Applied Knowledge Group Staff Attain ScrumMaster Certifications

Reston, Va., [March 11, 2008]  

AKG’s Professional and Technical Services teams now include certified ScrumMasters. Rance Hitt, Director of Technical Services, Pam Harris-Vet, Project Manager, and Business Analyst Jeff Clark recently became certified ScrumMasters, participating in a certification class taught by Ken Schwaber, author of Agile Project Management with Scrum. Schwaber is a thought leader in developing and using Scrum as a framework in developing software applications, and provides certification training. 

Agile development methods provide a way to introduce orderly change to a project in such a way to maximize benefits and minimize change risks.  By working with a flexible, extensible design it becomes easier to adapt to changing requirements throughout the project, generally accomplished with design iterations.  These iterations are delivered in relatively short times, often called “time boxes.”  AKG has long followed an agile methodology, and scrum is an agile technique that provides different techniques to deliver client benefit.

Scrum concepts are based in part on self-managed teams and greater transparency for the client.  The client has significant interaction with the team throughout the process and receives deliverables via an iterative process. Client involvement throughout the process results in solutions that gain user adoption at a faster rate, and also allows potential problems and issues to be resolved earlier.

Jim O’Farrell, AKG’s Chief Operating Officer notes “We have been centered on rapid, iterative delivery of solutions for some time now, and felt that taking the extra measure and having certified ScrumMasters on staff will enhance our ability to consistently deliver the right solution at the right time to our clients.”