What is Scrum?
Scrum is a lightweight framework for agile product development that encourages team members to work on a problem together. It helps teams gather knowledge from experience and learn self-organization by working on an issue.
Difference between Agile and Scrum
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Agile |
Scrum |
| Agile is a flexible way of executing projects where either scope, time, or cost get adjusted based on the pace of the project. | Scrum is an agile software development framework. Scrum is a framework that serves as a foundation for agile software development. |
| Agile is a mindset that enables us to embrace change and respond to it quickly and deliberately while controlling risk. | Sprint is a core of Scrum, and the sprint cycle can’t be more than one month. All events take place within a defined time box. |
| But agile is much more than just mindset. Agile that we refer to has originated from the manifesto for agile software development. A manifesto crafted by 17 people in 2001. | In Scrum, the cross-functional teams are self-managed, and they have collective ownership for delivery. |
| Agile software development is a common term for frameworks and methodologies that share values and principles described in the manifesto. | Scrum has five values — courage, commitment, focus, respect, and openness that help the team to be self-managed |
| Agile values and principles enable adaptiveness in approach while solving complex problems. | Scrum has three roles that help in defining clear accountability. |
| Continuous delivery of the working Product is the priority in Agile. | Scrum has three artifacts to enable transparency in terms of To-Do (Product Backlog), Doing (Sprint Backlog), and Done (Increment), and also Scrum has five events that provide opportunities to inspect and adapt. |
What are Scrum Values?
The bottom line is that successful Scrum depends on the entire
team embodying specific values.
The values of Scrum drive it’s implementation. The 5 values of Scrum includes-
Openness:
Scrum Teams need to be open to learning new things and opportunities. Transparency and seeking help is a value that is appreciated.
Commitment:
The ability to commit makes the Scrum team agile. Commitment makes it easy to build an agile culture. Scrum teams should deliver on their commitments and take up only tasks they are confident of completing.
Courage:
Commitment to delivering complex work requires courage. Courage is one of the cornerstones of Scrum. Scrum Teams shouldn’t hesitate to say no, seek help, or try new things.
Focus:
Focus is key to developing a product successfully using Scrum. The goal should be to limit the amount of work-in-progress (WIP) to stay focused on the task at hand.
Respect:
Scrum advocates respect where all members respect the Scrum Master, Product Owner, Development Team, and stakeholder’s accountability. Everyone’s contribution is equally respected, and the team’s success relies on mutual collaboration.
Scrum Roles and Responsibilities
The Scrum framework has 3 roles where each have their own
unique responsibilities-
Scrum Master:
As per Scrum Guide, Scrum Masters are accountable for Scrum Team’s effectiveness. The Scrum Master ensures the successful implementation of the Scrum framework while focusing on principles and values.
The Scrum Master is responsible to serves Scrum Team, Product Owner, and Organizations. They serve by doing the following:
- Coach and impart training to team members and stakeholders
- Facilitate Scrum events (as needed), team decisions, and conflict resolutions
- Causing the removal of impediments that become barriers to successful product delivery
- Removing barriers between stakeholders and Scrum Teams
Product Owner:
A Product Owner is an individual accountable for maximizing the value of work done by the Scrum Team. In addition, the product owner optimizes the business value by creating and maintaining the product backlog.
Product Owner has their fair share of responsibilities, such as-
- Creating and owning the Product Vision
- Managing the Product Backlog
- Working with Scrum Team to ensure the requirement is well understood
- Manage budget, scope, releases, and stakeholders of the Product
- Effective communication to the stakeholders of the Product
- Collaborating with the developers during Product Backlog Refinement
- Measure the Product’s value and decide what next while working with Scrum Team and Stakeholders.
Developers:
The Developers are a group of people committed to delivering usable Increment in every Sprint. Developers have all the skills required to turn Product Backlog Items (PBIs) into the Product Increment (PI). A typical cross-functional team developing software products consists of software engineers, quality analysts, UI/UX designers, business analysts, data analysts, and IT support for developing and testing a product.
The Scrum Team is accountable for-
- Take care of the sprint backlog
- Use daily Scrum to Inspect and Adapt.
- Maintain quality as per the Definition of Done
What is Scrum Artifacts
Scrum Artifacts provide vital information about the Product under development
to the Scrum Team and stakeholders.
Product Backlog:
A backlog is a list of items, features, user stories, modifications to existing features, and bug fixes that the Scrum team needs to complete to produce potentially Product Increment. Product Backlog is an emergent to-do list that keeps growing as we learn more about products and users. It enables transparency at work where everyone, including Stakeholders, knows what is yet to do done.
Sprint Backlog:
The Sprint Backlog contains the list of items that developers have pulled for the current Sprint. The sprint backlog includes the Sprint Goal that enables flexibility in complex work and helps the Scrum Team align towards a single goal. In addition, the Sprint Backlog may have subtasks that developers create during planning to complete forecasted Product Backlog Items. Sprint Backlog is a work-in-progress artifact to enable transparency.
Product Increment:
Product Increment is the sum of all the product backlog items that met the Definition of Done. The Increment must be in a releasable condition. In simple terms, Increment is done work. Any incomplete Product Backlog Items should not get added to Increment and must return to Product Backlog for the purpose of transparency.
The Scrum Framework At a Glance
What are Scrum Events?
Scrum Events are important events that ensure the Sprint goes smoothly. They are structured to adhere
to the principles of the Scrum framework and give Opportunities to inspect and adapt artifacts.
Sprint:
The purpose of the Sprint is to produce a Done Increment. The moment a Product Backlog item meets the Definition of Done, an Increment is born. A sprint is a container event, and all other events occur inside the Sprint.
Sprint Planning:
Scrum Team comes together as soon as a Sprint starts to plan the work for the Sprint. Scrum Team craft a goal for the Sprint. Developers pull the work from the product backlog to the sprint backlog and prepare a plan to meet the sprint goal.
Daily Scrum:
Developers meet every day to inspect the work and adapt the plan to meet the Sprint Goal. It helps them to review work at regular intervals and mitigate risks.
Sprint Review:
This is an opportunity for the Scrum Team and Stakeholders to meet and discuss the progress made towards the Product Goal. Developers demonstrate a working product to collect feedback.
Sprint Retrospective:
The Scrum Team meets the end of the Sprint to inspect and adapt themselves, existing processes, and practices. It is an opportunity to review the Definition of Done to improve the quality of Increments.
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