Scrum

Agile Scrum methodology, Scrum framework, Scrum definition, Scrum values, Scrum pillars, Scrum meaning, Scrum agile process

Scrum is a very light Agile framework used to manage work on complex products, within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value in an iterative way.

Scrum definition

Scrum is a lightweight, iterative and incremental framework that can help teams build complex products with evolving requirements. Scrum is an abstract and not prescriptive agile framework that employs an iterative and incremental approach to optimize predictability and control risk and consists of Scrum teams and their associated roles, events, artifacts and rules.

Scrum theory

Scrum framework is founded on empirical process control theory, or empiricism, which asserts that knowledge comes from experience and making decisions based on what is known. The changes of the process are coming in an incremental empirical way based on experiments and the fact-based learning experience gained step by step.

Every team member is aware of what issues other colleagues are running into and they surface issues that get in the way of the team’s success. Frequent inspection points built into the framework allow the team opportunities to reflect on how the process is working. The team constantly investigates how things are going and revise the items that deviate outside acceptable limits.

Scrum pillars of empirical process control

  • Transparency – significant aspects of the process are visible to those responsible for the outcome, defining and sharing a common standard that helps observers have a common understanding
  • Inspection – empiricism dictates the inspection of both the process and the artifacts on a regular basis, done by experienced and skilled inspectors
  • Adaptation – continuous feedback loops provide continuous improvement of the product and process, the inspectors determine if aspects of the process deviate outside of the acceptable limits and adjust the process to minimize further deviation

Scrum values

  • Commitment – team members personally commit to achieving team goals, to collaborating, to learning, to delivering high value and are committed to applying an empirical approach, by using transparency, inspection and adaptation
  • Focus – team members concentrate on the work identified for the sprint and the goals of the team, focusing on achieving goals, having timeboxed events, focusing on what is known now, on the sprint goal and in long term on the product goal
  • Openness – team members and stakeholders are open about all the work and the challenges that the team encounters, they are open to adapt the work to changes in the organization, market and customer behavior
  • Respect – team members respect each other to be capable and independent, they respect each other’s skills and experience, they show respect to stakeholders by building high quality and top priority features, and by not wasting time and money on invaluable work
  • Courage – scrum team members do the right thing and work on tough problems, they show courage in avoiding building unneeded or unwanted features, in gathering feedback from customers and users, and they are not afraid to change direction when required, using inspection and adaptation

Scrum process

Scrum teams fail fast and learn fast using short iterative feedback loops called sprints, which are usually time-boxed to two weeks. The product owner prioritizes a backlog of work to be done, the team looks over the backlog at the beginning of every sprint and plans what can be done in the next one, then the team experiments, develops and tests the solutions during the sprint until they are done and accepted by the product owner, they inspect the work every day, coordinate and adapt the sprint plan accordingly, they refine the product backlog for the next sprints, then at the end of the sprint the team reviews its completed work and demonstrates the resulting increment of value to stakeholders in order to receive feedback to update and reprioritize the remaining product backlog and lastly they reflect on how things went during the sprint, assess how they performed as a team and decide what practices can be improved in how they work together as a team.

Roles

Events

Artifacts

  • Product Backlog
  • Sprint Backlog
  • Increment

Commitments

  • Product Goal
  • Sprint Goal
  • Definition of Done

Benefits of Scrum

  • faster adaptability to change and feedback
  • complex projects prioritization and completion
  • decreased time to market
  • increased return on investment
  • increased project control
  • reduced risk
  • higher productivity
  • increased collaboration and ownership
  • higher team morale
  • lower costs
  • higher product quality
  • higher user and customer satisfaction
  • improved progress visibility and exposure
  • increased collaboration and ownership
  • higher team morale

The official Scrum Guide is available at https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

More on Scrum:

Agile frameworks