Skip to main content

McKinsey & Company and Scrum.org Release Joint Research Study on Agile Teams

January 22, 2019

How to Select and Develop Individuals for Successful Agile Teams: A Practical Guide

Boston – January 22, 2019– Today, McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm, and Scrum.org, the mission-based organization dedicated to improving the profession of software delivery through training, certification assessments and community, released a new research study titled, How to Select and Develop Individuals for Successful Agile Teams: A Practical Guide. This study explores the values and traits that make agile teams successful, helping to guide companies with concepts and ways to better recruit and coach their teams.

“We participated in this study with McKinsey & Company to better understand how organizations can improve their efforts to become more agile,” said Dave West, CEO & Product Owner, Scrum.org. “Agile organizations need to understand how to get, retain and enable the best talent, and this study provides guidance on how they can do so.”

The study looks at the personality traits and work values in two crucial roles for agile teams: The Product Owner and the Team Member, and subsequently covers effective methods of further developing a team’s agility. The findings suggest that the ability to handle ambiguity and agreeableness are most important among personality traits, whereas pride in product outcomes and self-direction are most important among work values. Additionally, the study suggests the importance of customer-centricity as a way to inspire agile teams. It also provides practical questions to support the interview process and good practices for developing agile teams.

“Prior to this study, Scrum.org and McKinsey predicted that the characteristics of types of people that lead to success in an agile team would differ from those in traditional work settings, and wanted to understand how information about how people become successful can help,” said Wouter Aghina, a partner in the McKinsey & Company Amsterdam office. “Understanding how to select and hire for this dynamic, agile future is critical to the team and organization.”

The results and details of the study will be discussed in further detail in a webinar with Dave West, Scrum.org and Wouter Aghina, McKinsey & Company, on February 26, 2019 at 12:00 PM EST. The details to register are here. The report based on the study can be accessed here.

About Scrum.org
Based on the values and principles of Scrum and the Agile Manifesto, Scrum.org provides comprehensive training, assessments and certifications to improve the profession of software delivery. Throughout the world, our solutions and community of Professional Scrum Trainers empower people and organizations to achieve agility through Scrum.  Ken Schwaber, the co-creator of Scrum, founded Scrum.org in 2009 as a global organization, dedicating himself to improving the profession of software delivery by reducing the gaps so the work and work products are dependable.

Visit Scrum.org for further information on the organization’s Professional Scrum assessments, training and global community; follow us on Twitter @scrumdotorg and read more from our community of experts on the Scrum.org Blog.

About McKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm, deeply committed to helping institutions in the private, public, and social sectors achieve lasting success. For more than 90 years, our primary objective has been to serve as our clients' most trusted external advisor. With consultants in 129 cities in 65 countries, across industries and functions, we bring unparalleled expertise to clients anywhere in the world. We work closely with teams at all levels of an organization to shape winning strategies, mobilize for change, build capabilities, and drive successful execution.

 

Media Contact:
Lindsay Velecina

Marketing Communications Manager
Scrum.org
lindsay.velecina@scrum.org