Applying Scrum to Research Projects

 

It has long been understood that Scrum is very well suited to software development projects. However, the literature is scarce regarding examples or case studies of Scrum being used in non-technology applications such as construction, education and research-based projects. The research sector is not well known for deploying Scrum to get its product to see the light of day. But the more you think about it, what organization isn't involved in research of some kind or another?

Corporations perform research all the time to get competitive advantage or to learn something that affects their bottom line. Government institutions use research for all sorts of information affecting their constituents. Further, educational institutions use research-based projects as the foundation for higher learning.

With all these applications, surely Scrum can venture out of the software-development industry and bring some value to research-based projects. The good news is it can, and already has, but there isn't much news about it.

The Federal University of Amazonas in Brazil published a paper in 2016 detailing the "use of Scrum for the management of research-orientated projects". They concluded that the application of Scrum had brought about productivity improvements, enhanced knowledge sharing and increased engagement (Sanchez, 2016). Also, at Lund University in Sweden, similar benefits were discovered (Pearson et al., 2012). Both studies found that small teams indicative of Scrum were well suited to higher learning objectives. However, they also noted that Scrum needed to be modified slightly to suit the reality of the research-based product life cycle. In particular, Daily Scrums were not possible; instead opting for weekly events.

The Scrum Team consisted of the researchers, supervisors, and sometimes other parties such as participants in studies, teachers, academic officials and subject matter experts. When reading these case studies, one gets an idea how Scrum may be adapted to the research industry.

In 2016, Jeff Sutherland made the following statement:

"Many of the leading research labs in the U.S. use Scrum. The one I have worked with most often is the John's Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, the leading Naval research lab. Their research plan is their backlog. They map it out like an AI tree. Time boxing the research stories gets them done twice as fast. And the quality of the research is much higher with daily meetings."

So these case studies along with confirmation from the co-author of Scrum is very encouraging. I am currently working on some other examples of the way we can apply Scrum to research-based projects, including my own personal story, so stay tuned for that in the future.

References:

1. Pearson, M., Kruzela, I., Allder, K. and Johansson, P. (2012) On the use of Scrum in Projecrt Driven
Hight Education. A research paper presented to the Department of Psychology, Lund University,
Sweden. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio
/267690193_On_the_Use_of_Scrum_in_Project_Driven_Higher_Education

2. Sanchez, J. (2016) On the use of Scrum for the management of research-based projects. Nuevas
Ideas en Informatica Educativa. Volumen 12, pp.589-594. Available from: http://www.tise.c
/volumen12/TISE2016/589-594.pdf

3. Sutherland, J. (2016) Do you know of research teams adapting Agile frameworks and/or Design
Thinking techniques for managing research projects? Quora. Available from: https://www.quora.co
/Do-you-know-of-research-teams-adapting-Agile-frameworks-scrum-kanban-XP-etc-and-or-Design
Thinking-techniques-for-managing-research-projects
 

Thank you for your interest in the Scrumptious blog. If you have any ideas for Scrum topics, please message me here. Until next time, remember, projects can be Scrumptious!