Scrum Methodology Made Easy – Easily Understand The Basics

Scrum can be understood in simple terms as a loose set of rules or guidelines used to control or govern the process of development of a particular product. The method can be used to develop the product right from its inception up to its finished state of completion. The objective of the scrum methodology is to overcome the shortcomings offered by traditional development methods. Generally, what does scrum help to overcome?

Chaos and problems occurring due to varying or changing development environment

A major problem occurring during the development process is responding to the changes occurring in the product development cycle or requirements put forward by the clients. In case of traditional linear product development methodologies, it is not possible to make any changes in the development cycle once it is decided and put into practice. The entire development stage has to be carried out again after incorporating the new changes in the product design or client oriented requirements. That is not the case with scrum development. Changes can be immediately reflected in the development cycle. Moreover, the changes can be incorporated in live working environments “on the go”.

Responding late to product development impediments

It is very important to respond quickly to, and cater in time to the impediments occurring during the development activity. If large extent of time is required to be spent while responding to the solutions required to remove the problems, the development loses its meaning if it is going to exceed the predetermined product development time. With scrum it is very easy to respond to changes. Any problem occurring, or faced by the development team is dealt within the sprint time.  The daily scrum meetings are basically designed and conducted for this very purpose. This facility is not supported in traditional methodologies.

Uncontrolled development process

In traditional development methodologies such as Waterfall, it is not possible to evaluate the development status on a frequent basis. Generally the project manager is made aware about the development status after a particular stage is completed, and by then it is too late to rectify and errors occurring or unknowingly carried out by the development team. With scrum, the difficulty is overcome due to sprint planning meetings. At the end of each sprint, generally lasting up to two weeks, the status of development is identified, known, ascertained, discussed, analyzed, and rectified for any erroneous process occurring during the sprint. This ensures that the errors are not carried forwarded, but rather checked in time, and catered to.  

“Please visit http://www.quickscrum.com to download the Quickscrum tool”

Source:-http://scrummethodology.zohosites.com/blogs/post/Scrum-Methodology-Made-Easy-%E2%80%93-Easily-Understand-The-Basics/

In Scrum, Can A Sprint Be Cancelled? If So, When?

Scrum framework and sprint

Scrum development is fundamentally about adapting to changes occurring during the product development cycle. Scrum levies a lot of significance to transparence, distribution of work, and incorporating changes even “late during the development stage”. Each individual associated with the implementation and working of the scrum framework is assigned a specific role. The person is strongly advised to perform within the boundaries specified by the role he or she is supposed to play, and not transgress the area of work under any circumstances. In scrum, the product owner too has a specific role to play, and is responsible for creating and maintaining the product backlog. The product owner has the final word while working out the list of requirements needed to develop the product – the user stories – which form the backbone of any product backlog. Each user story is further divided into individual tasks, which are taken up by the team members. These tasks are developed during the sprint activity. A sprint activity or simply the “sprint” is nothing but a “burst” of development activity undertaken by the team members, which generally lasts from two to four weeks as decided by the product owner. At the end of the sprint, a meeting is carried out which analyses how much development work has taken place, or how many user stories are successfully completed by the team members. So in many ways the sprint functions as the main essence, or the “heart” of the scrum process. Sprint plays an integral part in the scrum framework.

Can a sprint be terminated abnormally before it is completed?

Development teams are always instructed to complete their user stories as well as tasks well within the sprint duration. It is very important for the sprint process to be completed if the management is to achieve positive results out of scrum implementation. However, under some unusual or rare circumstances, sometimes sprints need to be “stopped” or terminated before it has a chance to run its full cycle. It is the product owner who decides if the sprint can or should be terminated or not.

