That Happened in 2005? Retrospective of the Big Moments of 2005

Carlton Nettleton• November 23, 2015• 4 min•

It is so hard to believe that I have been doing Scrum for over ten years now! Since 2005 was a real long time ago, I thought it might be fun to stroll down memory lane in order to re-visit the key events from 2005 (that would be gathering data from Diana Larsen’s and Esther Derby’s Retrospective book).

Here is a sampling of what some people were talking about and living through ten years ago. Enjoy!

United States

George W. Bush takes the Oath of Office for a second term as President of the United States. (January)
New England Patriots defeat Philadelphia Eagles, 24-21, at Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville, FL. (February)
The National Hockey League cancels the 2004-2005 season due to a prolonged labor dispute (February)
Hurricane Katrina, a category three storm when it makes landfall, devastates New Orleans and the Gulf Coast and 1,600 people die; twenty-two named hurricanes would form that year. (August)
William Rehnquist dies and John Roberts is nominated to be the 17th Chief Justice for the Supreme Court. (September)
Chicago White Sox sweep the Houston Astros 4-0 in the World Series. (October)
Cost of living in 2005 – new home: $297,000; median annual income: $46,000; gallon of gas: $3.18; dozen eggs: $1.13; loaf of wheat bread: $1.39; pound of ground beef: $2.21.

Globally

The world responds with aid and assistance following the devastating 9.1 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia. (January)
Dwarf planet, Eris, discovered beyond the orbit of Pluto by a team of astronomers at the Palomar Observatory in California. (January).
Kyoto Protocol, aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, begins to take effect without the participation of the United States nor Australia. (February)
Pope John Paul II dies, followed by the election of Pope Benedict XVI to become the 265th pope. (April)
Spain and Canada legalize same-sex marriage offering legal protections to an estimated 7.6 million people for the first time. (June)
Seven hundred people are injured and fifty-two are killed as terrorists detonate bombs in the London Underground. (July)
Mumbai receives 39 inches (99 cm) of rain in twenty-four hours bringing the city to a standstill for two days.
Angela Merkel makes history after being elected the first woman chancellor of Germany. (October)
Median global income (in USD): $1,400.

Pop Culture

Johnny Carson, long time host of The Tonight Show, dies at seventy-nine. (January)
Million Dollar Baby, directed by Clint Eastwood, wins Best Picture at the 77th Academy Awards. (February)
YouTube makes its debut; today YouTube is valued at $80 billion. (February)
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith debuts at Cannes; this film will eventually earn $848 million globally. (May)
Batman Begins, the first of the three Batman movies directed by Christopher Nolan, premieres; ultimately it will go on to earn nearly $359 million globally. (June)
The first Twilight novel is published; within two and a half years over a million copies would be sold. (October)
Rosa Parks, icon of the US Civil Rights movement, dies at ninety-two. (October)
The Colbert Report launches on Comedy Central. (October)
Brokeback Mountain, starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, premieres; it will go on to earn $177 million in global ticket sales. (December)

Scrum & Agile

In 2005 there were two Scrum Gatherings, a May event in Boston and a November session in Boulder; this year the Scrum Alliance hosted three global gatherings in Phoenix, Shanghai and Prague and six regional gatherings in South Africa, Rio de Janeiro, South Asia, Vietnam, Ecuador and Tokyo and seventy community-driven events globally.
In August, Agile 2005 was held in Denver, Colorado, this would be the fourth international conference on Agile with ninety-seven sessions; at Agile2015 there were over 200 sessions with over 2,300 participants.
Number of Certified ScrumMasters (CSM) in 2005: 2,677; Certified Product Owners (CPO) in 2005: 0; today there are over 300,000 CSM and nearly 59,000 CPO.

Major Agile Books Published

Agile Estimating & Planning by Mike Cohn.
Managing Agile Projects by Sanjiv Augustine.
Practices of an Agile Developer: Working in the Real World by Venkat Subramaniam and Andy Hunt.
Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management by Johanna Rothmans and Esther Derby.
The Enterprise Unified Process: Extending the Rational Unified Process by Scott Ambler and Mike Vizdos.
Ship It!: A Practical Guide to Successful Software by Jared Richardson and William Gwaltney.