Scrum/APM (Agile Product Management) is our operating model that contains Scrum.

We have been evolving our own version of Scrum for over a decade going through different incarnations over time. The motivation was the ubiquitous nature of a few challenges almost all teams new to Scrum have after a Scrum Master training. These include:

• Stories being too big
• Having too many interruptions and not knowing what to do about them
• Working on too many things
• Too many things unfinished at a sprint's end
• Not knowing how to create cross-functional teams when some people are needed by several teams

Scrum/APM is an operating model for Scrum not a framework. Scrum/APM can start exactly where Scrum does, but it also provides a way to start in a more accommodating manner if that makes sense while providing a measure of how to improve things. This creates more flexibility and can avoid dropping practices without doing something else to manifest their intention.

The "where" it is more effective than Scrum includes when it is difficult to follow Scrum's immutable components or the company's culture. By explicitly calling out the need for APM, it helps ensure that that will be adopted.

Because of its nature, Scrum/APM can also be effectively taught to large groups for less than CSM training. This means you get more (APM) for less.