Some of the reasons, which may induce the product owner to terminate the ongoing sprint, can be:

·       The stakeholders or the company management changes its priority regarding the product development

·       Market trends and/or changes make the current product development redundant or obsolete

·       A major technology change may introduce newer ways and methods of working

·       A better technical solution may offer a quicker and a more cost effective way of meeting the product development  

·       The management or the stakeholders may experience a financial crisis, or may not be able to financially support the development work

·       The launch of a new or better product may render the current development work superfluous and unnecessary

“Please visit http://www.quickscrum.com to download the Quickscrum tool”

Source:-http://scrummethodology.zohosites.com/blogs/post/In-Scrum-Can-A-Sprint-Be-Cancelled-If-So-When/

Effective and Productive Features Of A Scrum Retrospective Meeting – What Every Scrum Person Should Know

Sprint retrospectives are a technique in Scrum, used primarily to reveal or disclose the shortcomings and behavior of the scrum team to itself. When it becomes possible for a self-organizing body or a system to correctly identify the pitfalls and problems faced by it, it is possible to correct them by implementing proper solutions which can eradicate the impediments and remove the problematic issues from its roots. During scrum implementation, sprint retrospectives help to identify any erroneous working or problems faced by the team, and efforts are made to correct the problems in time. For retrospectives to be meaningful and useful, more emphasis should be stressed upon self-reflection – each member of the team should feel personally involved and responsible for the outcomes derived out of the sprint activity. This is one of the main essences of scrum. In addition to collaboration and team effort, scrum framework strongly promotes self-analysis and self-correction. Sprint retrospectives help to incorporate these scrum features during the implementation stage.  

Features of a healthy and beneficial sprint retrospective

The scrum guide has little to say about what an ideal retrospective should consist of. Since scrum is all about adapting to changes and collaboration of activities, it can be very difficult to specify exactly what the retrospective should include. Business processes can vary, and scrum implementation may be carried out in a customized manner to suit the particular organization or business. In short, it may be very difficult to define and standardize a retrospective. Rather, it would prove to be more meaningful and effective if the objectives and results of the retrospective are to be considered, instead of its anatomy or structure. Teams may vary, and can be big or small in size. The location should be ideally fixed, but it too can change as per convenience and feasibility. What does not change are the objective for which the retrospective is to be held, and what results are to be obtained out of it. Ideally, a sprint retrospective should support the following features:

• Each team member should engage in the discussion and actively support it in a pro-active manner.
• Discussions carried out ought to focus upon team activity and teamwork rather than individual team members.
• The definition of “Done” is clearly defined and explained properly to team members. Completed user stories should be accepted as “Over” or “Complete” only on the basis of the definition of “Done”. 
• A list of all actionable commitments should be created.
• The results of prior retrospectives are thought about and analyzed from time to time.
• Only relevant discussion pertaining to scrum implementation should be carried out.

 Who attends the sprint retrospective?

Everybody associated with the scrum project and scrum implementation should attend the retrospective. This includes the product owner and all team members. The scrum master too attends the meeting, but rather than indulging in active discussion, he or she engages in a manner which can facilitate the meeting, and positive results are derived out of it.

 Supporting the correct spirit while holding the retrospective

Regardless about who attends the meeting, or the level of seniority, there should be active participation by all the attendees, and discussions should be carried out in an open manner with a clear view of finding true and genuine solutions, rather than finding faults of individuals. Of course, self-introspection and error finding is a must as far as scrum is concerned, but instead of targeting specific individuals, it is important to discuss about team as a whole, and find solutions collectively. 

“Please visit http://www.quickscrum.com to download the Quickscrum tool”

Source:- http://quickscrum.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/effective-and-productive-features-of-a-scrum-retrospective-meeting-what-every-scrum-person-should-know/

True Meaning of Scrum and Pitfalls To Avoid At All Costs

Scrum, having its roots in Agile, can be effectively employed for almost any type of project. However, scrum is most preferred for software development purposes. The scrum process is ideally suited for rapidly changing project environments. It is most useful, and its potential can be tapped in the best manner, when the user related requirements are changed frequently, or randomly, due to various reasons. The methodology makes it possible to incorporate the changes easily and effectively within its development cycle, and still generate positive outputs.      

The true essence and working of scrum

According to scrum framework, development occurs in short bursts of activity known as “sprints”. Each sprint can generally last from two to four weeks. Each sprint begins with a meeting, known as a “sprint meeting”, and typically concludes with clearly defined and set out development objectives. “Stand up” meetings are very brief, and occur daily before the commencement of the sprint for that particular day. The main objective of the meeting is to apprise everyone about how much development progress has been made since the previous day, and what objectives are to be achieved on the particular working day. The main purpose of scrum is to aid the team members in inspecting and adapting to the changes, and providing transparency with regards the working of the project. Another main advantage offered by scrum framework is to increase the involvement, and the interaction of the client with the team members. The client remains apprised about the most recent development status, which helps him or her to undertake informed decisions about what further development activities are required to complete the project in totality, and what features and functionalists need to be omitted, or which have become redundant during the development cycle.   

