Why is Scrum called Scrum?

Why Scrum Uses the Rugby Analogy

The creators of Scrum, Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber, chose the name because they saw similarities between the way teams collaborate in rugby and how teams should work in software development. In both cases:

• Collaboration and Teamwork: Scrum (in both rugby and Agile) emphasizes the importance of close collaboration, communication, and collective effort to achieve a common goal.
• Adaptability: In rugby, a scrum is a dynamic and fast-moving process where the team must adapt quickly to changing situations. Similarly, in the Scrum framework, development teams must be flexible and respond quickly to changes in requirements, feedback, or challenges.
• Self-Organization: Rugby scrums require teams to organize themselves efficiently. In Agile Scrum, the development team is self-organizing, meaning they manage their own tasks and work together without being micromanaged.

This rugby analogy perfectly captures the essence of how Scrum works in Agile: a collaborative, self-organizing team working together in short, iterative cycles (sprints) to move toward a common goal—much like a rugby team advancing the ball down the field.