, I'm sure it could be applied to any number of different types of projects.

One side point. 'testing projects only' makes it sound like someone thinks that's all scrum is good for. it might be a little clearer to say "can scrum be used for a 'testing only' project?"

[Jack Milunsky]

Thanks for the clarification and insight Chuck. I agree your last comment, thanks.

Jack

[software testing services]

Thank you for clearing confusion. Here I am agree with you Scrum is used for What work you will do but not for the type of work being done and the method which are used to do that work..