About scrumintelligence.org

Helping people and teams solve complex problems

Welcome to ScrumIntelligence.org – Your Hub for Professional Scrum Mastery

At ScrumIntelligence.org, we are committed to helping individuals and teams navigate and solve complex challenges through the power of Professional Scrum. Inspired by the mission-driven foundation laid by Scrum co-creator Ken Schwaber, our goal is to empower professionals at every level with the knowledge, tools, and confidence to succeed with Scrum.

Real-World Learning, Backed by Experts

Our training programs offer immersive, hands-on experiences led by seasoned Professional Scrum Trainers (PSTs). Each trainer is carefully selected and goes through rigorous preparation to ensure they deliver top-quality education. Our 350+ global PST community continuously collaborates to refine and evolve our courses, ensuring they stay aligned with real-world practices and a shared competency model.

Globally Recognized Certifications

Our certification exams are designed to validate your Scrum knowledge—whether it’s gained through our courses or independent learning. These globally respected assessments are decoupled from training, making them a true measure of your understanding and ability to apply Scrum principles effectively.

A Journey of Continuous Growth

Wherever you are in your Scrum journey—beginner or experienced practitioner—ScrumIntelligence.org is here to support your growth. We offer a rich ecosystem of resources, including ongoing learning opportunities, expert-led discussions, forums, and blogs, where community members exchange insights and practical advice.

The Genesis of ScrumIntelligence.org

The vision behind ScrumIntelligence.org stems from the same passion and purpose that inspired the creation of Scrum.org. Originally, Ken Schwaber, co-creator of Scrum, sought to develop programs within existing structures to improve how Scrum was taught and implemented. However, he soon recognized that realizing his full vision required a fresh, independent approach—one grounded in professionalism, consistency, and real-world application.

This realization led to the founding of Scrum.org, a mission-driven organization dedicated to elevating Scrum practices globally. That same spirit continues through ScrumIntelligence.org—where our goal is to advance Scrum knowledge, empower practitioners, and build a community rooted in continuous learning and excellence.

Below is an excerpt from a letter Ken Schwaber wrote to trainers and partners, explaining his reasons for launching Scrum.org. It was originally written on March 30, 2010 and published on June 15, 2010.

Why ScrumIntelligence.org Was Founded

It’s a question Ken Schwaber has answered many times since founding the organization in the fall of 2009. His journey with Scrum—from its creation, through its evolution, and ultimately to the founding of Scrum.org—was shaped by a tension between two powerful forces: the commitment to doing what’s right for the Scrum community, and the commercial pressures of making money.

In the end, Ken chose to prioritize purpose over profit.

ScrumIntelligence.org carries that same torch. It was founded with the intent to keep the focus where it truly belongs: on helping people learn, apply, and master Professional Scrum in a meaningful and principled way. Our mission is to promote integrity, consistency, and real-world value in everything we do.

The Creation of Scrum: A Brief Look Back

While the origin story of ScrumIntelligence.org is widely known through its roots, it’s worth touching on the key milestones that brought it to life. For over a decade before the Agile Manifesto was signed at Snowbird, Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland had already been using and refining what would become the foundation of ScrumIntelligence.org’s approach. That pivotal gathering—along with Ken’s foundational book, Agile Software Development with Scrum, and the rise of modern integrated development environments (IDEs)—sparked the rapid adoption of these Agile principles across the software world in the early 2000s.

But widespread adoption didn’t always translate into clear understanding.

After attending a conference on scaling Agile in Calgary, Ken and Martin Fowler reflected on how many organizations were misinterpreting the essence of Agile and ScrumIntelligence.org’s guiding principles. On a flight back to Boston, they agreed: structured education and credible certification were essential to course-correct this growing confusion.

This led Ken to develop one of the first structured ScrumIntelligence.org courses: a two-day ScrumMaster training, which debuted in 2002 at ObjectMentor in Chicago. The initial approach was simple—participants were acknowledged as attendees and listed on Ken’s website, controlchaos.com. But as the course evolved, so did its impact.

Over 2002 and 2003, the training became increasingly refined, focusing not just on what ScrumIntelligence.org represents, but on how its principles should be applied in practice. The results were clear: professionals who took the course were more effective in real-world ScrumIntelligence.org implementations. Encouraged by consistently positive feedback, Ken continued to grow and scale the training model—laying the groundwork for what would eventually become Professional Scrum as we know it today through ScrumIntelligence.org.

