How Many Companies use Scrum in 2024?
Finding reliable stats on Scrum to answer simple questions like “How many companies use Scrum in 2024?” is surprisingly hard.
Sure, the internet is awash with numbers about Agile’s most popular framework. But try to trace their sources, and you quickly find yourself in a variant of the telephone game: one bad source references the other and vice versa. Often, important context is often lost, or the numbers are just plain wrong.
This article isn’t like that.
We’ve vetted every number, anecdote, and article below, showing where everything comes from; you can safely quote this information in your own article or presentation materials.
💡 Need a refresher on Scrum or some of its basics?
Essential Scrum statistics
We’ve compiled an overview of essential data on Scrum based on reputable sources like the 16th State of Agile Report and Scrum Alliance. These stats reflect the current realities of Scrum adoption and practices.
How many companies use Scrum in 2024?
Nobody knows exactly how many companies use Scrum in 2024. However, most big companies employ Scrum in some shape or form. Here is some data that indicates how prevalent Scrum is:
- Almost 9 in 10 respondents (87%) to an Agile-focused survey say they use Scrum. This number is an increase from just 58% in 2021 in the 14th survey,., indicating that Scrum is becoming more popular (16th State of Agile Report, page 11)
- 28% of respondents say they use Scrum@Scale/Scrum of Scrums, an increase from 9% from the 202215th when only 0% said they used Scrum of Scrums edition of the report. (16th State of Agile Report, page 11)
Other Scrum statistics
- Scrum NPS scoreRecommendation of Scrum: 78% of Scrum practitioners would recommend the framework to colleagues, friends, or other professionals. (Source: Scrum Alliance)
- Daily Scrum meetings: 87% of Scrum teams hold a Daily Scrum meeting. (Source: Scrum Alliance)
- Sprint lengths: 59.1% of Scrum teams hold two-weeks sprints. (Source: Broadcom)
- Scrum and Agile metrics: 27% use OKRs tied to Epics, 25% use NPS scores, and 25% use value stream KPIs. (16th State of Agile Report, page 9)
- Scrum and Kanban: 81% of Scrum Masters use Scrum and Kanban together, while 54% use Scrum with DevOps. (Source: Scrum.org and Age of Product)
- Quality and Scrum: Teams doing full Scrum have 250% better quality than teams that don’t estimate. (Source: CA Technologies)
- Quality of work life: 85% of Scrum practitioners say it improves the quality of their work life. (Source: Scrum Alliance)
- Scaled Scrum and Agile: 53% of respondents use the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), making it the most popular enterprise Agile framework. This percentage is up from 37% in the 15th report. (16th State of Agile Report, page 11)
💡 Want more statistics on Scrum and Agile? Check out our 300+ Agile & Scrum Statistics.
Notable and quotable Scrum anecdotes
The snippets of wisdom in this section add a human touch to the Scrum story, linking practice, theory, and real-life experience. You can use these quotes to add depth and emotion to the stats and scientific findings in your articles or presentations.
- “The heart of Scrum is rhythm. Rhythm is deeply important to human beings. Its beat is heard in the thrumming of our blood and rooted in some of the deepest recesses of our brains. We’re pattern seekers, driven to seek out rhythm in all aspects of our lives.” – Jeff Sutherland in Scrum – The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time
- “Every great product owner needs a great Scrum Master.” – Roman Pichler, Agile trainer and author (source)
- “Practicing Scrum with a project mindset is like playing hockey with a basketball.” – Rick Waters, business agility coach and trainer (source confirmed by email)
- “A sprint would only be a failure if the team didn’t deliver anything and didn’t learn from it.” – Mike Cohn, Agile trainer and author (source confirmed by email)
- “Each Sprint is an experiment. Through conducting each Sprint we are trying to determine ‘Did we answer the problem we intended to solve?’” – Andy Hiles in Applying Scrum with Kanban
💡 Want more quotes on Scrum and Agile? Check out our 120+ Great Agile Quotes to Inspire Your Team.
Scientific Scrum analyses
Sometimes, you need more than a stat or quote to make your Scrum case. The articles and papers in this section explore Scrum’s practices and effectiveness through a scientific lens with empirical evidence and research-backed findings.
A Theory of Scrum Team Effectiveness (free access)
Based on seven years of research, this paper presents a model on the factors that make some Scrum teams more effective than others. The authors explore the relationships between team responsiveness, stakeholder engagement, commitment to continuous improvement, autonomy, and management support.
❓ Questions this paper can help answer:
- How does a team’s responsiveness influence its effectiveness in a Scrum setting?
- How does a commitment to continuous improvement contribute to a team’s success in Scrum?
- How does management support influence the various factors contributing to Scrum team effectiveness?
In this study, the authors aim to determine what factors relate to Scrum adoption. Through surveys and statistical analysis, they found 14 essential elements for Scrum adoption. They’ve grouped these factors into higher and lower-order ones like organizational behavior, sprint management, and customer collaboration.
The study focusescenters on South African organizations, but its findings arehave relevant insights for any organization adopting Scrum.
❓ Questions this paper can help answer:
- What are the key factors that significantly influence Scrum adoption in organizations?
- What practical steps and considerations should organizations consider to enhance their Scrum adoption journey?
- How can organizations leverage empirical data to make informed decisions about implementing Scrum?
Why Scrum works in new product development: the role of social capital in managing complexity (free access)
This article looks at the effectiveness of Scrum in developing new products and the importance of “social capital” – the networks, relationships, and interactions that help teams and organizations collaborate and communicate effectively.
The authors use real-world examples from the air traffic management industry to show how Scrum’s social dynamics make project governance easier, improve resource allocation, and enable flexibility in dealing with product development challenges.
❓ Questions this paper can help answer:
- In what ways does social capital play a role in the efficiency and effectiveness of Scrum practices?
- What challenges do new employees face in adapting to the Scrum way of working, and how can these be mitigated?
- How does Scrum contribute to managing complexities in new product development within safety-critical domains?
This document is a compilation of various research papers and articles related to Scrum and Agile methodologies. The authors review different aspects of Agile practices and cover topics like governance frameworks for Scrum teams, the importance of safety standards in Scrum development processes, and the challenges and success factors for large-scale Agile transformations.
❓ Questions this paper can help answer:
- What are the common challenges organizations face attempting large-scale Agile transformations, and what factors contribute to their success?
- How can Agile and Scrum practices be adapted to suit different industries and contexts?
How Scrum adds value to achieving software quality? (free access)
This article by Adam Alami and Oliver Krancher is an in-depth analysis of the Scrum framework and its impact on software quality based on interviews, focus groups, and observational data. The research explores how Scrum practices contribute to higher software quality and provides valuable insights for organizations looking to optimize their Scrum implementation.
❓ Questions this paper can help answer:
- What factors influence the relationship between Scrum practices and software quality?
- How can organizations optimize their Scrum implementation to enhance software quality?
More resources for Agile stats and inspiration
The use cases and practices that fall under the Agile umbrella are vast. Even within the Scrum framework, there are many more stats, findings, and quotations to explore.
Here’s an overview of the other resources mentioned in this article, plus several new ones. We’ve compiled all of these pieces with the same manual rigor as this resource.
Agile statistics and quotations
Scrum 101
Other helpful Agile resources
Tim Metz
Tim Metz crafts content at Animalz for the world’s most amazing startups. He’s passionate about deep work and work-life balance.
