Mr. Scrum: A Reference Model to Foster and Facilitate the Adoption of Scrum in the Agile Software Development Companies

Abstract

Scrum is one of the most used agile approaches in the software industry. However, some aspects can hinder its implementation, e.g., the lack of detail of artifacts, meetings, generation of the product backlog, and team composition, among others. This paper presents Mr. Scrum, a Scrum reference model obtained from comparing existing Scrum guides and applying the GQM (Goal-Question-Metric) paradigm. Mr. Scrum proposes a clear and complete set of process elements, as well as: purpose, objectives, phases, activities, roles, satisfactory-expected results, and process flows. The proposed model was evaluated through a focus group where its suitability, clarity, and completeness were evaluated. The findings show that the participants agree with the acceptance of the proposed model and that its use in the industry could motivate and facilitate the adoption, implementation, and evaluation of the Scrum implementation. In this sense, Mr. Scrum would allow professionals and organizations to be guided toward a better understanding of Scrum and minimize the subjectivity and error of its interpretation, adoption, and assessment.