Agile-ish: Bringing Agile and Scrum into Project Management for Digital Collections Metadata

Implementations of agile values and principles are increasingly seen in project management beyond their original home in software development. Most library projects drawing on agile and scrum, agile’s most popular methodology, have needed to adapt these principles and methods to varying degrees, but most have been in environments similar to software development. The Pennsylvania State University Libraries’ cataloging department was interested to see if agile and scrum approaches could be successful in managing a metadata project involving an ad hoc team, composed of members volunteering part of their time to the project, and inexperienced in the work needed for the project. While the Penn State Libraries project used extensively modified versions of agile and scrum, we have concluded that using these principles and methods, even if adapted, can greatly improve the process and the outcome of many projects.