Requiring executive sponsorship

In the previous chapter, Origins of Agile and Lightweight Methodologies, I mentioned that a successful enterprise implementation of Scrum requires the support of a CEO or, at a product level, a senior-level executive who can assign a Product Owner to the development effort. As we get further into this chapter, we'll explore why that's the case. I don't want to imply that it's not possible to employ Scrum concepts within a small development team as a standalone effort. However, the team members' efforts will be frustrated without the executives buying in and having a basic understanding of Scrum concepts.

The successful implementation of Scrum requires making changes to traditional software development philosophies, culture, organizational structures, and infrastructure. Any project team that attempts to leverage Scrum concepts quickly runs into a host of organizational problems related to those four areas of concern. The Scrum...