Why You Should Use Scrum

Scrum is a process framework for creating your own agile process, meeting the goals of your particular organisation. Some aspects as to why you would use scrum (over some other non-agile or non-iterative process) are as follows:

Managing risk and change effectively
By using small steps and quick feedback (tests, customers) errors from misunderstandings are quickly addressed.
Focusing on the most valuable and most risky aspect of the project up front reduce the cost of failure and therefore give a greater understanding of risk in the project.
Leaving options open until the last responsible moment (avoiding big up front design) reduces the risk of wasted work and helps facilitate change in line with the business goal.
Architecture evolves instead of being fixed ridged.

A light touch of order to the chaos
Defines principles to aim for rather than cold dogma.
Defining a flow of work and the roles and responsibilities to manage and maintain that flow.
Organising without stifling the creativity or variation that increases value of the work.

Faster time to market
By releasing functionality early and often, feedback is greatly increased and real understanding of what is needed is quicker to arrive.
As work is done in small self contained pieces it can be created and delivered quickly.

Improved quality
Defects are discovered and tackled early by including testing aspects and only software needed by the customer is developed.

Improved stakeholder satisfaction
Stakeholders (customers, testers, developers, ba’s, etc) have greater involvement and influence in the product development and therefore have more affinity to the project.

Greater employee engagement
Involved in the whole process & decision making activities giving them a greater understanding of the value of their work.

Higher productivity and lower costs
Only building what’s immediately needed reduces the waste of developing things that are not wanted.
Smaller code bases should on average have fewer bugs, so writing less code is more productive.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of reasons to start agile adoption (with scrum or similar approaches) but give you a flavour as to the aims and benefits of an agile way of working.