Pitfalls while implementing scrum

Scrum is a framework based upon an organized thought process developed specially to cater to changing development requirements, and the main issue with Agile and scrum is that the method is to be implemented, or its rules enforced in a proper manner. Many a times, when organizations are not properly trained in the implementation of the framework, there is a tendency to fall back upon old development methods, consciously or unconsciously, thus making scrum redundant. Traditional development methods such as Waterfall have been in existence since a long time, and people are more familiar with them. Project managers have practiced these methods for a long time, and they are more conversant with them. Scrum can be difficult to implement, and if the manager is not properly trained, he or she may substitute some of the scrum related processes with Waterfall methods. The objective is to provide a specific solution during the development cycle, and when the person fails to implement scrum in a particular development related process, he or she “patches” up scrum implementation process with a Waterfall technique. This should be avoided at all costs. Scrum should be implemented in totality for it to be effective.    

"Please visit http://www.quickscrum.com to download the Quickscrum tool"

What Is Sprint Planning And What Do The Sprint Planning Meetings Actually Consist Of Or Include?

The primary objective of a sprint planning meeting is to discuss and plan about what the development team intends to build or develop in the upcoming sprint, and how the individual members of the team are prepared to go about with their development activity. Though most experts refer it to as a “single” meeting, it is in fact segregated into two unique parts. The first part concentrates upon what the team is actually asked to build or develop, and is attended by the team members as well as the product owner. The second part of the meeting focuses upon how the team members will proceed with the actual development work. The team members are to mandatorily attend both the parts of the meeting, while the product owner is committed to attending the first part only. He or she can however attend the second part if he or she wishes to do so.   

The first part of the sprint planning meeting

During the initial part of the meeting, the product owner has an opportunity to explain in depth about the set of user stories to be developed during the sprint. It is a rapid-fire type of discussion in which the product owner initially explains the user stories, and subsequently the team members start asking questions regarding the points they are not clear about. The product owner has many responsibilities and roles to play. The person represents the client’s interests, explains how the stories are to be linked up in the future, and keep tabs during the entire development activity carried out by the team members. The objective of the meeting is to provide enough information, or brief the team members regarding the development activity required so that each member can carry out his or her part without any confusions or problems.

The questions typically asked during this stage of the meeting are: 

·       What is the acceptance or “passing” criteria of all the stories?

·       What kind of data sources need to be used? Where will the data originate from, and where will it go?

·       How should the developed component look like once it is fully developed?

The second part of the sprint planning meeting

During the second part of the meeting, the team further analyses the user stories and focuses upon creating the sprint backlog which includes the user stories, or the set of requirements and functionality to be developed by the team members during the sprint. The team typically segregates the user stories into individual tasks, and links up, or associates each task with a certain time scale i.e. the duration in which the particular task is to be developed. Generally the tasks are planned to be completed on an hourly basis, however, the time period can be more depending upon the complexity and the levels of functionality to be incorporated into the given task. Another main objective of this part of the meeting is to accept the user stories as practical and “doable”, and to reject those stories which cannot be catered to, owning to various reasons.

The duration of the entire sprint planning meeting can range from two hours up to eight hours depending upon the number of user stories involved, and the levels of complexity. The rule of the thumb is to spend one hour of discussion for each week of sprint.    

"Please visit http://www.quickscrum.com to download the Quickscrum tool"

How Product Owners Can Increase Their ROI And Boost Up Sales

Many discussions and talks have been carried out regarding the actual role of a product owner i.e. what makes the ideal product owner. Several suggestions have been put forward explaining the role of the product owner – both ideal ones and practical ones. However, the debate is far from over since client requirements often keep on changing, and there is always a confusion whether a client can assume the role of a product owner, and if so, would it be contradictory to scrum methodology? Actually, it would be more meaningful to consider what type of activities should be undertaken by the product owner, rather than follow the ideal role of being one. As far as real life scenarios are concerned, it is the client who is the most well versed person as regards the developmental requirements and what kinds of functionalities ought to be incorporated in the user stories. 

