Scrum is an established and widely used framework for the development of innovative and complex products. With its charms, there are also some unspoken disadvantages too. But before advancing toward its advantages and disadvantages, let us try to know what Scrum means.
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What Scrum Project Management Is?
Scrum is one of the best known agile frameworks in use today and rightly so-it is best suited to develop complex products and systems. The term scrum comes from rugby. In rugby, scrum stands for the group of players contesting for the ball. In scrum project management context, "scrum" refers to the short meetings wherein team members meet to share successes, update on the project level achievement, discuss upcoming tasks, and notify on any future possible challenges. With short but focused meetings on one side, quicker and more quality delivery of their products is possible otherwise.
If you want to have a real feeling about its significance, you will first need to know about Agile development. It describes an adaptive method to develop software and is not its specific method; it is not actually a framework. Rather, it is simply a set of guiding principles regulating the ever changing nature of software development methods being used. Among these are some methodologies of software development considered Agile, invoking an iterative approach to software development.
In other words, it's about various methodologies and tools for developing software, and Scrum is one method. Mainly, Scrum is used in developing complex products and systems. It is based on the empirical process of doing, checking, and adapting. In that way, Scrum guarantees maximum productivity, thus providing a better element of control over any risks that may emerge, through two approaches: iteration and incrementation.
The main intention of Agile Project Management with Scrum is to satisfy the real needs of end users. This is done through sprints, constant feedback and iterations. Sprints are supposed to take short, fixed times, no longer than four weeks, during which the expectation is to present a significant product increment.
What is The Scrum Framework?
The product owner begins the creation of a backlog of product features (for instance, a wish list of tasks, which must be prioritized in a project). The Scrum team splits the tasks necessary to accomplish the finishing of items on the wish list into short smaller manageable chunks in a sprint planning session. A sprint backlog is created and the tasks are planned for implementation. The duration of every sprint is determined by the team (most commonly, this is a two week interval). The entire team meets for a short Scrum meeting (mostly known as the Daily Standup) every day, during which each team member gives updates for the day that help the team and the project manager assess project progress. Certified Scrum Master assists and motivates the team in their focus. At the end of each sprint, a review is conducted by the stakeholders and the product owner. In this way, a Scrum team follows this cycle in a product development project. These three roles: the Product Owner, the Scrum Team, and the ScrumMaster play a major role in practicing this framework.
Steps In The Scrum Process
The Scrum process comprises the following steps:
It is the owner of all the products that lists the activities necessary for the successful completion of the project and this is known as the product backlog.The Scrum team reviews each item in the product backlog and decomposes the major products into smaller, more manageable tasks.Implementation discussions occur and a sprint backlog is created.A duration for each sprint is determined, between two weeks and generally four weeks at most.During a sprint period, the team usually meets each day with members providing updates to the project manager as the project moves forward according to the latest information.The product owner and stakeholders within the organization check on results after each sprint.The Scrum Application into Project Management
The Scrum project management methodology is used in meetings or ceremonies: daily Scrum, sprint planning meeting, sprint review, and spring retrospectives are examples of Scrum ceremonies. Team members work in time-boxed intervals known as sprints, while release planning meetings may optionally be included to forecast and plan for various bundles of sprints.
1. Sprint Planning Meeting
This occurs during the first day of every sprint where a team of Scrum Master, Product Owner, and team collaborates on what and how. That is how he brings the features to be developed during the sprint.
The team goes ahead to determine how much work it has in its hands to see if the plan is realistic in producing all features within the sprint. If it cannot be completed, the least important features are returned to the product backlog until the workload becomes less so that the team can commit work to the sprint.
2. Sprint Review
At the end of the sprint, there is a sprint review meeting with the team and invitation to the stakeholders to offer comments on the features demoed. The Product Owner then notes, and incorporates them as needed in the Backlog.
Next, the team can conduct a retrospective meeting without the presence of stakeholders to see how the members have been performing with respect to deliverables and other aspects and how best to improve. They will draw up an action plan with the items that will be carried out in the next sprint and reviewed at the retrospective meeting afterward.
3. Tracking Progress
Tracking progress after the sprint planning meeting and team commitment in Scrum project management has been done by prominent information radiators such as the task board and burndown chart. The task board has all the tasks necessary for each feature visually, columns typically labeled "To Do," "Done," and "Doing."
Pending work amounts shown through trend lines are reflected in the burndown chart. Every day, scrum meetings are held in the task board, and adjustments are made, as the team discusses completed tasks, tasks planned for the current day, and any obstacles faced.
4. Release Planning
Release Planning is an aspect of Scrum project management that focuses on long distance planning for several sprints. In a way, it is a gathering of the entire team as the Product Owner, during a release planning meeting, presents the features to be developed for the quarter. The team gives rough estimates of how the features can be completed by the end of the quarter to determine the feasible features per sprint. Release planning can be feature driven, time driven, or cost driven.
Implement some benefits of Scrum:
Reason why this framework is too popular nowadays are below
This sprint can help teams complete project deliverables quickly and efficiently.This sprint can help teams complete project deliverables quickly and efficientlyThis sprint helps use time and investment betterSplits large projects into small manageable sprintsCode and test during the developments sprint reviewThis works well for the fast moving development project.Scrum meeting clearly gives visibility to the whole team.Scrum being agile, keeps feedback from customers and stakeholders.Short sprints mean changes based on feedback very easily. Every individuals' effort is visible for all team members during daily scrums.