SCRUM.

Innovation and creativity are essential for organization performance, especially in current highly competitive and rapidly changing environments (Shin et al., 2012). With this increasing competitive edge, the companies have searched for tools that would facilitate innovation, speed and flexibility of work. Agile methods, as a new flexible and responsive tool to enhance team productivity, have become a popular choice within product development companies. Scrum is the most popular method within agile with over 52% of companies implementing it (Chan, 2013). With the lack of empirical research on innovation aspect of Agile methods, this paper aimed to fill in the gap in the literature, focusing on how Scrum enhances the communication essential of collaborative innovation. We conducted a qualitative in-depth analysis of Scrum method of work, focusing on one case study complemented with two expert interviews and an observation. The case focused on the Scrum team of the company Funda, which works in the field of internet based real-estate. The results showed that Scrum could enhance the communication aspect of innovation in the following matters. The team heterogeneity could increase communication and innovation within the teams. The flexibility that Scrum facilitates might increase freedom of work which could further enhance spontaneous communication. The built-in interactivity of teams also seems to increase the creativity flow within the teams with the ultimate goal of innovation. The product owner was found to be the bridge between the team and stakeholders and became the push point of creativity. Being transparent when communicating with the team and stakeholders seems to facilitate the ease of communication and could enhance the clarity of information flow. The freedom over work might increase responsibility which further seems to enhance the motivation and productivity of the team. We found that within the Funda Scrum, responsibility did not need to be communicated, it rather happened naturally during the process. Finally, the flexibility facilitated by Scrum seems to increase spontaneous communication and interaction of team members. The social aspect seemed to be the most significant aspect of the team. The results have shown that transparency, responsibility, problem solving and team spirit are essential components of the social aspect of the Scrum teams. The implications for theory and practice are discussed.