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.    

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