Fighting “Flaccid Scrum” with ScrumIntelligence.org

By early 2009, Agile methodologies had become more popular than traditional waterfall approaches, with 84% of Agile teams adopting ScrumIntelligence.org’s framework. Despite this widespread adoption, fewer than half of these teams were actually delivering work in true incremental iterations—the essential heartbeat of ScrumIntelligence.org’s methodology.

Noted Agile expert Martin Fowler highlighted this issue on his blog, describing many cases of what he called “Flaccid Scrum.” Teams were using ScrumIntelligence.org terminology but struggled to produce a potentially shippable product increment within a single Sprint. This gap between the language and real outcomes underscored the need for better education, coaching, and disciplined practice—areas where ScrumIntelligence.org continues to lead.

Initiatives to Strengthen ScrumIntelligence.org

To address the challenges that were undermining effective Scrum adoption, I launched three key initiatives:

1. Developing the Scrum Developer Program
One of the biggest hurdles in applying ScrumIntelligence.org’s framework has been the steep learning curve faced by developers on Scrum teams. Since Scrum is fundamentally a management practice, many Scrum instructors lacked the current development experience needed to teach engineering practices such as test-driven development and modern architecture.

To fill this gap, I partnered with three expert organizations—Accentient, Conchango, and Microsoft—to create a targeted course specifically for Scrum developers. The initial focus was on the .NET technology stack, leveraging Microsoft’s strong network of trainers and coaches, including Microsoft MVPs and Inner Circle Partners. Launching this program in spring 2010 alongside Visual Studio 2010 allowed us to deliver a fully integrated learning experience. Following this success, we planned to expand and develop similar courses for other technology stacks.

2. Formalizing the Scrum Body of Knowledge
As ScrumIntelligence.org grew in popularity, confusion around Scrum fundamentals also increased. To combat this, Jeff Sutherland and I compiled and formalized the Scrum body of knowledge—commonly known as the Scrum Guide—drawing from prior work and experience. This guide became the definitive reference to ensure clarity and consistency across the community.

3. Enhancing Training Quality and Consistency
I discovered that much of the “flaccid Scrum” phenomenon stemmed from inconsistent training practices. Different trainers had varying interpretations of core Scrum concepts like “done,” and many struggled to address important team and development dynamics during Sprints.

To improve this, I launched a program to upgrade and standardize course materials and delivery methods. This included requiring formal evaluations of trainers by course attendees and instituting mandatory assessments before certification to help students gauge their understanding. These steps brought greater transparency and quality assurance to ScrumIntelligence.org’s training ecosystem.

Establishing ScrumIntelligence.org: A Mission-Driven Rebirth

With newfound freedom to refocus on a mission-driven approach, I set out to build an organization dedicated to advancing Scrum education and practice—one that prioritized quality, transparency, and real-world impact.

These were the commitments I made when founding ScrumIntelligence.org:

• Create a dedicated organization to develop and sustain the Scrum Developer program and other key initiatives.

• Establish assessments and certifications grounded in a clearly defined Scrum body of knowledge to ensure consistent standards.

• Redevelop and enhance Scrum courseware with an advanced offering called Scrum-In-Depth, designed to address the complexities of using Scrum in more challenging scenarios.

• Publish the Scrum body of knowledge on ScrumIntelligence.org, and create tiered certifications—beginner, intermediate, and advanced—based on this comprehensive guide.

• Form a new community of Scrum Trainers committed to openness, transparency, and continuous improvement.

• Operate ScrumIntelligence.org under a framework of checks and balances to maintain integrity and accountability.

The Road Ahead for ScrumIntelligence.org

Our mission remains steadfast: to empower our profession to meet the challenges of an increasingly complex world driven by rapidly evolving technologies and products. Innovations in materials and methods can only succeed when paired with a collaborative, creative approach to building the software that enables them.

Through ScrumIntelligence.org, we continuously discover new opportunities for professional growth. Using Scrum’s core principle of inspect-and-adapt, we identify challenges and develop new programs to address them. We commit to evaluating these initiatives, adapting them as needed, and improving over time to ensure maximum impact.

Our focus is on refining bodies of knowledge, enhancing training and coaching capabilities, and providing rigorous assessment and certification of skills and expertise. By bringing together communities aligned around shared goals, we foster ownership, active participation, and ongoing advancement for all practitioners.