Scrum is one of the most popular agile practices for software development. But what exactly is Scrum? And how can you use it to improve your team’s work? This article provides a detailed overview of Scrum, including what it is, when to use it, and more.
Scrum is a set of principles and practices that are intended to increase productivity and visibility in software development projects. It’s an iterative process in which team members work in cycles known as sprints and have time at the end of each sprint to review what they’ve completed so far. If you’re new to Scrum, this guide will help you understand what it is, when to use it, different variations on Scrum, why you might choose one over another, and how to implement it with your team.
What is Scrum?
Scrum is an agile methodology for managing work on product development teams. It is used to prioritize work, track progress, and increase visibility in a product development process. Teams use Scrum to manage uncertainty and identify the team members responsible for specific portions of a project. Scrum has three main pillars: the product owner, the development team, and the Scrum Master.
The product owner represents the people who are using the product being developed (e.g., the customers), the development team represents the individuals conducting the work, and the Scrum Master represents the organization facilitating the work.
A regular Scrum meeting involves each of these stakeholders and takes no longer than a couple of hours. This meeting involves each group reporting on what they’ve achieved since the last meeting and discussing what they’ll do next. These discussions help keep everyone informed about what’s happening and who’s responsible for what.
Why Use Scrum?
Scrum guide is a popular choice when project stakeholders want to increase visibility and control over the product development process. It can be helpful in a variety of situations, including when there is high uncertainty when you have a cross-functional team, and when you have a large project. A project with high uncertainty may include a product that’s new to the market, a business transformation initiative, or other activities that are unproven and untested.
In these projects, you may not have a good sense of how long the work will take or what the final product will look like. Scrum gives you some control over the outcome by dictating a fixed series of activities that take place throughout the project and providing a framework for tracking progress.
When to use Scrum?
Scrum is a good choice when you’re working on a product that has high uncertainty, requires frequent and regular feedback, or has a large project team. Product development projects like product discovery, product research and development, engineering, and design can all benefit from Scrum. Product discovery and research projects usually have high uncertainty.
In these projects, you’re often trying to understand your audience, the market, and what your product needs to do. Because these projects are exploratory, you should regularly review your findings with stakeholders to inform your work. A scrum guide is a great option for these types of projects because it can handle high uncertainty while also supporting regular feedback and reviews.
There are a variety of Scrum variations. Each includes the three main pillars that makeup Scrum but may vary in terms of how the team works together. Traditional Scrum: This is the most common variation of Scrum. In this variation, the team works in sprints and has a product owner, scrum master, and development team. This is the most common form because it is the original version of Scrum guide. Scrum Alliance’s Core Scrum: This variation of Scrum includes the same three pillars as traditional Scrum, but the scrum master role is different. The scrum master acts as a coach and helps the team follow best practices and improve.
This variation is different because it doesn’t have strict rules for the scrum master like traditional Scrum does. Scrumban: This variation of Scrum differs from traditional Scrum because it doesn’t include a sprint. Instead, the scrum master organizes work into columns on a board and each column represents a predefined task. The scrum master also breaks down work into smaller tasks, manages the schedule, and estimates how long it will take to complete each task.
Why You Might Not Use Scrum Guide?
While Scrum is a popular choice for many situations, there are a few that might be better off using another type of agile methodology. If your project is new and doesn’t have a defined set of deliverables, you might want to use something other than Scrum, as Scrum is best suited for projects with an end goal. If your team members are working on different parts of the same project, Scrum is a good choice because it helps the team members collaborate and stay on track.
How to Implement Scrum Guide?
The first step to implementing Scrum guide is to decide which variation of Scrum you want to use. Once you’ve done that, you can begin to follow the three main pillars of Scrum and implement the process in your team. Here are some steps you can take:
- Define roles in the team – The first step in implementing Scrum is to define the roles and responsibilities in your team. The product owner represents the people who are using the product being developed and the development team represents the individuals conducting the work. The scrum master represents the organization facilitating the work. – Develop a product vision and backlog
- A product vision is a high-level view of what your product does and what it’s designed to achieve. It can be as simple as a few sentences or a short paragraph. A backlog is a list of existing work and new ideas that help you achieve your product vision.
- Plan the work – A scrum master or product owner can use the product vision and backlog to plan the work in the team. They can break down the work into smaller tasks, assign the tasks to team members, and estimate how long each task will take.
- Create a sprint – A sprint is a fixed period that team members use to complete the work in their backlog. Sprints can last between one and four weeks and can have a different focus each time.
- Conduct a sprint review – The scrum master, product owner, and development team review what they’ve accomplished at the end of each sprint to determine what to do next. They can discuss what they’ve accomplished since the last review as simple as it sounds.
- Repeat – Once your team completes one sprint, you can start another. Repeat this process until your team completes their project.
Scrum guide: Conclusion
In this article, you learned what Scrum is and why you might want to use it. You also learned when it’s a good idea to use Scrum, and how to implement it. Scrum is an agile methodology that helps you manage work on product development teams. It is most helpful when you have high uncertainty, require frequent and regular feedback, or have a large project team.