Know more about the Product Owner’s role at Quickscrum!

Suggested activities for a product owner

For the client and the product owner, it is very important to be familiar with the scrum methodology and its techniques. It is also important to know about the advantages of scrum, and what it has to offer over traditional development methods before tapping the full potential of it. The activities can ideally include:

·       Remain present and contribute information as well as knowledge during sprint reviews, sprint planning, and retrospective meetings

·       Order and create the product backlog based upon the importance of user stories and ROI

·       Be easily available to team members, and provide appropriate feedback whenever they face difficulties or issues during development.Know More on http://blog.quickscrum.com/post/2014/01/29/How-Product-Owners-Can-Increase-Their-ROI-And-Boost-Up-Sales.aspx

An Overview Regarding Scrum Methodology

An introduction to Scrum methodology

For majority of the software developers, Agile methodology does not require any prior introduction. It is widely known that Agile is a comparatively new addition in the field of project management, and was primarily developed to overcome the drawbacks offered by traditional developmental methodologies such as the Waterfall method, which included a linear approach while executing projects. Typically, traditional methods support a top-to-bottom approach of segregating the entire project into main development activities, and tackling them one after another in a sequential method. The Scrum methodology offers a more flexible and dynamic approach of splitting up the entire project into individually executable project parts known as “Sprints”. Each sprint is processed or developed by many team members, who put in efforts to develop an entirely finished and shippable product at the end of the particular sprint. The main advantage of the Scrum methodology is that it increases the interaction between the “Product owner” and the team members. Increased client participation (or the Product Owner) leads to enhanced development experience, an advantage that is uniquely offered by Scrum and not other development methodologies. Another advantage offered by Scrum is the highly reduced turnaround time. Each sprint may typically last from one to four weeks, at the end of which a shippable product is delivered. The client is made aware about the development carried out at the end of the sprint by the team members. In many cases, the client can assume the role of the product owner and brief the scrum master regarding the development required. Typically, the sprints are numbered from zero, and proceed as “Sprint 1”, “Sprint 2”, etc. The client can determine the cost effectiveness of each sprint.Know more on http://blog.quickscrum.com/post/2014/01/23/An-Overview-Regarding-Scrum-Methodology.aspx 

The Origin And Key Principles Of Scrum

Origin of scrum

The terminology "Scrum" was initially introduced by Takeuchi and Nonaka in 1986, in a study paper published in the Harvard Business Review. The paper explained that projects should ideally use small, cross functional teams having complete autonomy in whatever they do, and the teams were supposed to deliver a completely finished and shippable product at the end of the development cycle. In case the product cannot be completed at the end of the development cycle, it could be further extended in the form of another “sprint”. Each development cycle is known as a “sprint”, and typically lasts for two weeks to four weeks. This particular development methodology leads to highly reduced turnaround times, and increased productivity. The main advantage of the methodology is that it delivers a completely shippable product at the end of the development cycle, and the development activity takes very little time. This can lead to increased ROI and reduced overheads since redundant requirements or development activities can be curtailed well in time, and replaced by newer and far more important ones in their place. The word “Scrum” is actually derived from the scrum used in rugby football in which the game is restarted again with new or fresh objectives after it undergoes a minor infraction. The game is “reset” to run again with more effective and meaningful objectives after it experiences a setback. That is exactly what happens while using Scrum methodology. Development is carried out in short sprints, at the end of which the results are evaluated, and if required the sprint is extended with the same or newer aims and objectives.Know more on http://blog.quickscrum.com/post/2014/01/23/The-Origin-And-Key-Principles-Of-Scrum.aspx     

Agile Scrum Development and Services

We offer Agile scrum development services which support the implementation of scrum methodology based upon specific client requirements. We also provide a scrum project management tool specially developed by us keeping in mind the important scrum metrics which can help to tap the full potential offered by the scrum methodology. Benefit by enhancing your productivity and increasing your ROI. Please visit http://www.quickscrum.com  to know more about the product and our services.