Sunday, February 24, 2013

The Scrum/Agile Methodology


What new Agile teams don’t realize, is that there are different types of Agile methodologies, the most popular one being Scrum.

The Scrum Methodology

Most teams that transition to Agile choose to start with Scrum because it is simple and allows for a lot of flexibility.

As explained on Scrummethodology.com, “Scrum is unique because it introduced the idea of “empirical process control.” That is, Scrum uses the real-world progress of a project — not a best guess or uninformed forecast — to plan and schedule releases.”
What differentiates Scrum from other methodologies?

– Scrum has three roles: Product owner, team members, scrum master.

– Projects are divided into sprints, which typically last one, two or three weeks.

– At the end of each sprint, all stakeholders meet to assess the progress and plan its next steps.

– The advantage of scrum is that a project’s direction to be adjusted based on completed work, not on speculation or predictions.
The Scrum process includes the following steps:
Backlog refinement

This process allows all team members to share thoughts and concerns, and properly understand the workflow.
Sprint planning

Every iteration starts with a sprint planning meeting. The product owner holds a conversation with the team and decides which stories are highest in priority, and which ones they will tackle first. Stories are added to the sprint backlog, and the team then breaks down the stories and turn them into tasks.
Daily Scrum

The daily scrum is also known as the daily standup meeting. This serves to tighten communication and ensure that the entire team is on the same page. Each member goes through what they have done since the last standup, what they plan to work on before the next one, and outline any obstacles.
Sprint review meeting

At the end of a sprint, the team presents their work to the product owner. The product owner goes through the sprint backlog and either accepts or rejects the work. All uncompleted stories are rejected by the product owner.
Sprint retrospective meeting

Finally, after a sprint, the scrum master meets with the team for a retrospective meeting. They go over what went well, what did not, and what can be improved in the next sprint. The product owner is also present, and will listen to the team lay out the good and bad aspects of the sprint. This process allows the entire team to focus on its overall performance and identify strategies for improvement. It is crucial as the ScrumMaster can observe common impediments and work to resolve them.

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