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What is Scrum Methodology?

  • Amruta Bhaskar
  • Jun 7, 2021
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Scrum is an agile development methodology used in the development of Software based on an iterative and incremental processes.  Scrum is an adaptable, fast, flexible and effective agile framework that is designed to deliver value to the customer throughout the development of the project. The primary objective of Scrum is to satisfy the customer’s need through an environment of transparency in communication, collective responsibility and continuous progress. The development starts from a general idea of ​​what needs to be built, elaborating a list of characteristics ordered by priority (product backlog) that the owner of the product wants to obtain.

Scrum is a framework that helps teams work together. Much like a rugby team (where it gets its name) training for the big game, scrum encourages teams to learn through experiences, self-organize while working on a problem, and reflect on their wins and losses to continuously improve.

While the scrum I’m talking about is most frequently used by software development teams, its principles and lessons can be applied to all kinds of teamwork. This is one of the reasons scrum is so popular. Often thought of as an agile project management framework, scrum describes a set of meetings, tools, and roles that work in concert to help teams structure and manage their work.

The Scrum model suggests that projects progress via a series of sprints. In keeping with an agile methodology, sprints are timeboxed to no more than a month-long, most commonly two weeks.

Scrum methodology advocates for a planning meeting at the start of the sprint, where team members figure out how many items they can commit to, and then create a sprint backlog – a list of the tasks to perform during the sprint.

During an agile Scrum sprint, the Scrum team takes a small set of features from idea to coded and tested functionality. At the end, these features are done, meaning coded, tested and integrated into the evolving product or system.

On each day of the sprint, all team members should attend a daily Scrum meeting, including the ScrumMaster and the product owner. This meeting is timeboxed to no more than 15 minutes. During that time, team members share what they worked on the prior day, will work on that day, and identify any impediments to progress.

The Scrum model sees daily scrums as a way to synchronize the work of team members as they discuss the work of the sprint. At the end of a sprint, the team conducts a sprint review during which the team demonstrates the new functionality to the PO or any other stakeholder who wishes to provide feedback that could influence the next sprint.

This feedback loop within Scrum software development may result in changes to the freshly delivered functionality, but it may just as likely result in revising or adding items to the product backlog.

Another activity in Scrum project management is the sprint retrospective at the end of each sprint. The whole team participates in this meeting, including the ScrumMaster and PO. The meeting is an opportunity to reflect on the sprint that has ended and identifies opportunities to improve.

Scrum Methodology & Process

Scrum is precisely an evolution of Agile Management. Scrum methodology is based on a set of very defined practices and roles that must be involved during the software development process. It is a flexible methodology that rewards the application of the 12 agile principles in a context agreed by all the team members of the product.

Scrum is executed in temporary blocks that are short and periodic, called Sprints, which usually range from 2 to 4 weeks, which is the term for feedback and reflection. Each Sprint is an entity in itself, that is, it provides a complete result, a variation of the final product that must be able to be delivered to the client with the least possible effort when requested.

The process has as a starting point, a list of objectives/ requirements that make up the project plan. It is the client of the project that prioritizes these objectives considering a balance of the value and the cost thereof, that is how the iterations and consequent deliveries are determined.

On the one hand the market demands quality, fast delivery at lower costs, for which a company must be very agile and flexible in the development of products, to achieve short development cycles that can meet the demand of customers without undermining the quality of the result. It is a very easy methodology to implement and very popular for the quick results it gets.

Scrum methodology is used mainly for software development, but other sectors are also taking advantage of its benefits by implementing this methodology in their organizational models such as sales, marketing, & HR teams etc.

Benefits of Scrum Methodology

Scrum has many advantages over other agile development methodologies. It is currently the most used and trusted framework of reference in the software industry. Below are some of the known benefits of Scrum:

Easily Scalable: Scrum processes are iterative and are handled within specific work periods, which makes it easier for the team to focus on definite functionalities for each period. This not only has the benefit of achieving better deliverables in line with the needs of the user, but also gives the ability to the teams to scale the modules in terms of functionality, design, scope and characteristics in an orderly, transparent and simple manner.

Compliance of expectations: The client establishes their expectations indicating the value that each requirement/ history of the project brings, the team estimates them and with this information, the Product Owner establishes its priority. On a regular basis, in the sprint demos, the Product Owner verifies that the requirements have been met and transmits feedback to the team.

Flexible to changes: Quick reaction to changes in requirements generated by customer needs or market developments. The methodology is designed to adapt to the changing requirements that complex projects entail.

Time to Market reduction: The client can start using the most important functionalities of the project before the product is completely ready.

Higher software quality: The working method and the need to obtain a functional version after each iteration helps to obtain a higher quality software.

Timely Prediction:  Using this methodology, we know the average speed of the team by sprint (story points), with which, consequently, it is possible to estimate when a certain functionality that is still in the backlog will be available.

Reduction of risks:  The fact of carrying out the most valuable functionalities in the first place and of knowing the speed with which the team advances in the project, allows to clear risks effectively in advance.

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