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Nordic Agile Survey 2020 Results: Finland and Sweden stay at the forefront of agile

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March 10, 2021 · 2 min read time

Nitor, together with the University of Helsinki and Karlstad University,  has completed a Nordic Agile Survey in November–December 2020. We got 58 responses from Sweden, 74 responses from Finland, and one response from Denmark. 

Figure 1 shows the percentage of usage of different methods from the responses given in Finland and Sweden. The most popular methods were Scrum and Kanban. SAFe is slightly more in use in Finland (49 %) than Sweden (34 %). The same trend applies to DevOps as well – Finland was leading the use (50 %) against its Swedish counterparts (41 %). Scrum (74 % in Finland and Sweden), and Kanban (71 % in Finland, 68 % in Sweden) remained the most used methods in both countries, as expected. 

Nordic agile survey – agile methods multi choice


When compared to the 14th Annual State of the Agile Survey Report, both Finland and Sweden are trailblazers in Agile methods, especially when it comes to Scrum and Kanban (globally 58 % reported using Scrum, and only 7 % Kanban, and 10 % ScrumBan). Finland (49 %) is also a bit ahead and Sweden (34 %) on-par compared to reported SAFe usage (35 %). 

Agile methods remain very popular: none of the respondents stated they would like to go back to the old methods 

The reported use of all methods in Finland was slightly less compared to the survey results in 2018. This might be the result of different respondent organizations in our sample populations in different years – the early analysis of results indicates that the use of Agile methods has progressed within respondent organizations during these two years. Yet, the demographic distribution of the used methods remains similar (see Figure 2).

Nordic agile survey – comparison of methods used


Last, but not least: Our survey did come with a raffle and we are happy to let you know the winner was Pierre Karlsson from Sweden!

Congratulations Pierre, how does it feel to be the winner of a Hövding Airbag 3.0?

“Thanks, it feels a bit strange. I usually never win, so this was a real surprise!”

How did you find out about the Nordic Agile Survey?

“I am currently on my way to certify as Scrum Master, and I found out about the survey through your Agile newsletter, which I subscribe to.”

What made you decide to take part in the survey?

“I try to take part in surveys because I find that to be the best way to voice one’s opinion and have an impact on the future.”

What would you be curious to learn from the results of this survey?

“I think it will be really interesting to learn how the Agile change is happening, but also insights into the future development within our industry.”

Thanks to all of you who participated in the survey!

Stay tuned as we will publish more results at a later time! Sign up for our Agile newsletter to receive information about blog posts, upcoming training, and more!

Photo by Joakim Honkasalo on Unsplash

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