The advent of Scrum

How to implement Scrum better? This is the direction Ken will be working on in the next few years. He has done in-depth research on Scrum, hoping that Scrum can help more teams solve practical problems.

At this time, there is one person who is also paying attention to the problem about how to implement Scrum better, that is Mike Beedle. Mike is a seasoned software development practitioner who has also studied enterprise-level Scrum. Although Ken and Mike met by chance, that didn't stop them from exchanging ideas on how to improve software development. In 2001, they wrote together the first book on Scrum, entitled Scrum for Agile Software Development. In February of the same year, Ken drafted the Agile Manifesto in Utah with 16 other agile experts. In this way, Ken became one of 17 software development representatives who created the Agile Software Development Manifesto.

Scrum Alliance

The glamour and recognition are temporary. Ken Schwaber knows that he will never stop exploring and moving forward from the moment he chooses software development. Such determination is like a beacon guiding him along the way. To better promote Scrum, in 2002, he founded the Scrum Alliance with Mike Cohn and Esther Derby to provide a management organization for the Scrum methodology and formal certification through the CSM (Certified Scrum Master) program. Ken was 57 years old when he became the first president of the alliance.

At 57 years old, most ordinary people may be thinking about retirement, but for Ken Schwaber, it is a new beginning. During his tenure as president of the Scrum Alliance, Ken remained committed to the development of Scrum. He released the Scrum Master certification system and its derivatives in the following years. His goal was clear: to strengthen Scrum and improve his professional level. But then, in the fall of 2009, Ken had severe disagreements with the Board of Directors about the assessment, certification and developer programs. The relevant members of the board asked him to resign. Not long after, the board's new chairman sent an email directly announcing that Ken had been fired. At that time, he was sad and disappointed.

Commitment to Scrum

As long as a person identifies the direction of his life and takes it to step by step, he will eventually realize the value of his life. After quitting the Scrum Alliance at 64, Ken bounced back and created the website Scrum.org. The site provides Scrum resources, training and assessments for software development enthusiasts worldwide. The website also issues certificates to "Scrum Masters", "Scrum Developers", "Scrum Product Owners", and organizations.

Source: Scrum.org

Scrum.org is another expectation for Ken, and his previous experience has strengthened his confidence and belief. He launched a personal blog, which he said could be edgy because it would be full of unsubstantiated and sometimes unconfirmed opinions. But it may be very inspiring to some people, as long as you can find it carefully. In the same year, Ken also published the Scrum Guide with Jeff. Over the next few years, they worked together to gradually update it and build a globally recognized body of Scrum knowledge.

Jeff is a close friend and a comrade-in-arms on the agile journey. They discuss how to make Scrum better and also write books together. In 2015, "Software in 30 Days" was published. This book incorporates Ken and Jeff's insights into Scrum research, mainly explaining the Scrum agile software development methodology and effectively developing new software in 30 days when Ken is nearly 70.

Age is not a barrier in the way of a person's progress, and Ken didn't give up his career just because he's reaching old age. Instead of researching and maintaining Scrum guides, he focused on Scrum promotion and training. On the one hand, he speaks and promotes Scrum all over the world, and on the other hand, he continues to improve Scrum.org, which has helped and trained more than 47,000 certified Scrum Masters.

When many people think that Scrum is only suitable for small teams and small projects, Ken came up with another solution: creating Nexus, a Scrum framework at scale, hoping that Scrum can help more teams.

On November 18, 2020, Ken and Jeff released the latest version of the Scrum Guide via an online live broadcast. At the same time, they celebrated the 25th anniversary of Scrum with over 7,000 people worldwide. As of today, the Scrum Guide is available in more than 20 languages. As Ken said, Scrum is not difficult to implement because of national borders and cultural barriers. He will continue to improve Scrum as long as he can.

2017 Scrum Guide Update with Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland

Source: Scrum.org

Support from family

Of course, a person who has worked can not do without life. Ken's family members support his career, admire his contributions to Agile, and are proud of him. Ken frequently shares his scrum research results with his two daughters, Carey and Valerie. Carey also helped him edit the book "Agile Project Management with Scrum".

As a father, he is aware of his responsibilities and obligations, and he hopes his children can learn from him the courage and perseverance to not give up in the face of setbacks. As the father of Scrum, he knows what Scrum can bring to people, so he has been working hard to perfect Scrum and help organizations around the world practice it, and he also hopes that by founding Scrum.org, he can improve the status quo of the entire software industry. As the Scrum values promote, we saw in him a focus, courage, openness, commitment, and respect that didn't go away as he got older. We believe that even if the road ahead is full of thorns, he will still go forward because he is always on the road!