The Relationship Between Scrum and Release Planning Activities: An Exploratory Case Study

In modern product software development settings, it becomes increasingly important to deal with rapid changes in scope, large numbers of users, and regular releases. These circumstances are ideal for an agile development method such as Scrum to prove its value. However, the implications that Scrum has on software product management (SPM) processes have not been investigated in detail. In this paper, we provide more insight into the link between release planning processes and Scrum, by performing a case study at a large Dutch social network provider. The results show an evolutionary approach to the implementation of Scrum, and the relation between several Scrum concepts and SPM capabilities. The findings presented in this paper contribute to more insight into the link between Scrum and SPM and can be of help to product software organizations that employ the Scrum development method.