The short answer is yes, they can.
First, what's the difference between a Scrum team, a Project team and a Product team?
A Scrum Team is a team using Scrum to deliver value.
A Project Team is a team formed to deliver a Project. A Project is a temporary endeavor with a scope, timeline and budget.
A Product Team is one or more Scrum teams that have been formed to support a product or service. These teams support the product over the life of the product or service. For example, one or more Scrum teams who have been formed to support a website. Priorities may change, but the team stays in place and is responsible for new features, technical debt, and support.
Can Projects be delivered with Scrum?
Now, back the main question - can a project be delivered with Scrum? Yes, and here’s how.
First, you may form one or more Scrum Team(s) to deliver the Project. In this case, the Scrum Team(s) disband once the Project is over. Smaller Projects may have just a couple of Scrum teams. Larger Projects may have multiple workstreams, where some of the workstreams are using Waterfall and some are using Agile approaches such as Scrum.
Alternatively, you may have a Project that is delivered by requesting work from one or more existing Product teams. In this case, the Product Owner will order the Project work on the Product Backlog alongside other work. In this situation, the Project Manager may be spending their time tracking where the Project work is on the Product Backlog and helping to manage dependencies across the various delivery teams.
These two approaches may be mixed and matched in a variety of ways by the Project Manager to deliver the Project in whatever way best suits organizational needs.
Conclusion
There are as many ways to deliver Projects as there are Project Managers. For a Project Manager, Scrum is an important tool for value delivery. For Project Managers who are interested in learning more about the Scrum framework, sign up for the Applying Professional Scrum course with Rebel Scrum!