Virtual Reality Meets Scrum: How a Senior Team Moved from Management to Leadership

The role of managers in a Scrum organization is a topic of high interest with almost no research. Changes in management roles and behaviors were evaluated in a rapidly growing, social entertainment and gaming company in Finland. Sulake introduced Scrum in 2006 and within 6 months institutionalized Scrum across the organization. The company was surveyed in 2009 and responses from 19 managers and 36 non-managers were carefully studied. The biggest challenges of Scrum for managers were keeping up with the team and learning to "let go" and stop micro-managing the teams. Managers report Scrum increases productivity (73%), increases quality (58%), and makes it easier to change direction (84%). The role of the manager changes from telling people what to do into communicating goals and visions (a key insight of Takeuchi and Nonaka). Increased responsibility of the team affects hiring practices of managers in a Scrum company.