Scrum in a 2 Person Team

What?  Why in the world would you use Scrum for 2 people?  Why not use XP and then you are inside each other’s head anyway?

Let me essplain.

Martin Danner and I recently became a team of 2 as the Software Architecture Team at Healthwise. For now, we even share an office. Although our projects are different, it is valuable for each of us to understand the work of the other and for us to vet our solutions with each other.  So how do we stay hitched up? Scrum.

I thought Martin was crazy when he suggested it, but 2 days into our first iteration I see that he was right and this is the perfect way to manage ourselves.  We don’t have a Scrum master, but we do have a burn down and a daily Scrum.  That’s enough to stay on track and let our boss know what we’re up to.

There is something personal about looking your team mates (even just one) in the eye and committing to getting something done for the next day.  It pulls at the edges of my integrity when I fail to deliver on a commitment like that and this gets to the heart of why Scrum is so effective.  Even for 2 people who share an office.