Over the course of a project, one makes hundreds of decisions. And, one of the crucial decisions is choosing which project methodology to follow.
Scrum is a fun and profitable way to get things done. Whether you are a team member, a project manager or a product owner, it is a good decision to adopt a new way of working to see tangible benefits quickly. That is why, Scrum is recommended, as it relies on a self-organizing cross-functional team. It is supported by two specific roles. The Scrum master, who is the coach of the team, helps the team members perform to the highest level and the product owner (PO), who is the customer/owner of the product and guides the team to build the right product.
Scrum is based on the concept of KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid) because it only specifies a few concepts and lets the team fill in the gaps. Scrum is considered an Agile method as the principles of Agile can be found throughout. However, it also has its own set of values, commitment, focus, vision, goals, and openness.
The Scrum process begins with a prioritized backlog in which, the product backlog defines the product vision, the release backlog defines the release goal, and the sprint backlog defines the detailed tasks for the current sprint. From here, the team moves the project forward by working in short durations known as Sprints which spans from one to four weeks.
Benefits of Scrum:-
1. Team collaboration
An essential part of Scrum is the daily meeting. The team meets every day for a quick update. This meeting is an important part of the Scrum framework. Benefits of having the daily Scrum are:-
- Let’s the team to be in sync on how things are going
- Allows for corrections in the sprint
- Building trust between team members
- Encouraging personal planning
- High visibility of progress
- Self-organization in team
In this meeting, everyone answers three questions.
- What did they do Yesterday?
- What is the plan for Today?
- What are the issues that the team is facing so far?
It aims to improve every individual’s commitment towards the team thereby creating a positive team ambiance. With this strategy, they are able to focus on small, concrete tasks without getting distracted by big complexities.
2. Ownership and autonomy
In the lead stage, the whole team participates in project estimation and task breakdown. This gives them a sense of ownership and responsibility towards the project. And, in the development phase, the team members can pick any task they like. It provides an excellent learning opportunity as they get to choose tasks even beyond their comfort zone.
3. Continuous improvements
Organizations reduce rework by focusing on development based on priorities set in the form of user stories.
At the end of each Scrum call, the team has an excellent opportunity to identify and solve the bugs that are formulated.
4. Project Control
During the course of the project, the team has numerous opportunities to manage project performance and make corrections as needed.
The team adjusts priorities throughout the project rather than at major milestones by coordinating in the daily scrum. The daily scrum allows the team to address issues as they arise and remove all roadblocks in communication gaps.
5. Reduced risk
Scrum helps in eliminating any risk of absolute project failure as the team spends a large amount of time focusing on delivering tangible products early. Scrum methodology gives enough time to fail in the early stages of the project, if they are going to fail. Hence, they can focus on the highest risk tasks first which gives them time to fix the issues on time.
Why Scrum is the only way to get things done?
- As a technology company that believes in continuous improvements, Scrum is best for development as it allows the team to work on features and improvements on a continuous basis.
- The Scrum process is simple and clear about the need to produce value in the form of working software on a regular basis. By delivering a product iteratively and incrementally (i.e. in sprints) thus maximizing the opportunity for regular customer feedback and the return on investment.
- The daily scrum meeting is an opportunity to discuss and synchronize the work of the team.
- In the Scrum process, at the end of each sprint, which is a period of two to four weeks, there is sprint retrospective at the end of each sprint. The whole team participates in this meeting and reflects on the sprint that has just ended.
- The Scrum process is such that the PO gives regular feedback, sometimes on a daily basis instead of waiting for the development to finish. Regular feedbacks gives the developer more perspective on the product to be delivered and time to implement changes or updates.
- On the first day of the new sprint, the team prepares a sprint backlog. The sprint backlog is the team’s to-do list of tasks for this sprint.
- Planning and tracking the project is simple and quick.
- Timely delivery of a module at the end of each sprint.
