An Introduction to Scrum

The Traditional Waterfall V/s the Revolutionary Scrum:

Before we get into Scrum, let’s look at the waterfall method to understand how Scrum is different from the traditional approaches. The waterfall follows a lengthy and time-consuming process in developing a product. It goes through various stages, such as the plan, build, test, review, and deploy the final product. The waterfall model doesn’t shift to the next step without completing the previous step, removing the scope of overlap of tasks to optimize the process. Since project managers make all the significant decisions at the start, it takes months to complete the planning process, then goes for building, testing, and reviewing. As the final product gets delivered after a considerable lag, the final product often becomes partially obsolete by the time it is released. The process takes several years for a product to be ready after several times of back stepping into the process. Often, the development team begins working on the product without realizing the complete set of requirements.

Scrum is an implementation of agile. Scrum divides the whole product into small deliverables conducting planning, building, testing, and reviewing for the iterative part of the product. At the end of each iteration, we may have a potentially shippable product. The cycle is repeated over several smaller operations, and each process may take a period of 1 to 3 weeks. These several incremental releases are called Sprints.

Sprints:

A sprint is a process of just enough planning, building, testing, and reviewing a potential product. Each ‘sprint’ takes 1 to 3 weeks, and we repeat the process until we have a shipping product. The process can be repeated to several sprints. The final product can be ready in the second or fourth sprint. However, the process will be repeated until we have the final product.

Key roles:

1. Product owner – The product owner defines the features of the product. The product owner comes up with ideas and new features for the product.
2. Scrum Master – He is a leader of the team and responsible for protecting the team and process. Scrum master runs the team meetings and is responsible for running the team.
3. The Team Members – Team can be a group of people who are developers, testers, and writers. It is a group of people who helps in developing the product. Every team member works in collaboration with each other and helps each other in developing the product.

Artifacts:

While there are many artifacts used in Scrum, the 3 most important Artifacts or documents used in Scrum are:

1. Product Backlog – The product owner creates a prioritized list of features. They write down the featured elements as it develops in each sprint. It evolves and changes with each sprint
2. User Stories – It is a way of describing a feature set. It helps the team estimate the right amount of tasks required in a sprint.
3. Burndown chart – It shows the completion of the task in a chart format. It shows the progress of the work being completed.

Scrum Meetings:

Sprint Planning – This is a meeting or discussion of product owners, scrum master, and team members meet to discuss the user stories

Daily Scrum – This a daily stand up meeting where the team explains what they are doing, what they have completed, and anything parked for further assistance.

Sprint Review – This happens at the end of a sprint. The team demonstrates the completed work to the product owner. The team discusses what they can do to improve the process going forward.

Therefore, we now have an understanding of how Scrum works. Let’s put this in a flow:

1. Product Backlog – This is where the product owner thinks of bright ideas and writes down features of the products. The product owner prioritizes the list and brings the top features that can be used and put it forward to the team.
2. Sprint planning – This is where the product owner, scrum master and the team discusses the user stories and the top priorities and what features should be added in the next sprint
3. Sprint Backlog – The output from sprint planning is the sprint backlog. It is a list of user stories committed to for the next sprint. The team understands what each story has in store.
4. Sprint – Each sprint is a work of 1 to 3 weeks. This is a work that has been committed in the sprint backlog. The team conducts stand-up meetings to understand what has been completed and what they are working on.
5. Potentially shippable product – This is a product from each sprint, and the product owner decides if the product is ready or whether it requires additional features to be added before it's shipped.
6. Sprint Review and retrospective – At the end of each sprint, the team comes together to review and showcases its product to the product owner. They also retrospect what better can be done for the next sprint.

The team repeats the workflow for each sprint. While the Scrum framework is predominantly used in software development, the flow and the structure can be used in any domain. Enterprises across the globe are heavily investing in Scrum teams and professionals who know what Scrum is leading to an increase in demand for Scrum certification. If you have experience in Scrum, you can efficiently utilize this setup to give a boost to your career. Just validate your experience with globally recognized certifications like CSM or CSPO. Certification Planner offers various training models for the certifications, materializing chances for professionals to solidify their position and grow in the domain. To know more, drop an email at support@certificationplanner.com or call at +1 855 322 1201

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