The agile requirements refinery: Applying SCRUM principles to software product management

Context: Although agile software development methods such as SCRUM and DSDM are gaining popularity, the consequences of applying agile principles to software product management have received little attention until now. Objective: In this paper, this gap is filled by the introduction of a method for the application of SCRUM principles to software product management. Method: A case study research approach is employed to describe and evaluate this method. Results: This has resulted in the 'agile requirements refinery', an extension to the SCRUM process that enables product managers to cope with complex requirements in an agile development environment. A case study is presented to illustrate how agile methods can be applied to software product management. Conclusions: The experiences of the case study company are provided as a set of lessons learned that will help others to apply agile principles to their software product management process. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.