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2008-07-24

Scrum as a criteria for Venture Capital Groups

I just read a Foreword from Jeff Sutherland ( co-creator of Scrum ) from the book "Scrum and XP from the Trenches" where he comments how he chooses companies who really apply Scrum framework ( an agile framework or methodology to develop software ) for a venture capital group as an agile coach.

The more time pass the more I realize how agile software development will play an important role in near future. It already plays an important role but it can become a requirement for startup companies in search for funding from venture capital groups.

If a company can not deliver its products in time or can not deliver working software or can not deliver something that was not what the client was expecting, it should not be expected that they would receive funding. As Mike Cohn cited in the same book in his foreword, agile development is not about beautiful documentation or future-problem-proof code, it is about software done and working. And that's exactly what clients need and expect from a software company.
At the same time, Scrum as well as other kinds of agile software ideas ( be it frameworks, methodologies or practices ) is very easy to put in practice. Any company or organization can start using this idea anytime they want.

If you have an idea about how is the Scrum process in five minutes or so, take a look at this articles: http://www.softhouse.se/Uploades/Scrum_eng_webb.pdf

Addionally the book "Scrum and XP from the Trenches" mentioned in the beginning of this post can be downloaded here: http://www.infoq.com/minibooks/scrum-xp-from-the-trenches

Personally, as a software developer and a small investor I will take Jeff's tip for future investments in tech companies.

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